110 Flights

After a successful run of its inaugural play in June, the Fabulous Invalid Theatre Company is at it again with a new work, 110 Flights, to mark the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center.

FITC president, actor and director Nahal Navidar said that FITC is producing the play as a “staged reading” at the American Memorial Park Visitor Center auditorium on Sept. 29, Saturday, at 7pm.

Navidar said she chose the piece because it is something that everyone needs to hear. “It offers a perspective after September 11th that maybe people have not considered before,” she said.

Although it tackles a sensitive subject matter, Navidar said people should watch it because theatre is not for entertainment purposes only.

She said FITC is producing this play as a staged reading because the group needs audience feedback so that she could rewrite the play and submit a new draft. “It’s been a few years since I’ve touched the script and I still feel there are some improvements which can be made,” she said.

There are two cast members: Patrick played by Brad Ruszala and Shahla played by Navidar. “However, because this is a staged reading, stage directions and offstage voices will have to be played as well. These roles will be read by Bree Reynolds,” she said.

The play was originally produced at the University at Albany in 2005. It is scheduled to be produced at Proctor’s Theatre in Alban, NY in April 2008.

The 9/11tragedy is the backdrop for this emotional drama about the marriage between a NYC police officer and his Iranian-American wife. It premiered as the work of Navidar as a senior theater major.

Navidar began the script in 2003 and developed it further in a playwriting class taught by UAlbany's assistant professor James Farrell, who served as the production’s Dramaturge. The script went through subsequent multiple drafts, some of which resulted from Navidar’s experiences at a Kennedy Center playwriting workshop for which she was selected to participate by the American College Theatre Festival.

Along with playwriting, Navidar has also trained in UAlbany’s theatre department as an actor, most recently appearing in the fall production of Tartuffe. Navidar will reprise her role, along with Ruszala.

Tickets are now being sold for only $5 each. For more information, contact Navidar through email at fabulousinavlidtc@hotmail.com or visit the FITC weblog at fabulousinvalidtheatreco.blogspot.com (Saipan Tribune)