Six Figures Theatre Company presents Baghdad Burning, a full-length play adapted from the “Girl Blog from Iraq”, written by Riverbend, an anonymous twenty-five-year old Iraqi woman living in Baghdad. Already familiar to thousands of web surfers, and a major influence in the blogging community, Riverbend’s text will be brought to life through a stage adaptation by Six Figures artistic director, Kimberly Kefgen and literary manager Loren Ingrid Noveck. The preview production will be presented March 11 - 27 at the West End Theatre, 263 West 86th Street (between Broadway & West End).

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 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.

“Six Figures is dedicated to supporting women’s voices that might not otherwise be heard,” says director Kimberly Kefgen. “Riverbend’s voice leaps off the computer screen and calls for people to witness the remarkable story of a young woman maneuvering through extraordinary times. The adaptation is meant to create community dialogue about the implications of our policy in Iraq and to investigate stories that are not being told. Riverbend’s tagline is ‘let’s talk war, politics and occupation’ – Six Figures hopes to do just that.”

Several Talk Back sessions are scheduled throughout the run and will feature the cast, director and a series of guest speakers. Six Figures is excited to partner with the Feminist Press, who will be releasing Riverbends August 2003; September 2004 entries as a paperback book this May. Ms. Magazine will also be serializing these entries in the coming months.

Performances will be held March 11th - March 27. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, & Mondays performances begin at 8pm; Sundays at 3pm & 7:30pm. Talk Back sessions will be held Sunday, March 13, Thursday, March 17 and Sunday, March 20.

Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at the Six Figures site: www.sixfigures.com Reservations can also be made by calling 212-946-1737.

The creative team for Baghdad Burning includes: Kimberly Kefgen, Director and Adaptor; Loren Ingrid Noveck, Literary Manager and Adaptor; and Stacey Conner, Stage Manager. The cast includes: Uzo Aduba, Becca Blackwell, Deepti Gupta, Sami Mitwasi, Cassandra Vincent, and Andrew Zimmerman.

Six Figures is supported, in part, by the New York State Council for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The Nancy Quinn Fund – A Project of A.R.T./New York, and the Katherine Dalglish Foundation.