Nina Rapi

Nina Rapi is a Greek-born, London-based, award-winning playwright and short story writer. Rapi is also the Editor-in-chief of BRAND literary magazine, which she founded in 2006.

Style and themes

Rapi's writing focuses on the state of being an outsider. In an interview with The Scavenger she described her core themes in her latest trilogy of plays (Angelstate; Reasons to Hide; Kiss the Shadow) as being surveillance, censorship and power on the one hand, with intimacy, resistance and identity on the other^[1].

Rapi says that feminism has been a significant part of who she is, and subsequently has had a major impact on her writing^[2].

Plays

Nina Rapi's first play, Ithaka was first performed as a staged reading in 1989 at Riverside Studios by the Women's Theatre Workshop^[3]. The play was described as ‘theatrically inventive, often surreal, witty and funny’ by David Hunter; the literary manager of Bush Theatre, London^[4]. The play went on to become published in Seven Plays by Women, Aurora Metro, winner of the Raymond Williams award; and to win Best Play Award at BITS Theatre Festival, Pirani, India^[5].

Many of Rapi's plays since then have been praised by critics; The Guardian described the 1993 production of Dangerous Oasis as ‘inspirational’^[6] and Time Out wrote that the 2000 production of Josie's Restrooms was ‘nipple gripping’^[7].

Rapi's most recent production, Kiss the Shadow had a performance presentation at Soho Theatre Studio and extracts performed at the Lyric Theatre Studio; and Southbank Centre as part of the 2010 London Literature Festival. When reviewing the play, Diva magazine said, ‘It's exciting to see new theatre from one of London's most under-rated writers.’^[8]

Short stories

Rapi states that her first love was short stories^[9] and in recent years she has returned to the form. In 2006 she had a collection of short stories entitled Nine Traces in a Circle published: nine stories set in a Greek border town. She is currently working on a new collection, Out Where?, set to be published in 2011^[10].

Works

Full-length plays

• Kiss the Shadow (2010)
• Edgewise (2010 & 2003)
• Reasons to Hide (2009)
• Angelstate (2006)
• Lovers (2001)
• Dance of Guns (1992)
• Dreamhouse (1991)
• Ithaka (1989)

Short plays & monologues

• Ms Jones Matters (2010)
• Gentle Persuasion (2006)
• Tricky (2001)
• Josie's Restrooms (2000)
• Dangerous Oasis (1993)
• Johnny is Dead (1990)
• Critical Moments (1990)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nina_Rapi&action=submit

Short stories

• La Luna (published in 3:AM Magazine, 2009)
• Scatman (published in Pulp.Net literary magazine, 2008 and then DEKATA Athens literary magazine, 2010)
• The Moment You Slipped (published in Tell Tales Volume Three, 2006)
• Nine Traces in a Circle (Collection: Athens, 2006)
• Foreigner (published in Chroma literary journal, 2004)
• Light and Shade (published in Greece in Print, 2001)

Critical writings on Rapi's works

• Shaping Gender, Samuele Grassi, Cambridge Scholar Publishing, 2011 (analysis of plays Angelstate, Lovers, Tricky and Josie's Restrooms)
• Alternatives Within The Mainstream II: Queer Theatre in Postwar Britain, Dr. Dimple Godiwala-McGowan, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007 (Ithaka analysed in introduction)
• Who's Who in Lesbian and Gay Writing, G. Griffin, Routledge, 2002
• Putting Your Daughter on the Stage, S. Freeman, Cassell, 1997 (features a chapter on Rapi's early plays)
• Modern Drama, E.Goodman, Modern Drama, Spring Issue 1996 (analysis of Ithaka)
• Monologue Plays for Female Voices M. Rose, Tirrenia Stampatori, Italy, 1995 (chapter on the monologue Johnny is Dead)

References

1. ^ http://www.thescavenger.net/arts/interview-nina-rapi.html
2. ^ http://www.thescavenger.net/arts/interview-nina-rapi.html
3. ^ Alternatives Within the Mainstream II
4. ^ http://nina-rapi.com/#/plays-reviews/4545920586
5. ^ http://nina-rapi.com/#/ithaka/4545722990
6. ^ http://nina-rapi.com/#/plays-reviews/4545920586
7. ^ http://nina-rapi.com/#/plays-reviews/4545920586
8. ^ http://nina-rapi.com/#/plays-reviews/4545920586
9. ^ http://www.thescavenger.net/arts/interview-nina-rapi.html
10. ^ http://nina-rapi.com/#/publications/4545586682

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Name	Rapi, Nina
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