Play, programs focus on challenges Iranian women face

April 1, 2016 Outreach, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

The University of Maine will host several public programs centered around a free performance of a play that offers historical and contemporary insight into the plight of women in Iran.

“The Poets and the Assassin” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 7 in Minsky Recital Hall on campus. The play portrays struggles Iranian women face against religious and cultural tyranny and counters stereotypes about women and Islam.

“Despite dealing with a very oppressive regime, Iranian women always manage to be present and participate in the political scene in Iran,” said Reza Jalali, the play’s author and coordinator for the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs at the University of Southern Maine.

“This story has remained untold. It’s amazing. Iranian women have always historically been in the forefront of a national struggle for independence, for freedom and for democracy, and they’ve paid a huge, huge price.”

The production will be performed by theater students from Bates College in Lewiston and directed by Kati Vecsey, a theater professor at Bates. The performance will conclude with the cast, director and playwright taking questions from the audience.

The 60-minute play takes place in five parts, each featuring a monologue from a different actress. In each scene, an Iranian woman from a different time period speaks to the audience about topics including history, art, protest and the struggles of Iranian women in today’s society.

Ahead of the performance, Jalali will speak about “Feminism in Contemporary Iran” from 12:30–1:45 p.m. in the Bangor Room, Memorial Union. The presentation is part of the Socialist and Marxist Studies Lecture Series.

At 8:30 a.m. Friday, April 8, the Honors College will host a panel and audience discussion on “The Poets and the Assassin” and related issues. The talk will be held during breakfast on the fourth floor of Colvin Hall.

Panelists will include Jalali; Maryam Kashkooli, an undergraduate economics major and member of the Honors College; Simin Khosravani, part-time faculty member in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics; and Niloofar Yousefi, a graduate student in the School of Forest Resources. Emily Haddad, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, will moderate.

The free performance is co-sponsored by many UMaine programs, including the University of Maine Humanities Center; School of Policy and International Affairs; College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; Honors College; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Department of History; Wilson Center; and International Affairs; as well as the Department of Theater and Dance at Bates College.

More information is available on the UMaine Humanities Center website and by contacting Liam Riordan, UMHC director, at riordan@umit.maine.edu or 581.1913.