ShalomLife: Aviva Armour-Ostroff on 9 Parts of Desire
18 May
by Miriam Cross
Photo Credit: Michelle Bailey, Nerdy Girl Design
When Aviva Armour-Ostroff first auditioned for 9 Parts of Desire, she was hesitant about taking part. The play, written by Iraqi-American playwright Heather Raffo, revolves around nine Iraqi women from various backgrounds who each have a story to tell the audience. But as a white woman, Armour-Ostroff wondered if it was her place to tell that story.
“We had a lot of conversations about that, Kelly [Straughan, the director] and I,” says Armour-Ostroff over the phone from her home in Toronto. “I asked her about her reasoning and her discussion with the playwright, and I really liked her answer, which was this story needs to be told, period. If it’s us that tells it, that’s not a bad thing.”
In the play (produced by Seventh Stage Productions in Toronto), Armour-Ostroff plays a doctor who contends with horrifying birth defects and illnesses in her patients as she struggles to work in an underfunded, rudimentary hospital setting. “She’s not asking you to feel sorry for her or for her country,” says Armour-Ostroff of her character, who, like the others, speaks directly to the audience as a ‘trusted friend.’ “She’s just stating the facts.”
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