English-language Iraqi Shakespeare in... Oregon

This from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival:

An Iraqi Shakespeare troupe from the American University of Iraq Sulaimani (AUIS) is in Oregon performing and holding talkbacks with audiences. This group has spent the past few days at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and is performing in their Green Showseries this week.
On Monday, July 9, at 7:30pm, AUIS students will be in Portland and perform a few scenes then hold a Q&A on the Morrison Stage at Artists Repertory Theatre. The event is FREE and open to the public.
The troupe consists of 10 student actors at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani, who started an appreciation-type club, and ended up doing an English-language Shakespeare production in a public theatre, the first ever of its kind in Iraq. They are a mix of North and South, Sunni and Shia, Arab and Kurd--representing extremely different communities in an astoundingly diverse nation. (AUIS program website)

Sounds like there's an interesting story behind this collaboration.  Read more: http://portland.broadwayworld.com/article/Iraqi-Shakespeare-Students-Visit-Artists-Repertory-Theatre-79-20120704##ixzz200GTkm00