The play begins in the Sudanese desert in April 2004. The story centers on a young Darfuri woman named Hawa, whose village has been attacked by the Janjaweed militia. After witnessing the brutal murder of her husband and children, she wanders across the desert, dazed, to a clinic. Against the advice of the clinic’s aid worker, Hawa risks her life by telling a reporter of the atrocities suffered...

Bio of the cast members 

[ O'shea Myles - Hawa ]
[ Joseph Byrd - Carlos ]
[ Lindsay Blackwell - Maryka ]
[ Pat Payne - Jan / Hamida ]
[ Ruslan Janumyan - Soldier ]
[ Solar Greye - Soldier / Border guard ]

This project would not be possible without the dedicated efforts of the creative and production teams.  Click here to read their bio's. 

O'shea Myles (Hawa)

O’Shea is an actor, writer, and director. She is a full-time student at Cal State University Long Beach in the Film and Electronic arts department. She got back into acting a few years ago in “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett, where she took on the role of Lucky and received a Best Actress Award from the Long Beach Press Telegram. She has written and directed a series of short plays at Long Beach City College and was recently invited to the Kennedy Center Theatre Festival.

O’Shea is pleased and honored to be a part of this project and is committed to being as honest and truthful as possible in her portrayal of “Hawa.” She is pleased to be able to do her part in helping to share another human being's story about humanity, survival, love and hope, as well as shed light on a distant but not too distant situation.

Joseph Byrd (Carlos)

Joseph is Associate Artistic Director of Moving Target Theatre. He has performed all over southern California, throughout Colorado, as well as in Zimbabwe, Africa, were he toured and performed his unique brand of inspiring entertainment for orphanages and schools. Joe holds a B.A. degree in acting and performance from California State University, Long Beach, and an A.A. in acting from Long Beach City College.

A student of music, dance, and poetry, his roles have included Vladamir in Waiting for Godot, MacDuff in MacBeth, The Writer in The Blue Room, Hector Hushabye in George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House, and Nagg in Samuel Beckett's Endgame. Joe is an also an accomplished singer and leads the band Zerubbabel's Bridge. During the summer he teaches acting at the Summer Youth Workshop at the Long Beach Playhouse

Lindsay Blackwell (Maryka)

Lindsay was most recently seen in Nashville Dinner Theatre's fall production of "Dearly Departed", as well as regularly appearing in Improv Nashville's weekly shows throughout 2008.

She currently resides in her home state of California, where in the past she has appeared with The Chance Theater, The West End Theatre, Musical Theatre West, Biola University, CSULB, Long Beach City College, as well as being a founding member of the Hollywood based multimedia performance troupe, Camerashrapnel. Her love for theatre extends from classical to musical to children's, with a special place in her heart for street performance.

Pat Payne (Jan & Hamida)

Pat Payne aka The Velvet Hammer, is a Caribbean-American multimedia artist, poet, performance artist and troublemaker. Her passion for social issues emerged when she started a women’s lib club in elementary school. A founding member of the Neo-Spinsters poetry troupe, Payne retired as the reigning Taos Poetry Circus Heavyweight Champion, after back-to-back wins in 2002/03.

Pat has performed and/or collaborated with a wide range of international and local artists including Quincy Troupe, Exene Cervenka, Juan-Felipe Herrera, Vernon Reid, David Rousseve, Denise Uyehara and the California Ear Unit.

Payne continues to explore the reincarnations of ‘Condi/Jacki/Traci’, the composite persona (Condoleezza Rice, Jackie Onassis and Tracie Lords) and was recently seen in the Cornerstone Theater Company production of “For All Time,” about the criminal justice system. She is currently working on ‘Cruz y Fiction’ a collaborative dance project inspired by her lifelong fascination with Celia Cruz.

Ruslan Janumyan (Soldier)

Ruslan studied theatre at of the University of California, Irvine.  He is the author of the leading study of the great Russian film director Kira Muratova.

Solar Greye (Soldier, Border guard)

Actor, Juggler, Fire breather, and musician.
Graduate of the California Art Institue in Film and communication.

Works include: Titus Andronicus; Aaron, Hamlet; Hamlet, Horatio, Clown, Palonius and Osric, Twelfth Night; Fool, Midsummer Nights dream; Robin Goodfellow and Bottom.

[ back to main page ]