Since August 2003, Riverbend has chronicled her day-to-day life as an educated Muslim woman in occupied Iraq with humor, insight, compassion, and candor. A multicultural ensemble cast will utilize music, movement, monologue and more, to explore America's encounter with Riverbend's complex reality: her love for Iraq and its people; the devastation caused by war and occupation; and her mounting fear as fundamentalists gain power and limit the freedoms she once enjoyed.

Adapted by Kimberly Kefgen and Loren Ingrid Noveck

"Cemetery of Lips" is the story of a woman who thought she had nothing to say. With her signature brand of macabre humor and her deliciously surreal language, playwright Nancy Ancowitz lures us down the alimentary canal to a reservoir of unspoken thoughts and desires. Here amid her swallowed words, our intrepid heroine sets off to reclaim her missing truth. Fearless in its message, the play combines thrillingly poetic riffs, deliciously surreal rants, and a powerhouse performance with hand-drums and violin. Expect a wild ride. Bring your lips. Bring your chap stick.

Nancy Ancowitz is a nationally recognized marketing strategist and coach who helps people express themselves with confidence. She wrote "Cemetery of Lips" to mark her return to a creative life after a long stint in the corporate world. Originally developed as part of the Artists-In-Residence Program at Makor (West Side Center of the 92 Street Y), "Cemetery of Lips" was selected into the CUNY Human Rights Theatre Project. Ms. Ancowitz's full-length play, "Hablo, Diablo" (translation: "I Speak, Devil") enjoyed sold-out staged readings at Makor in May 2005.

Performer Jaye Austin Williams is an actor, director, playwright, teacher, and novelist. Her critically acclaimed performance of Suzan-Lori Parks' one-woman play, "Pickling," was presented at HERE, Joe's Pub, the Mint, and at the Cherry Lane. Jaye's work has been seen on and off Broadway and regionally. Her first novel, "Jasmine," will be published by HarperCollins in the fall of 2006.

Director Barbara Rubin made her Off-Broadway debut last season with Antigone Project at The Women's Project, and she was the associate director on the recent Broadway production of "A Streetcar Named Desire." Previously on Broadway she was assistant director on "The Dance of Death" and "The Elephant Man." She was also assistant director to Athol Fugard on "Sorrows and Rejoicings" at McCarter Theatre and at Second Stage in New York.

"Cemetery of Lips" is an enchanting spoken word performance. A percussive dream with a lot of surprises and a little bite....

By: Nancy Ancowitz
Directed by: Barbara Rubin
Starring: Jaye Austin Williams
On drums: Anoush
On violin: Joyce Chen
Assistant director: Greg Cicchino
Production stage manager: Jamie Rog
Costume designer: Anoush
Set designer: Michael V. Moore
Lighting designer: Jesse Belsky
Associate producer: Samuel A. Morris

Graphic design: Liz Kinnmark
ekinnmar@andrew.cmu.edu

Presented as part of Six Figures Theatre Company's 5th Annual Artists of Tomorrow Festival

In its first New York performance, THE WATER PRINCIPLE is an award-winning tragic-comic fable of survival that takes place at the end of the road at the end of the world.

Addie lives a fiercely independent life on a plot of land coveted by her neighbor, Weed, a self-proclaimed "businessman of action." Along comes Skimmer, a charming drifter as accommodating as Addie and Weed are ferocious. Will Weed seduce Skimmer with cans of beans and "principles of pleasure"? Will Addie's "water principle" win out instead? This cautionary tale about what happens when precious resources run dry is laced with humor and heartbreak as it speaks to this perilous moment in the life of our planet.
"...gives dry humor a new name..." SF Bay Weekly

An Equity Approved Showcase, Part of the "Artists of Tomorrow" Festival