In the company of friends--a reading of “Copenhagen”

I’ll have to warn you--this may look like I am showing off! I promise I can’t help it this time! This Saturday, July 10, 2010, I am going to a very special event. Three of my friends are reading Copenhagen, a play by Michael Frayn, translated into Farsi by another friend of mine! What’s more, the venue for the event is Central Stage, which is managed by another one of my friends! And guess what?! In all likelihood, the cozy and warm theater will be filled with many of my other friends!

Showing off aside, for those who live in this area and have a chance to come join me (and my friends!), there is something really special in store. Director Hamid Ehya’s translation of Copenhagen won the award for “Best Translated Play” from Iranian Playwrights’ Association in 2009. The readers will be Ari Siletz, Bella Warda, and Behzad Golmohammadi. Actor and director Mansour Taeed will be hosting the reading at Central Stage at 5221 Central Avenue in Richmond, CA 94804 at 8:00 p.m.

I hope you can join us if you live in this area. It will be a night to remember!

Copenhagen is a highly acclaimed two-act play by Michael Frayn, about a discussion among the Danish physicist Niels Bohr (1885-1962), his wife, Margrethe Bohr, and the German physicist Werner Heisenberg.

Niels Bohr received a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922 for his contribution to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics. Werner Heisenberg was awarded the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics for the creation of quantum mechanics and its application. Niels Bohr was a prominent scientist in Denmark whose life was in danger because he was half Jewish. Heisenberg was a high-ranking physicist in Nazi Germany. Both men had the theoretical knowledge of how to create a nuclear bomb. They were once on the same side of the scientific pursuit, but now stood on opposite sides of the war. During the course of the play, the two scientists go through what went on in a meeting at Bohr’s home.

Please see the reading's Facebook page.

Variety By "Bacheh Bad"

Ferdowsi's Bijan o Manijeh on stage in Tehran. Photo by Shahrooz Nabati for Iranian.com. Take a look at those costumes! I so miss Iranian theater. It's one thing we don't see enough of in these parts of the world.

I have been a "bacheh bad," neglecting my beloved blogs for many days now. I thought if I wrote that I was enundated with responsibilities and a little under the weather, I would encourage all to say nice things to me and I didn't want that. Bogzarim keh you guys are always very kind and nice to me, no matter what I say! My blues followed me from last week into this week and I was really mad that I couldn't shake them off. The cloud seems to be lifting now, and here I am!

My kids are so sweet! My younger son keeps telling me that he is concerned to see me working away into late hours of the night and waking up early to do some more work. It's gotten to the point where now when I hear him coming, I get up and go greet him so that he won't worry about me too much. Of course he sees right through me! He said tonight he wants to take me out to dinner soon. My older son and I chatted for a few minutes today about his leaving the house soon. He said he won't be that far and that he'll come visit and camp out here every chance he gets! I agreed but added that it just won't be the same not having him around the house all the time. And there we were, in the state of dread-excitement that the two of us seem to be hanging in these days.

My calendar seems to have become full again for August and September, with something to do every weekend. I get exhausted just looking at all the commitments I have made for myself again, even though I had promised myself I would save some weekends for chilling out. I am really excited about a fundraising event I will be organizing with a friend in August. I'm also excited about the Namjoo concert which will be happening in September. In September we will also have a family reunion around a family wedding in Southern California. Now that's something to look forward to and to be happy about! I'll get to see my brothers and their families, yippee!

My friend says a man she thought about seriously has been acting strange and remote, possibly wanting to end the relationship. My heart breaks for her pain, but I'm relieved they are figuring this out now, as opposed to later. I told her she should look for a guy who would think and act honored and delighted to have her in his life, because she is such a special woman. I hope she doesn't think I just said that to please her and to soothe her pains. I think everybody deserves to feel loved, respected, cherished, and honored in a relationship. Anything less than that isn't good enough, especially for my very special friend.

I will go to my third Persian Poetry class tomorrow night with Dr. Zari Taheri. She is teaching us about Nezami's Eskandar Nameh. Don't you think it bizarre that Nezami and other Iranian poets and authors have such a positive view of Eskandar (Alexander), the man who was responsible for so much destruction in Iranian history?! She is explaining that part of that positive light surrounding Eskandar in Persian literature is that Persians didn't like to say they were conquerred or defeated by an ordinary man, so they built him up to be a hero! I will write something about what I learn in that class when it's over next week.

Have a good Wednesday everybody. I promise to start posting regularly. I have missed this too much!

City of Tales

My parents, my oldest sisters, and even my sister who was only two years older than me were all dressed up to go see the play, Shahr-e-Ghesseh (City of Tales) in Tehran. They wouldn't take me. "No little children are allowed." I couldn't understand what made my older sister eligible and not me! I begged, I stumped my feet, and I cried, but it was no use. They wouldn't take me. Later that year, my father bought the gramophone record of the play for me and brought it home to make up for the hurt I had felt that night. Years later I watched it on television, and for years to come, its recording became a part of my nearest and dearest possessions, traveling the world with me, wherever I went. To this day, every now and then, I pull out the CD and play it to myself in the car, treating myself to a true story. The most unforgettable Iranian musical, now a part of Iranian tradition and memorabilia. There continues to live a sadness in me that Bijan Mofid had to die so young; that he didn't stay around to enjoy the fact that his creation has continued to live on for 40 years. Even when I ask young people whether they have heard Shahr-e-Ghesseh, they tell me they have. What other piece of music, art, or Iranian culture do I know that has reached so many Iranians inside and outside Iran across all ages? In writing and directing his Shahr-e-Ghesseh, Bijan Mofid created what is likely an artistic miracle in every sense of that word. My mind is brimming with memories and nostalgia about him and about Shahr-e-Ghesseh these days. Listen here.