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‘Afghan Women’ is a story of struggle

Nora Aboali stars in William Mastrosimone’s The Afghan Women, at Sacramento State’s Playwright’s Theatre.

An Afghanistan orphanage becomes the scene of a war of wills between the facility’s director and an Afghan warlord in William Mastrosimone’s The Afghan Women, being presented at Sacramento State’s Playwright’s Theatre Dec. 6-9 and 12-16.

“It’s about four Afghan women who take on a warlord who is trying to keep Afghanistan in a constant state of war,” director Karen Nylund says.

Born in Afghanistan to an Afghan father and American mother, the main character, Malalai, was raised in America but returns to her native country following the end of Soviet occupation.

When Malalai returns to see her family’s estate, she is moved by the sight of a child killed by a land mine and decides to stay in Afghanistan. “Rather than putting guns in the children’s hands, she wants to teach them mathematics, teach them to learn, give them other options,” says Nora Aboali, who plays Malalai.

That effort is further complicated when the warlord and his fighters take over the orphanage, making prisoners of the children and the four women living there.

Aboali pulled on her own upbringing to get into character. Her father is Egyptian and her mother is American. “I identify well with Malalai,” Aboali says. “I’ve looked at my culture and how I’ve grown up.”

Nylund is a graduate student who is staging the play as part of her thesis project, a study of how the Middle East and Islam are portrayed in western theater.

Her interest in that field began after reading Orientalism, by the late Columbia University professor Edward Said. The book looks at the ways western writers have portrayed the Far and Middle East in literature and historical documents, Nylund says, adding that stereotypes begun centuries ago persist today.

“My thesis seeks out works which attempt to give a more three-dimensional view of the Middle East and Islam,” Nylund says.

Those who attend the play also will help in a much larger effort. Mastrosimone has provided rights to the play free of charge in exchange for the proceeds being donated to International Orphan Care, Nylund says.

The play deals with adult subject matter and is not for children.

Performances are at 8 p.m., Dec. 6-8 and 14-15; at 2 p.m., Dec. 9 and 16; and at 6:30 p.m., Dec. 12-13. Cost is $8 general admission for the Dec. 12-13 performances. All other performances are $12 general admission and $10 for students, seniors and Sacramento State employees. Tickets are available at the Sacramento State Ticket office, 278-4323 or www.tickets.com.

For more information, contact the Theatre and Dance Department at 278-6368.