Playwright Sheri Winkelmann
Directed by Helen Young
Featuring Gordon Chow, Joseph Anthony Foronda, John Francisco, Emjoy Gavino, Molly Lyons, Virginia Lee Marie Martinez, Amira Sabbagh, Dwight Sora, Suzanne Sole, and Michelle Weissgerber
When Sadia travels to India to volunteer with the exiled Tibetan refugee community, she never imagines that she will meet the love of her life. Caught in a whirlwind romance, she returns with new love to America and they quickly marry. Not long after the wedding, Sadia discovers a dark, twisted side to him that eventually threatens her life. Struggling to escape the physical and psychological violence that has become her daily life, she discovers the enlightened Sufi poet Rumi, whose spiritual insights guide her to freedom.
Rumi's poetry was literally a call to see from a greater spiritual perspective, the meaning and profound opportunity for evolution in the midst of dire human suffering. That is the great gift of spiritual teachings such as Rumi's. Love on an ego based level, which is what the world cherishes and proliferates, (as we are all quite hypnotized into), is very limited in scope, compared to the expansiveness of Love that is our true home. Love in the truest sense, as Rumi describes, is not based on human outcomes, but is an ecstatic state from which we all emanate. I am learning to become that one with that Lover. I really found that my greatest teacher has been my abuser, as no one caused me to throw my heart into the search for Divine understanding as that situation demanded. We are not here to tolerate abuse at any level, but to make a profound stand against anything that would be less than the full expression of our magnificence. In telling my story, the fear and shame that would keep my voice silenced, have been silenced forever. If one person viewing my play can find the power to liberate themselves, then writing Rumi will have fulfilled my deepest dreams.
