Dmae visits with Melory Mirashrafi,  actor, director, dramaturg and writer. As an Iranian-American she is dedicated to  presenting performance works and writing that truly represents her culture. She’s back in Hillsboro where she grew up when the Pandemic abruptly stranded her in Los Angeles for two months. She had to finish her apprenticeship virtually at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston.

Paige A. Hanna in "Shahmaron"
Paige A. Hanna in “Shahmaron”

Now she’s presenting a new work for Short Flix, a series of digital shorts on Shaking The Tree Theatre’s website. Mirashrafi created a film adaption of a classic scary tale of Shahmaran adapted a worked with Syrian-American actor Paige A Hanna in a short film which is free online through Jan. 10th.

We also hear Mirashrafi discuss the in-depth article she wrote for ArtsWatch detailing the history of misrepresentation presented in the films and stage musical of Disney’s Aladdin.

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Featured music: David Ornette Cherry

More about Melory Mirashrafi is an Iranian-American dramaturg, actor, and director from Hillsboro, Oregon. Melory was the 2019-20 Literary Apprentice at the Huntington Theatre Company, and has recently been a Y.C. Intern with American Conservatory Theater, Directing Fellow with Aquilon Music Festival, dramaturg with Speakeasy Stage, Harvard Divinity School, and Fresh Ink Theatre, director with Bag&Baggage Productions and Opera Theater Oregon, and has been seen as Sally Bowles in Cabaret (Linfield University), and Veronica in Heathers: The Musical (Funhouse Lounge). Melory’s writing can be found at Howlround Theatre Commons, Oregon ArtsWatch, Public Books, in The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays, and upcoming in The Next Act: Approaches to the Theatrical Canon.

Check out the other the other offerings of Short Flix at Shaking the Tree Theatre running online through Jan. 10th at https://www.shaking-the-tree.com/short-flix.html

#Matter
​By Idris Goodwin
Directed by James R. Dixon
Featuring Jasmine Cottrell as Kim & Jim Vadala as Cole
Production Manager- Natasha Stockem
​Dramaturg- Pancho Savery

Flying Head Down, The Story of The Nukekubi
​(A Japanese Folktale)
Film Adaptation by Rebby Yuer Foster