Nassim

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David Monteith-Hodge

Playwright Nassim Soleimanpour's theatrical experiment "NASSIM" comes to Overture Center March 8-12, 2022.

Playwright Nassim Soleimanpour created White Rabbit Red Rabbit while he was barred from leaving Iran as a conscientious objector to military service. That play has since been performed around the world in many languages — with each performance featuring an actor who had not read the script before. Soleimanpour brings that concept to NASSIM, in which a guest starts each night's performance and navigates through the play in collaboration with Soleimanpour himself. Madison's guest performer lineup is drawn from the business and arts communities: Karra Beach (Overture), Jessica Cavazos (Latino Chamber of Commerce), Francesca Hong (Culinary Ladies Collective co-founder), Oscar Mireles (poet and author), Angela Russell (CUNA Mutual Foundation), and Anne Strainchamps (Wisconsin Public Radio host). Shows at 7:30 p.m. nightly, plus a 2 p.m. matinee on March 12.

media release: Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour brings an audacious new theatrical experiment to Overture Center’s Promenade Hall on Tuesday, March 8 through Saturday, March 12. In NASSIM, each night a different guest performer joins the playwright on stage, while the script waits unseen in a sealed box.

“The show was a huge hit in New York City, and we’re fortunate to bring this unique piece to Madison to share with our community,” said Tim Sauers, Overture’s chief artistic experiences officer.

Touchingly autobiographical yet powerfully universal, NASSIM is a striking theatrical demonstration of how language can both divide and unite us. NASSIM follows Soleimanpour’s globally acclaimed White Rabbit Red Rabbit, which has been translated into more than 25 different languages and performed over 1,000 times by names including Stephen Fry, Ken Loach and Whoopi Goldberg. Winner of the Scotsman Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2017.

“Every night a different performer starts the show by opening an envelope and reading what’s inside,” said Sauers. “It’s the start of the script which will eventually unite the playwright with the performer.”

Karra Beach, Overture Center for the Arts’ director of Broadway engagement programs, will serve as the guest performer on opening night. Subsequent performances will feature Francesca Hong, state legislator and co-founder of the Culinary Ladies Collective; Jessica Cavazos, president and CEO of the Latino Chamber of Commerce; Anne Strainchamps, Wisconsin Public Radio host; Oscar Mireles, poet and editor; and Angela Russell, chief diversity officer and vice president of the CUNA Mutual Foundation at CUNA Mutual Group.

“NASSIM speaks eloquently of living and working in a place with a language not your own.”

— New York Times

BIOS OF GUEST PERFORMERS

Karra Beach, Tuesday, March 8, 7:30pm

Karra Beach is Overture Center for the Arts’ director of Broadway engagement programs. She is also half of the dynamic duo that hosts the Cocktails with Tim and Karra events for Broadway subscribers. Recent addition!

Francesca Hong - Wednesday, March 9, 2022, 7:30 p.m.

Francesca Hong is a first-generation Korean American mother, chef and community organizer and the first Asian American elected state legislator in the Wisconsin State Legislature. She is a small business owner with over 15 years in the hospitality industry and advocates for worker justice and economic security for all.

Hong is the co-founder of the Culinary Ladies Collective (CLC), an organization empowering women and non-binary food and beverage professionals through shared resources, networking and fundraising for equity-focused nonprofit organizations. As an outspoken advocate for AAPI representation and multi-racial coalition building, she has introduced legislation condemning anti-Asian hate, fights for Asian American History to be included in school curriculum and co-authored legislation expanding Veteran benefits for Lao Veterans of the Vietnam War, Asia. She serves on the executive committee of the AAPI Coalition of Wisconsin and was named to the 2020 list of the Most Influential Asian Americans in Wisconsin. She currently resides in the Tenney-Lapham neighborhood in Madison, which occupies Ho-Chunk land, a place their nation has called Teejop since time immemorial.

Jessica Cavazos - Thursday, March 10, 2022, 7:30 p.m.

Empowered by seeing and helping others advance, Jessica Cavazos was named one of “Wisconsin’s 29 Most Powerful Latinas” in 2017 by Madison365. The President and CEO of the Latino Chamber of Commerce feels fortunate to have an opportunity to be a change agent, enhancing the quality of life and transforming communities by creating access to economic wealth, inclusion and revitalization. She believes economic growth is the most powerful tool in reducing poverty.

This Latina powerhouse has climbed up professionally through the political arena, starting as a scheduler to becoming a former Congressional Liaison for Congresswoman Gwedolyn Moore, who has had a great impact in her life. After leaving government to become an Executive Director of the Volusia County Chamber of Commerce, Cavazos came back home to start her own company, the Eleva Groups, Inc., a Milwaukee-based firm whose mission is to create sustainable communities through effective private/public partnerships.

