Heather Raffo's 9 Parts of Desire—the awkward title includes the author's name to distinguish it from Geraldine Brooks' 1995 book—introduces nine Iraqi women baring their souls about war, family, love and survival. Actress Jacqueline Antaramian whirls gracefully from one character to another, reminding us that we're at war in Iraq, but not with Iraq. Warring elements, however, are as much a problem as a theme in the Wilma's production.

Antaramian's ability to bring each woman to life proves extraordinary. We meet an artist forced from her bombed house but still painting nudes in secret; a mother searching for love in the perilous gap between Western and Muslim worlds; the caretaker of a bomb shelter made into a family tomb by American precision bombing; a child imprisoned in her home by war who idolizes 'N Sync; an American-born Iraqi watching the war on three channels at the gym; a doctor dealing with radiation-caused cancers and mutations with no supplies, and more.

The monologues are more snapshots than complete dramatic pieces, providing disturbing first-person accounts of horrors ranging from Saddam Hussein's brutal 1963 takeover and near-deposing in 1991 to today's conflict. Raffo details personal experience, not blame; we care about these women's survival more than about what and who threatens them.

Director Kate Saxon's production marshals all the Wilma's considerable resources, starting with Anne Patterson's huge set, a multilevel depiction of golden sand and bombed buildings, plus an impressively substantial river. The lighting blurs the line between artistic and pyrotechnic, and Amir ElSaffar's original Iraqi music fights the echo effects in the sound design.

Saxon tries to provide the climax Raffo's script lacks with a character's haunting submergence in the "river"—but as she artfully sinks, one can't help but think, "that's so cool," and suddenly we're not in the play's world anymore. The Wilma's "shock and awe" backfires, and ultimately 9 Parts of Desire is reminiscent of the old joke about leaving Phantom of the Opera "singing the chandelier."

Raffo's fragmentary script and Antaramian's gutsy performance would be better served by a bare stage—what Molière called "a platform and a passion or two." It's a shame that a play digging so sincerely into the basics of life would stray so far from theater's basics.

9 Parts of Desire Through March 12, Wilma Theater, Broad and Spruce sts., 215-564-7824, www.wilmatheater.org