
A month after I moved to Vancouver in the spring of 1994, I noticed an ad in the Persian newspaper about a group of people putting theatre together. They were hosting a meeting, and looking for people to join them. I went to that meeting and had an opportunity to read one of my poems. With my words and voice, the audience’s attention was drawn to me. Therefore, they quickly nominated me for their first theatre role.
After selecting the play, the players, the producer, and the director, it was decided that we would rehearse together every night for five to six hours until we were ready. It took six months for us to find our roles and memorize all the dialogue.
Successor was the name of the play
It was staged in the last days of December 1994 to an almost full house. It was met with great encouragement by everyone there. The audience applauded us for more than 5 minutes. Unfortunately, due to a disagreement between the producer and the director, we weren’t able to perform it more than once.
The story of the successor play was about a revolution. A former dictator was captured, and his three captors disagreed with one other to decide on the best way to use their new power. They represented three different groups; communism, capitalism, and the clergy; and each wanted a replacement in power that would only serve their own group. The play follows these three people, as they bicker with one another to seize power. They each only want their own group to have power. At the end of the play, these three collide with each other so hard that they faint on stage. The former dictator escapes from captivity, and returns to power, shooting his opponents.
This play is funny, but a bitter reality.
During the performance of this play, each of these players performs some ridiculous and funny actions, just to prove to others that succession is their natural right. The story of this play shows the leaders of different political opposition groups cannot tolerate each other when they have to share power. They each want power exclusively for themselves. Their action leads them to another dictatorship.
My character represented the religious class of the society, the pro-Muslim clergy. The lady actress’ character represented the rich or capitalist class pro-USA people, and the other character represented the pro-Soviet communist group.
I hope you enjoy watching this play