August 30 – October 13 at Shakespeare & Company, directed by Dalia Ashurina
Shakespeare & Company presents the World Premiere of Awni Abdi-Bahri’s Three Tall Persian Women, directed by Dalia Ashurina and staged at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre August 30 through October 13.
Golnar, a punkish Iranian-American millennial, returns home to her mother Nasrin for the anniversary of her father’s passing and walks into hoards of family memorabilia that her grandmother Mamani has moved in with her. This comedic play is about generational differences, grief, control, and learning to let go; but more than anything, it’s a love letter to immigrant mothers.
Originally staged at Shakespeare & Company in 2023 as a reading in the Plays in Process series, Ashurina said that the play interrogates how and why societies police women’s bodily autonomy – from Iran’s “morality police” to the United States Supreme Court.
“We see how the women in this play are restrained by societal expectations, even in the safety of their own home – and how being honest instead of staying ‘peaceful’ can help each generation learn valuable lessons from one another.”
Tickets range from $22 to $72; preview performance tickets on August 30 and 31 are 10% off.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit shakespeare.org, or call the Box Office at (413) 637-3353.
About Shakespeare & Company
Shakespeare & Company was founded in 1978 by Tina Packer. Located in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, the Company offers performance, education, and actor-training opportunities year-round, and attracts more than 40,000 patrons annually with a core of more than 150 artists.
Awni Abdi-Bahri
(Playwright / Golnar)
Pronouns she / her
Awni is thrilled to be returning to Shakespeare & Co. after last summer’s Plays in Process series for this same play! Awni is a writer and actor based bicoastally in both LA and New York. Her previous writing credits include Three Tall Persian Women (the one act) at San Francisco Playhouse, Turbulence (a solo show) at Columbia University, and Fareeda’s Phantasias (a ½ hour comedy pilot) at semifinals with Sundance Episodic Lab. Awni is a proud member of Peacedale Global Arts’, an international Generative Writing Residency. As an Actor she has worked on Broadway in POTUS or Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive (Shubert Theatre); Off-Broadway: in Persian Pod (Ars Nova), Bismillah (Wild Project), and The Welcoming Committee (The Lark); TV and Film: Girls on the Bus (HBO Max), Evil (Paramount+), Ahamed’s Ramadan Diary (Comedy Central), and Eradication (Tubi). Awni is always keen to tell stories with universal themes that transcend borders and demographics, and yet remain deeply specific to the world they inhabit. She is currently especially interested in continuing to shine light on S.W.A.N.A. stories, in an effort to keep reminding the world that people are not their governments. She holds an MFA in acting from Columbia University. She dedicates this play to all immigrant mothers and the women of Iran. Zan, Zendegi, Azadi.
Dalia Ashurina
(Director)
Pronouns she / her
Dalia is an Assyrian-American director and writer whose work centers on theatricality and changing the prevalent narrative on Middle Eastern women. She recently finished her time as Associate Director of Sweeney Todd on Broadway, and previous to that, was the Resident Director at Phantom of the Opera. Last year in Spain, she directed the concert Omar Bashir’s Back to My Assyrian Roots. Her new play development work has been seen at Sound Bites, Wayward Artists Ensemble, San Francisco Playhouse, Dixon Place, Access Theatre, and heard on the Parsnip Ship Radio Theatre Podcast. She is an alumnus of the Allen Lee Hughes Fellowship in Directing at Arena Stage and UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts. Up next, she continues to write and develop Edessa of Baghdad with composer Avi Amon and will be directing Iraq, But Funny! Written by Atra Asdou at Lookingglass Theater Company in May 2025.
Lanna Joffrey
(Mamani)
Lanna Joffrey is an award-winning Iranian performer/writer working in the UK and US. She has enjoyed performing extensively in theater, film, audio projects and her spoken word, which has been published in print and online. Select Theatre: English (RSC & Kiln), Sister Radio (Pitlochry, Traverse, Tron, Perth…), I Call My Brothers (Gate Theatre), The Time of Our Lies (Park Theatre), The Eyes of the Night (Cervantes Theatre), Muse of Fire and Sonnet Walks (Shakespeare’s Globe), A Thousand Splendid Suns (A.C.T., Old Globe, Arena Stage & Seattle Rep), Soulless Ones (Hoxton Hall), Cause (Vaults Festival), The Profane (Playwrights Horizons), Troilus and Cressida, Measure for Measure,Timon of Athens and Julius Caesar (The Factory), They Promised Her the Moon (Old Globe), Measure for Measure (The Public), Richard III and Hamlet (Epic Theatre). Awards: NYFringe, IRNE & Ovation. Her critically acclaimed verbatim docudrama of women’s war stories, Valiant has toured throughout the UK/US and was published by NoPassport Press.
Afsheen Misaghi
(Shayan)
Afsheen Misaghi is a performer and two-time Tony Award® nominated producer (New York, New York, The Piano Lesson) based in New York. He has performed at numerous regional theaters including Mosaic Theater Company, Barrington Stage Company, Stageworks Theatre, American Stage Theatre Company, the Weathervane, and Gulfshore Playhouse. TV credits include Succession (HBO), The Blacklist (NBC), Blue Bloods (CBS), Power Book II: Ghost (Starz), FBI: Most Wanted (CBS), and Normal for Now (Amazon Prime). He received his BA in Theatre from West Virginia University, MFA in Theatre from the University of Florida, was a part of the 2022 ViacomCBS Showcase, and is a Fulbright alumnus.
Niousha Noor
(Nasrin)
Niousha Noor is a Los Angeles-based actress and writer. She stars in Sony Pictures Classics’ critically acclaimed film ‘The Persian Version,’ now available on Netflix. The recipient of the 2023 Sundance Audience Award, Niousha’s portrayal of Shireen, the resolute and unwavering matriarch, garnered widespread critical and audience acclaim. Noor can also be seen starring in the Netflix limited series ‘Kaleidoscope’ (#1 Show Worldwide) as FBI Agent Nazan Abassi. In 2020, she starred in IFC’s ‘The Night,’ opposite famed Iranian actor Shahab Hosseini, earning widespread praise from critics. Her other credits include ‘Here and Now’ (HBO), ‘Stitchers’ (ABC) and ‘9-1-1: Lone Star’ (Fox). Niousha is currently developing her screenplay, “Blue Flower.”
