Three Tall Persian Women

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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.

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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.

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, The Blacklist, Blue Bloods, Power Book II: Ghost, FBI: Most Wanted, and Normal for Now. 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.

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Pooya Mohseni is a multi award-winning Iranian American actor, writer, filmmaker and transgender activist. Her stage credits include an Obie win in the Pulitzer and Obie winning play English (Atlantic Theater Company and The Old Globe Theater), the world premiere of The Sex Party (Menier Chocolate Factory) in London, Hamlet (Play On Shakespeare Festival), One Woman (United Solo), She,He,Me (National Queer Theater), Our Town (Pride Plays), Galatea (The WP Project), The Good Muslim (EST), White Snake (Baltimore Center Stage), and the Audible production of Chonburi Hotel & The Butterfly Club (Williamstown Theater Festival). Her film and television credits include Law & Order: SVU, Big Dogs, Falling Water, Madam Secretary, Terrifier and See You Then. She’s represented by Headline Talent Agency and TGTalent.

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Lyra Abbott is thrilled to be making their debut at Shakespeare & Company! They studied theater with a focus in Stage Management at Washington College and worked on productions of Antigone (2020) and She Kills Monsters: Virtual Realms (2021), as well as directing a production of God of Carnage (2022). They also spent a summer working as a production assistant for Berkshire Busk in Great Barrington. Around their theater involvement, they enjoy writing, both plays and prose, and spending time with their cats.

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Omid Akbari was recently named the 2024 Burry Fredrik Design Fellow, is a freelance scenic designer and costume concept artist based in New York. He started his career in Iran, where he received his bachelor’s degree in set design from the Tehran University of Art. He also holds an M.F.A in Theater Design at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, where his recent credits include the Dwight/Edgewood Project, Furlough’s Paradise, and Macbeth. At Yale Rep, he was the scenic designer for Wish You Were Here by Sanaz Toossi in 2023.

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Rachel Harrison is a St. Petersburg, FL based Stage Manager and Sound Designer. Fresh off a contract with Virgin Voyages as the Production Stage Manager aboard the Valiant Lady, she is pleased to be back at Shakespeare & Company for a third season. Rachel’s recent body of work includes an impressive 55 productions with Tampa Bay area theaters, American Stage, Tampa Repertory Theatre, StageWorks Theatre, Urbanite Theatre, and Broadway on the Bay. She also serves as "chief problem solver” for Your Real Stories Inc., a not-for-profit storytelling company committed to talking across differences through theatrical journalism Rachel is a Regional Representative of the Stage Managers’ Association and a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.

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Costume Design credits include: A Cry of Players, Suor Angelica/Gianni Schicchi, Carrie the Musical, The Coronation of Poppea, Peter Pan, The Producers, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Hairspray the Musical, and 42nd Street. In addition to her design work she has been involved with the management, construction and mounting of over 100 other productions.

Amelia Heastings is excited to be returning to the Shakespeare & Company this Summer season! Favorite stage management credits include: Shakespeare & Company: Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise, Hamlet: A Staged Reading, Golda’s Balcony (Berkshires 2023, Boston 2024); Pittsburgh Public Theater: Ken Ludwig’s Murder on the Orient Express, The Tempest; Greenbrier Valley Theatre: Frankenstein, Mountain Home Christmas; PICT Classic Theatre: After Independence, As You Like It; Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival: Much Ado About Nothing.

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Andrea is a Costume Designer born and raised in Colombia. She recently got a M.F.A in Theatre from the University of Florida where she designed multiple productions such as Antigone and Cabaret. Other credits include Three Sisters, Clyde's, Miss Julie and Romeo & Juliet at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory, and the world premiere of Ruby at West Coast Black Theatre Troupe. The last two years she's also been part of the NHSI Northwestern University summer camp where she has designed adaptations of An Iliad, Dracula, Box of Stories and more. She is beyond grateful for having the opportunity of working at Shakespeare & Company on their production of Three Tall Persian Women with such and amazing team.

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Erika is excited to return to S&Co for a fourth summer season. Before relocating to the Berkshires, Erika was based in New York City lighting for television, theater, and dance. She had the pleasure of designing shows for everything from Red Bull Music to Animal Planet; and spent full seasons with some truly fabulous institutions such as San Francisco Opera, New York City Ballet, Broadway, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Erika spent her summers before S&Co as the production manager/ head electrician for Adirondack Theatre Festival, putting on Broadway-bound productions like Nikola Tesla Drops the Beat, Loch Ness, Calling All Kates, and Beau. Erika has spent the last seven years traveling the world as the lighting supervisor for Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, a company of folks very close to her heart. She is happy to finally put down roots and call Shakespeare & Company her artistic home.