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(Use this guide for sources of information on Uzbekistan and Central Asian Theatre)

The Ilkhom Theatre Company, from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, is coming to Oxford to perform the play Ecstasy with the Pomegranate,as part of the Performing Arts Series, with other U.S. stops in Seattle, San Francisco, and NYC. This residency is the culmination of three years of negotiations by Performing Arts Series Director Patti Libertore.

The Havighurst Center established ties to Ilkhom during the Center's Silk Road faculty trip in 2006, visiting the theatre company in Tashkent. We are especially committed to this partnership with the Ilkhom Theatre, in the wake of Ilkhom Artistic Director Mark Weil’s recent murder in the lobby of his Tashkent apartment building. Mark had many close ties to the United States, and we are honored and dedicated to sharing his legacy with the world, and to keeping his particular vision of the possibilities of creative and engaged theatre alive. We hope that you will join us in this conversation. (See  [PDF]*)

Mark Weil

The Havighurst Center and PAS believe in the artistic value of this play and this company, but are aware of the potentially controversial nature of the subject of this play. It deals with Muslim culture and Central Asian history; homosexuality in some form is part, but by no means all, of the play’s theme. We are inviting potentially interested scholars and community representatives to begin thinking about how best to contextualize and promote this wonderful production.

The Havighurst Center is working closely with the Performing Arts Series to support the development of curricular activities around this project, as it presents a tremendous opportunity to create deep discussions in our community about Islamic culture, sexuality, and the new and fresh art of this superb company.

*Accessible versions are available upon request. (See ).