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Iraqi-American Playwright Serves as Cultural Bridge

After decades of bridging the two cultures through her plays, Heather Raffo is getting ready to teach her community about theater, writes Saideh Jamshidi.
BAGHDAD, IRAQ - MARCH 5:  Performers rehearse at the National Theatre for the Athoudron Festival, March 5, 2013 in Baghdad, Iraq.  Ten years after the regime of Saddam Hussein was toppled from power, Baghdad continues to show the scars of the war. In vast areas, infrastructure is fractured and basic services are lacking, however, some areas of the capital are showing promising signs of recovery.   (Photo by Ali Arkady/Metrography/Getty Images)

Heather Raffo, a blonde, Midwestern — and half-Iraqi — playwright and actor, was a fully assimilated American with little connection to her Iraqi heritage until she saw her father sob after watching the graphic details of the first Iraq war on the news.

“My dad would come back home after a long walk, his eyes were red and puffy,” Raffo told Al-Monitor.

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