CAST & CREATIVE TEAM
MARY APICK
(Roya) In Iran: started as a child actor starring in countless films, television shows, plays; won the country’s first Best Actress Award at the Moscow Film Festival for Dead End. In the U.S.: starred in Monday Nights at Seven with Edward James Olmos, Price for Freedom with Sally Kirkland, Paul Sorvino, The Mission, Checkpoint, “Homeland,” several other award-winning films. As creator: Critic’s Choice play Beneath the Veil (Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Geffen Playhouse, others), short animated film The Cat (27 film festival awards, including Cannes, Berlin, Moscow Film Festival). Other honors: Maverick Award from Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival. Upcoming: writer, producer, director for documentary Jewel of the Desert in 2024. | |
ARI DERAMBAKHSH
(Goli) The Old Globe: debut. Credits: understudy for Goli, Elham in English (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), Feste in Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe), Irina Kahn in Inherent Resolve (Crossroads Theatre Company), Azadeh in Amrikayee (Rattlestick Theater). Education: B.F.A. in Acting from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers Conservatory at Shakespeare’s Globe. arideram.com, @arideram on Instagram. | |
TARA GRAMMY
(Elham) Theatre credits: Elham in English (Studio Theatre), writer, performer of the one-woman show Mahmoud (Best of Toronto Fringe, Patron’s Pick, Fringe NYC Encore Series Excellence in Solo Performance Award, Governor General’s Award nomination, Dora Mavor Moore nomination; published by Playwrights Canada Press). Television/film: host of “Persia’s Got Talent”(MBC Persia); hit romantic comedy A Simple Wedding, directed by Sara Zandieh, opposite Maz Jobrani, Rita Wilson, Shohreh Aghdashloo; “2042”(TBS); “S.W.A.T.”(CBS); Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero. Education: B.A. in Theatre Performance from University of Toronto. | |
JOE JOSEPH
(Omid) Broadway: The Kite Runner, The Band’s Visit. Off Broadway: 9 Kinds of Silence (PlayCo), The Fears (Signature), Merrily We Roll Along (Roundabout), Loveless Texas (Sheen Center), Baghdaddy (St. Luke’s), Genet Porno (HERE Arts). @gojoejoseph. | |
POOYA MOHSENI
(Marjan) Theatre: English (Atlantic Theater Company, Baltimore Center Stage), The Sex Party (Menier Chocolate Factory), Chonburi International Hotel & Butterfly Club (Williamstown Theatre Festival), The White Snake (Center Stage), One Woman (Theatre Row), She/He/Me (National Queer Theater), Our Town (Pride Plays), Galatea (WP Theater), The Good Muslim (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Death of the Persian Prince (NYMTF). Television/film:“Law & Order: SVU,” See You Then, Bound, Terrifier, Always Azizam, “Big Dogs,” “Falling Water,” “Madam Secretary.” Honors: Obie, Outfest Outstanding Performance, FilmOut San Diego Best Actress. Education: Maggie Flanigan Studio. Pooyaland.com, @pooyaland on Instagram.. |
SANAZ TOOSSI
(Playwright) Iranian American playwright from Orange County, California. Plays: English (Atlantic, Roundabout; Pulitzer Prize, Obie Award, Weissberger New Play Award, Kilroys’ List), Wish You Were Here (Williamstown/Audible, Playwrights Horizons; Stavis Award). Commissions: Atlantic Theater, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Manhattan Theatre Club, South Coast Repertory, IAMA Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Other: member of Youngblood, member of Lark’s Middle Eastern American Writers Lab, alumna of Clubbed Thumb’s Early Career Writers’ Group, P73 Playwriting Fellow. Other honors: Steinberg Playwright Award, Horton Foote Prize, Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award. Television: Five Women, “A League of Their Own,” “Invitation to a Bonfire.” Education: M.F.A. from NYU Tisch.
ARYA SHAHI
(Director) The Old Globe: writer, director, actor for The Old Man and The Old Moon, The Tale of Despereaux. Broadway: composer for Water for Elephants. Regional: The Old Man and The Old Moon (New Victory, Writers Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Wallis, Paramount Theatre), The Tale of Despereaux (Berkeley Rep), The Hunter and The Bear (Writers Theatre). Albums: Bremen, The Way I’m Running, Whole Sun. Novels: An Impossible Thing to Say (Allida/HarperCollins) and the forthcoming sequel. aryashahi.com, @aryashahi.
SADRA TEHRANI
(Scenic Design) (he/him/his) Iranian-born set and production designer, concept artist based in New York City. Honors: featured in The New York Times, BroadwayWorld, Time Out New York; awarded at various national, international festivals. Other: member of United Scenic Artists Local 829. Education: M.F.A. in Production Design from NYU Tisch. Recent credits: assistant art director for “Manifest” (Netflix), concept artist for “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live” (upcoming on AMC), scenic designer forSanaz Toossi’s English by (Alliance Theatre), associate production designer for Florence + The Machine’s Dance Fever Tour.
