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Hartford Stage Announces Discussion with Eve Ensler and Afghan Women Leaders

12/13/2001

Sunday Afternoon Discussion Series:

Panel on Women and War to Follow Dec. 16th Matinee of Ensler's Necessary Targets

December 13, 2001/Hartford, CT--Hartford Stage, under the artistic direction of Michael Wilson, announced today that the Tony Award-winning theatre would host a panel discussion on Sunday, December 16th immediately following the 2:30 p.m. matinee of Eve Ensler's Necessary Targets with the Obie Award-winning playwright and several participants of the just-concluded Afghan Women's Summit for Democracy in Brussels, Belgium. Sponsored by a consortium of civil rights and humanitarian organizations (including Equality Now and V-Day), this unprecedented summit brought together fifty Afghan women to create and promulgate the Brussels Proclamation, a referendum on women's rights seeking to secure participation in the reconstruction and governance of a post-Taliban Afghanistan. Their appearance in Hartford immediately follows weekend meetings with top U.S. senators and the National Security Council in Washington, D.C. Speakers include:

  • Leila Enayat-Seraj - Director of Afghan Art Project for Peace, co-founder of the Committee on the Prevention of Discriminatory Practices Against Women in the United Nations
  • Shafiqua Habibi - Former prominent journalist in Kabul and head of the Women's Radio and Television Broadcast Organization until the Taliban came to power.
  • Adeena Niazi - Former Professor at Kabul University and Founder/Director of Afghan Women's Organization in Toronto.
  • Soraya Paikan - Formerly with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Mazar-e-Sharif. Former Professor of Law, University of Kabul.
  • Sahar Saba - Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA)
  • Sima Wali - Director/Founder of Refugee Women in Development, Member of the Rome delegation to the Bonn negotiations.
  • Michael Wilson states, "We are incredibly honored that these brave women are joining us for this historic discussion. Eve's gripping play dramatizes some of the war-time atrocities in Bosnia. These Afghan women have seen many of the same civil rights abuses destroy their homeland. It will be fascinating to hear their first-hand accounts, thoughts on the play and see how they are seeking to affect change on a socio-cultural and political level in Afghanistan."

    The post-show discussion, expected to begin at approximately 4:10 p.m., is free and open to the public. As part of the theatre's Sunday Afternoon Discussion Series, the panel is underwritten by the Connecticut Humanities Council. For more information or tickets to the December 16th matinee performance of the world premiere of Necessary Targets are $27 to $45, call the Hartford Stage box office at (860) 527-5151 or by visiting www.hartfordstage.org on the internet. Necessary Targets, a moving drama about American involvement in a Bosnian refugee camp for women, has received rave reviews from The New York Times, Springfield Union-News and the New Haven Register. The play will run through Sunday, December 23rd and is sponsored by the Chase Family Foundations with additional support from the Greater Hartford Arts Council.

    Contact: Mark LaFleur, Public Relations Manager

    Phone: (860) 244-0180 ext. 247

    Email: [email protected]