Fairytale Players Present
21 Days That Change the Year
by Torange Yeghiazarian
Have you prepared your Haft-seen?
Celebrate Nowruz, the ancient Iranian rite of spring with Golden Thread Fairytale Players latest offering. A fun-filled and adventurous performance that is sure to both entertain and educate the entire family!
March 15, 2014 - November 15, 2014
Various Bay Area schools & libraries
Written by Torange Yeghiazarian
Directed by Torange Yeghiazarian
Featuring Majd Murad, Mohammad Talani
Design Team: Mokhtar Paki (puppets & props)
Dance choreography by Lisa Tateosian
This production runs approximately 30-minutes followed by 20-min Q & A session
Appropriate for families and children, ages 5-15
This delightful performance frames an ancient tale from Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh within contemporary adventures of Dara & Sara, a sister and brother eagerly awaiting the coming of Nowruz. Guided by their sweet but somewhat hard-of-hearing granny, Dara & Sara learn about spring cleaning, setting a traditional Haft-seen table, the fun rituals of Charshanbeh-suri, and the Sizdeh-bedar picnic which concludes the rite of spring ceremonies.
This enriching and humorous presentation includes music, dance, storytelling, puppetry, and audience participation. Fusing history and literature with contemporary arts, 21 Days That Change the Year offers a multi-cultural event providing children and their families with the richness of Iranian arts and culture.
Testimonials
“Golden Thread Fairytale Players performance was an extremely fun and engaging way to teach young children about a different culture. It was especially impactful on my students, since one of them was leaving for Afghanistan the following day and was not aware of her family traditions.” -McGill School, Redwood City
“The Golden Thread Fairytale Players program was excellent. The students enjoyed the ingenious way the actors changed their parts. The kids went around mimicking the actors for days, especially the older woman.” -Hawes School, Redwood City
Cast & Crew
Majd Murad
Performer
Majd Murad
Majd Murad is very excited to return to Golden Thread after being involved in its workshop of The Fifth String this summer. He is a recent graduate of the Professional Training Program at Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre where he explored mask, clown, and melodrama in an ensemble-based setting. His recent work includes an acclaimed one-man show,Blood Fruitabout how he came out to his Catholic-Iraqi family. Visit majdmurad.com for more information on his projects. Majd is also an aspiring mask maker specializing in leather. Check out his work on artemasks.com.
Lisa Tateosian
Dance Choreography
Lisa Tateosian
Lisa Tateosian is excited to be working again with Golden Thread. She was a performer in Nasrudin’s Magnificent Journey to Samarqand and has worked on past productions as a choreographer (Love Missile, Learn to Be Latina)and as an actor (ReOrient 2004.) Lisa has been a performer with several Bay Area dance and theatre companies, including CTA/ Crossroads, Actors Ensemble in Berkeley, Khadra International Dance Theatre, Ballet Afsaneh and Opera Piccola. She has used her diverse dance, music and theatre background in her work as a Teaching Artist at several Bay Area schools and studios for the last nine years. Choreography credits include She Loves Me (CTA/ Crossroads), Hansel and Gretel(Golden Gate Opera,)School House Rock and Oliver! (California Theatre Arts.) Lisa earned an MA in Educational Theatre at New York University.
Torange Yeghiazarian
Director
Torange Yeghiazarian
Torange Yeghiazarian is the Founding Artistic Director of Golden Thread Productions, the first American theatre company devoted to the Middle East, where she launched such visionary programs as ReOrient Festival & Forum, Middle East America (in partnership with the Lark and Silkroad Rising), Islam 101 (with Hafiz Karmali), New Threads, and the Fairytale Players. Torange’s plays include ISFAHAN BLUES, 444 DAYS, THE FIFTH STRING: ZIRYAB’S PASSAGE TO CORDOBA, and CALL ME MEHDI. She is currently under commission by Philip Kan Gotanda to adapt his seminal play, THE WASH to an Armenian setting. Awards include the Gerbode-Hewlett Playwright Commission Award (ISFAHAN BLUES) and a commission by the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California (THE FIFTH STRING). Her short play CALL ME MEHDI is published in the anthology “Salaam. Peace: An Anthology of Middle Eastern-American Drama,” TCG 2009. Torange adapted the poem, I SELL SOULS by Simin Behbehani to the stage, and directed the premieres of SCENIC ROUTES by Yussef El Guindi, THE MYTH OF CREATION by Sadegh Hedayat, TAMAM by Betty Shamieh, STUCK by Amir Al-Azraki and VOICE ROOM by Reza Soroor, amongst others. Her articles on contemporary theatre in Iran have been published in The Drama Review (2012), American Theatre Magazine (2010), and Theatre Bay Area Magazine (2010), and HowlRound. Torange has contributed to the Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures and Cambridge World Encyclopedia of Stage Actors. Born in Iran and of Armenian heritage, Torange holds a Master’s degree in Theatre Arts from San Francisco State University.
Mohammad Talani
Performer
Mokhtar Paki
Puppet/HaftSeen Designer
Mokhtar Paki
Mokhtar Paki is a Bay Area visual artist, art teacher, and sometimes architectural designer. Mokhtar is the production designer on The Fifth String: Ziryab’s Passage to Cordoba. He also designed the puppets and props on 21 Days that Change the Year. In 2012, Mokhtar designed dozens of puppets for the shadow-play, Jana and Baladoor, written and directed by Bahram Beyzaie. Mokhtar’s visual art has been shown at the Persian Center, Canessa Gallery, Intersection for The Arts, and Oliver Gallery. His caricatures and illustrations have appeared in local as well as European publications. Mokhtar has an MA in Creative Writing, and has published several short stories and articles. His novel Shamayel-e-Mana was published in Sweden and Iran. His second novel, Shahrzad the Silent in under publication.