Currently based in Australia, Alumna Emina Ashman (GIS Class of 2011) has been working as a professional actor, poet and theatre-maker for several years, and was most recently seen performing in the Melbourne Theatre Company’s production of ‘Hungry Ghosts’.
Now, she’s about to premiere a new play in Melbourne called ‘Make Me A Houri’. This production is Emina’s debut as both the writer and performer of her own work.
‘Make Me A Houri’ is Emina’s personal and poetic exploration around her own cultural upbringing in Malaysia and her experiences as a Eurasian woman in her early-twenties living in Melbourne. Five years in the making, she says she has “invested her heart and soul into this work and can’t wait to reveal it to the audience”. Through this narrative, Emina shares her own perspectives on identity, inter-faith relationships, spirituality, adolescence and womanhood.
As Emina explains: “This script is a crystallisation of personal experiences and perspectives of mine. It’s made up of patterns I’ve identified in my life and formed into a lattice of literature open to judgment and interpretation. My play has organically grown alongside me, like a crystal. It was created from a place of pressure, stress, and extreme changes in my personal, environment. I want to liken my play to a multi-faceted gem in the making, that will allow itself to be reflected upon from different angles, by different people.”
‘Make Me A Houri’ runs from July 25th to 4th August this year and will be performed at La Mama Courthouse Theatre in Melbourne. To find out more about the play or to book tickets to see the show for yourself, please check out:
https://lamama.com.au/whats-on/winter-spring-2019/make-me-a-houri/