AFSANEH AAYANI
(Costume Design) Iranian American multidisciplinary artist. Credits: United States, Iran, China, Poland, Sri Lanka, Germany. Education: B.F.A. in Puppetry from Tehran University of Art, M.F.A. in Scenic Design from University of Houston. afsanehaayani.com.
AMANDA ZIEVE
(Lighting Design) The Old Globe: Crime and Punishment, A Comedy, Dial M for Murder, Hair, Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show, Tiny Beautiful Things, Barefoot in the Park, Native Gardens, The Wanderers, Rich Girl. San Diego: The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical, Put Your House in Order (La Jolla Playhouse), Evita, Cabaret, Rock of Ages (Cygnet). National: Off Broadway, Goodman, Goodspeed, Signature Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Bucks County Playhouse, Two River Theater, Music Theater Heritage, San Diego Symphony. Broadway: associate on Escape to Margaritaville, Bright Star, Allegiance; assistant on Hamilton; 15 other productions. Education: B.A. in Theatre from CSU Northridge. amandazieve.com.
MEGUMI KATAYAMA
(Sound Design) The Old Globe: debut. Off Broadway: The Light in the Piazza, The Life (NYCC Encores!), Regretfully, So the Birds Are (Playwrights Horizons), The Nosebleed (LCT3), for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (The Public), Our Brother’s Son (Signature), Generation Rise (Ping Chong/New Victory), The Gett (Rattlestick). Regional: tour of Cambodian Rock Band (as co-designer); Alley Theatre, Geva Theatre Center, Long Wharf, Yale Rep, Studio Theatre, Arena Stage, Everyman Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Cincinnati Playhouse, Kansas City Rep, Two River, Skylight Music Theatre, Virginia Stage Company, Dorset Theatre Festival, more. Education: M.F.A. from Yale School of Drama. megumikatayama.com.
Ana Bayat
(Dialect Coach) Multilingual storyteller with over three decades of experience in theatre, film, voice-over, translation, language/dialect coaching worldwide. Languages: fluent in U.K./U.S. English, Persian, Spanish, French; proficient in German, Catalan, Italian. Creator: critically acclaimed solo show Mimi’s Suitcase (NNF Grant in Innovative Arts, shortlisted for an Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award at Edinburgh Festival Fringe). Recent: coached Glenn Close to speak seamless Persian in the Apple TV+ series “Tehran,” dialect coach for English at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Barrington Stage, Studio Theatre (also as cultural and casting consultant). Education: conservatory training in the Stanislavski system, post-graduate diploma in Speech and Dramatic Arts, M.A. in Film and the Moving Image, M.A. in Audiovisual Translation, B.A. in Language and Linguistics (U.K.). anabayat.com, @theanabayat.
CAPARELLIOTIS CASTING
(Casting) The Old Globe: English, Exotic Deadly, Under a Baseball Sky, What We Talk About…, Dial M for Murder, Mala, Shutter Sisters, Hurricane Diane, Noura, They Promised Her the Moon, Tiny Beautiful Things, Barefoot in the Park, The Wanderers, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Skeleton Crew. Select Broadway: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Grey House, Ohio State Murders, Macbeth, The Minutes, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, King Lear, Hillary and Clinton, Ink, The Waverly Gallery, Three Tall Women, Meteor Shower, A Doll’s House, Part 2, Jitney, The Glass Menagerie, Blackbird, Disgraced. Additional theatre: MTC, Signature, Atlantic, Vineyard. Television: “New Amsterdam” (NBC), “American Odyssey” (NBC).
CHANDRA R.M. ANTHENILL
(Production Stage Manager) (she/her/hers) The Old Globe: The Merry Wives of Windsor, Exotic Deadly, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Trouble in Mind, Krapp’s Last Tape, What You Are, Tiny Beautiful Things, Globe for All (2017–2023), The Lorax, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Guys and Dolls, Camp David, The Comedy of Errors. Regional: The Garden, 2020 POP Tour, Junk (La Jolla Playhouse), Fun Home, Beachtown, Roz and Ray, Into the Beautiful North, Outside Mullingar, The Oldest Boy, Oedipus El Rey, Honky (San Diego Rep), El Huracán, Mud Row, The Last Wife, Bad Jews, Sons of the Prophet, True West, Fool for Love, Spring Awakening, Assassins, Company (Cygnet), Pippin (Diversionary).
ANJEE NERO
(Stage Management Swing)The Old Globe: Cabaret, Destiny of Desire, Come Fall in Love, Almost Famous, The Gardens of Anuncia, The Heart of Rock & Roll, Bright Star, Allegiance, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Benny & Joon, October Sky, Rocky Horror Show, Life After, The Wanderers, Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show, The Twenty-Seventh Man, A Room with a View, Kingdom, The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, Be a Good Little Widow, more. Broadway: Bright Star. Regional highlights: Bright Star (Kennedy Center), Fly, Sideways, Ruined, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Herringbone, The Seven (La Jolla Playhouse), Ruined (Huntington Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre), Kiss Me, Kate (Hartford Stage), Venice (Center Theatre Group), Antigone (SITI Company).