As a strong spokesperson for the underserved community in Wisconsin, Cavazos was named UMOS’ “Hispanic Woman of the Year” in 2012, awarded the Key to the Latino Community in Milwaukee and named “Community Leader of the Year” at Madison’s Herencia Hispana Awards in 2017. Since 2005, Cavazos has been part of founding mothers of several associations that advocate for political activism, civic leadership and the inclusivity of Latinas in leadership. Cavazos also serves as the Vice-Chair of UW-Systems’ Diversity and Equity Council and Board member of Dane Buy Local and has taken on a new role as a co-host on WI-57 television station’s Girl Talk and recently started a local chapter of LULAC.

Cavazos attributes her humble upbringing, strong female role models, a loving family, amazing partner (Temo) and her children (Kaled, Soleil and Aidan) as the foundation that helps her lead and empower others with purpose. Cavazos has an Associate Arts degree in Broadcasting, a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and a Certificate on Latino Nonprofit Leadership from UW-Milwaukee.

Anne Strainchamps - Friday, March 11, 2022, 7:30 p.m.

Anne Strainchamps is the host of To The Best Of Our Knowledge, a weekly program produced by Wisconsin Public Radio. She co-founded the show, along with Steve Paulson and Jim Fleming, and has been a featured interviewer on the program for more than a decade. She has worked in public broadcasting at WAMU in Washington, D.C., and at NPR. She has been a reporter, producer, news director, live talk show host, a food and wine columnist and—in a former life—a chocolatier.

Oscar Mireles - Saturday, March 12, 2022, 2:00 p.m.

Oscar Mireles is a published poet and editor. Mireles’ poetry has been published in more than 50 different publications. Mireles has been writing poetry for the past 35 years. He is the editor of three anthologies titled I Didn’t Know There Were Latinos in Wisconsin: 20 Hispanic Poets (Focus Communications, 1989), I Didn’t Know There Were Latinos in Wisconsin: 30 Hispanic Writers (Focus Communications, 1999) and I Didn’t Know There Were Latinos in Wisconsin: 3 Decades of Hispanic Writing (Cowfeather Press, 2014). He also produced a chapbook titled Second Generation (Focus Communications, 1985). Reviewer Tim Forkes writes, “the compilation stands as not only as a picture of Wisconsin’s Hispanic community… but also the latest of Mireles’ many contributions to society as a whole… he was the fire in the oven.”

Mireles has received grants for his writing activities from the Wisconsin Arts Board, Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission, Wisconsin Humanities Committee, Wisconsin 150th Sesquicentennial Commission, Madison Civic Center Foundation and Wisconsin Center for the Book. He received a fellowship to spend a month at the Vermont Studio Center, an artist colony. Mireles was selected as the 6th Poet Laureate of the City of Madison for the years 2016-2020.

Angela Russell - Saturday, March 12, 2022, 7:30 p.m.

Angela Russell is the Chief Diversity Officer and is the Vice President of the CUNA Mutual Foundation at CUNA Mutual Group. In these roles, Russell provides strategic enterprise-wide leadership to ensure CUNA Mutual’s commitment to DEI is reflected in the workplace, community partnerships and marketplace in its products, processes and services.

In 2021, Russell was the recipient of the inaugural DEI Trailblazer Award from the African American Credit Union Coalition. In 2018, Russell was named as one of the nation’s most powerful diversity executives by Black Enterprise magazine.

Russell has 20 years of professional experience. Prior to joining CUNA Mutual, she worked in various roles in public health including serving as a Health Equity Coordinator for Public Health Madison Dane County and she was the Community Engagement Lead for the national County Health Rankings & Roadmaps Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Population Health Institute.

Russell has also worked in a variety of roles in Wisconsin state government, including Division Administrator for the Division of Early Care and Education, Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Department of Children and Families and Policy Advisor to Governor Jim Doyle. She was formerly an epidemiologist with Wisconsin AIDS/HIV and Hepatitis C Program at the Department of Health Services.

Russell serves on the Board of Directors for JustDane, which is focused on providing programing for individuals returning to the Dane County community after incarceration. She also hosts a Wisconsin based podcast called Black Oxygen, which was recently awarded the 2021 Wisconsin Innovation Award.

She holds a Master of Science in Population Health from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Beloit College. In 2021, Russell was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science degree from Beloit College.

Russell has two children who are the loves of her life and are a regular source of feedback (the good, bad and often very funny).

NOTE: At this time, everyone who enters Overture Center must wear a mask and must show proof of vaccination, including (starting March 1) a booster if eligible, or a negative COVID-19 test result taken within 72 hours of entering along with a photo ID (children without a photo ID must be accompanied by a guardian). For more details, visit overture.org/health.

Building Hours: Monday-Saturday, 11-6; Sunday, 12-6; and extended hours on event days.

OVERTURE CENTER FOR THE ARTS in Madison, Wis., is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization that features seven state-of-the-art performance spaces and four galleries where national and international touring artists, nine resident companies and hundreds of local artists engage people in nearly 700,000 educational and artistic experiences each year. With the vision to provide “Extraordinary Experiences for All,” Overture’s mission is to support and elevate our community’s creative culture, economy and quality of life through the arts. overture.org