Kim Schultz, a New York City-based actress and playwright, will deliver a performance of "No Place Called Home," her critically acclaimed off-Broadway show about Iraqi refugees, at Duke University on Jan. 8.
The performance, which is free and open to the public, begins at 7 p.m. in the Geneen Auditorium at the Fuqua School of Business. Doors will open at 6:30 pm.
Featuring music by singer/songwriter Amikaeyla Gaston, "No Place Called Home" tells the stories of eleven displaced Iraqis whom Schultz and Gaston interviewed on a whirlwind overseas research trip -- and one of whom Schultz fell in love with.
Schultz and Gaston were part of a delegation of American artists who interviewed hundreds of Iraqi refugees on a three-week trip to Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria in 2009. Part of the Iraqi Voices Amplification Project, sponsored by the New York City-based NGO Intersections International, Schultz and Gaston were charged with using the power of the arts to call attention to the displacement of more than 4 million Iraqis as a result of U.S. military involvement in Iraq. On their return, they and the other artists created a series of pieces designed to humanize the crisis and give voice to those whose plight is only slowly entering broad public consciousness.
Following a successful off-Broadway run in New York City, Schultz and Gaston have taken "No Place Called Home" on the road to colleges from Washington, D.C., to Minneapolis. The Duke performance is part of the 2012 Winter Forum: Refugees, Rights, Resettlement, a three-day conference for undergraduates. More than 100 students will participate in discussions with refugees, policymakers and academics to better understand the practical and ethical challenges of displacement, the involuntary movement of persons and groups from the places they call home and to work on solutions.
For more information on the event, visit the Kenan Institute for Ethics website.