Catherine Filloux is an award-winning French Algerian American playwright, librettist, and activist who has been writing about human rights for 30 years. Her new play How to Eat an Orange will premiere at La MaMa Theatre in New York City this season. catherinefilloux.com

I met Egyptian writer and theater artist Dalia Basiouny last year in Iraqi-Kurdistan, where we were both participants in “Women in Action 2,” an international conference organized by ArtRole. We were part of a group of women artists and activists from the Middle East and around the world.

The best kept secret in this world is violence against women, though it’s not even a secret. It doesn’t have to be.

Let me tell you what happened, Doug. I stopped seeing straight. My vision got poisoned. I never told you this, but when I came home from my first trip to this country, I looked at human beings in New York and I saw strange creatures.