BFF 2021 presents Azo Safo’s I Heart Maroc

Santa Monica Playhouse has been a cultural treasure in the seaside community for 61 years. Now, the Playhouse is giving love back with its Sixth Annual Binge Free Festival (BFF), a full month of free performances, workshops, readings, music and poetry in Santa Monica’s ONLY fringe festival.  What’s on today?

A lively solo show featuring a mix of wacky characters, multi-media and edutainment, I HEART MAROC will take you on a journey into the lives of rural Moroccans as experienced by Azo, a 24-year-old Peace Corps volunteer. Azo goes to Morocco to find her life’s purpose with the wide-eyed, innocent hope of changing in the world “one bitlma at a time.” Instead, she is thrust into a culture she has to figure out with her Armenian-American immigrant sensibilities and a language she is too “Kesoula” to learn – according to her language tutor, Khadija.

Taking place during the height of the Bush Administration and worldwide condemnation of the US war in Iraq, Azo has to navigate anti-American sentiment, win over ALL the villagers – including the cranky Sidi Ali – nurture a budding romance with her Moroccan true love, Mohammed, and she has to survive a Moroccan wedding…so she can ultimately save humanity OR find her life’s purpose. It will definitely be one of those two outcomes.

Will Azo get through her two-year service in one piece or will she obey her Armenian immigrant mother’s wishes and move back to Glendale to marry an Armenian dentist?

Written & performed by Azo Safo. Directed and developed by Jessica Lynn Johnson.

If you feel safer watching the show from the comfort of your own home, here’s the Youtube link for the free live stream https://youtu.be/oQQu7I1Gyj0

Join Azo,  award-winning solo show director Jessica Lynn Johnson and a host of BFF solo artists past and present for "Flourish in Festivals," a unique virtual interactive Zoom Q&A Saturday, November 13 at 1:00pm PST. To register and receive your Zoom  invitation, email Jessica at SoaringSoloArtist@gmail.com 

Binge Free Festival 2021 is presented through generous grants from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, the City of Santa Monica, the Santa Monica Arts Commission, and Playhouse PALS.

THE FOLLOWING COVID PROTOCOLS WILL BE OBSERVED FOR EVERY PERFORMANCE

• Masks must be worn at all times


• Proof of vaccination is required (Negative COVID test will not be accepted)


• All reservations must be made in advance


• Questions? Contact us at 1-310-394-9779 x1 or theatre@SantaMonicaPlayhouse.com 

Want to be one of the lucky few to see the show in-person? Visit https://www.santamonicaplayhouse.com/the-bff-calendar-of-events.html