Salt Lake playwright in cross-cultural prog..

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A Salt Lake City playwright is taking part in a project that will connect actors, writers, directors and translators in two very different locations: Iraq and Iowa.

David Kranes will participate in Book Wings, a collaborative theater project at the University of Iowa and the University of Baghdad. Participants on the Baghdad and Iowa City campuses will collaborate via teleconference.

Kranes is one of six playwrights, in Iraq and the United States, commissioned to create a short play on the theme of courage. Krane's play, "How About These Fires…?!," has been translated into Arabic for the performance. At the same time, Kranes helped refine the English translation of "The Bird Breeder," a work by Iraqi playwright Sarem Dakhel.

The bilingual performance will take place Tuesday, March 11, on the Iowa City and Baghdad campuses. Admission is free to residents of those cities, and the show can be seen anywhere via a live Internet stream. Viewers can tweet comments and questions during the live Q-and-A session after the performance. The show starts at 8 a.m. Mountain time.

Meanwhile, Salt Lake Acting Company has picked Kranes' play "A Loss of Appetite" to perform during the troupe's fund-raiser, April 25-27.

Salt Lake playwright in cross-cultural program from Iowa to Iraq