Gitana Productions Seeks Nominations for “Extraordinary/Ordinary Person of the Year” Award
March 12, 2009

ST. LOUIS, MO – Gitana Productions, Inc. is seeking nominations for the prestigious, eighth annual “Deeds Beyond Race: Extraordinary/Ordinary Person of the Year” award, which will honor ordinary citizens who have bridged connections between Afghan or Iranian immigrants and the broader St. Louis community.

The St. Louis region plays home to more than 1,500 Afghan and 6,000 Iranian immigrants who have left their home countries to build a new life in metropolitan St. Louis. Gitana Productions is working to raise awareness, understanding and appreciation of the Afghan and Iranian cultures through its annual “Faces of Love” program, which focuses on a different culture or region each year.

The “Extraordinary/Ordinary Person of the Year” will be honored at a performance of  “My Heart Is Always Shaking: Afghan Women Refugees in St. Louis,” an original play by St. Louis playwright Lee Patton Chiles. The production will run May 22 through June 7 at St. Louis University Theater and is the highlight of the “Faces of Love” series. Gitana’s first theatrical production, last year’s “Complacency of Silence: Darfur,” (also written by Chiles) is nominated for five Kevin Kline Awards.

“There are people within our city who work constantly, through their daily actions, to bridge the divides of race, culture and religion,” said Cecilia Nadal, executive director of Gitana Productions. “We want to honor these people because their actions are leading us toward a more global, more peaceful St. Louis. Gitana is committed to showing the value of global awareness through the arts and local humanitarianism.”

Nominations should include a one-page essay describing how the candidate voluntarily reaches across ethnic and religious lines with good deeds and why he/she should receive the award. Nomination essays may be emailed to gitana@stlouis.missouri.org or sent to Gitana Productions, PO Box 300280, St. Louis, MO, 63130. Visit www.gitana-inc.org. Deadline for entry is March 30, 2009.

Gitana Productions, Inc. is a not-for-profit arts and education organization dedicated to increasing cross-cultural awareness and collaboration by bringing international music, dance and drama to the St. Louis community. Gitana is funded by the Missouri Arts Council, Regional Arts Commission, the Monsanto Fund and the Boeing Employee’s Charitable Trust. Gitana events present a rarely seen diversity of international and local artists exhibiting an array of traditional and innovative artistic expressions. Gitana Production’s first theatrical production has been nominated for five Kevin Kline Awards. For more information, visit www.gitana-inc.org or call Gitana Productions at (314) 721-6556.