Director's Note

Growing up in the Dallas Bahá’í Community, I have always been impressed by the artists that have connected their craft with their faith. Examples of this include Concert Fundraisers, Dance Performances, Musical Devotionals, etc. As a theatre-enthusiast, I have always been eager to join this trend, but I never knew where to begin. Coincidentally, when searching for plays to direct for a school assignment, I came across a play titled A Dress for Mona by Mark Perry on the Bahá’í Library Online. The name "Mona Mahmudnizhad" was familiar to me, as I recalled studying her story a few years ago in a Junior Youth Camp. I remember being incredibly inspired by her story at such a young age, and thought to myself, what better way to share this story than through a language that is so natural to me: the language of theatre. With this being said, I quickly contacted the playwright for performance rights and he graciously granted me permission to perform the Abridged Version of his newest adaptation of this play, titled A New Dress for Mona. Everything else fell perfectly into place: the Plano Bahá’í Center allowed for me to utilize their space, a group of phenomenal actors auditioned for this play, and a team of people agreed to serve as the technical crew. Our intentions were to conclude our journey after the Dallas Production, however our play was so well-received that we obtained a plethora of invitations to perform in other cities. This brought us to the Houston Bahá’í Center, the Austin Bahá’í Center, and now, the Coppell High School - Ninth Grade Campus.

In light of the recent circumstances in Iran, with the "Woman. Life. Freedom" campaign, I felt that there was an urgency to present this play. Iran is just one example of many countries that fail to grant basic human rights to all of their citizens. With that in mind, I felt that the best way to approach this play was to present it as an Iranian story in an American lens. Elements of this play, such as the set and costumes, are culturally ambiguous. There will be a handful of Iranian-specific components, such as Persian rugs, compulsory veiling, Revolutionary guards, etc. However, other portions of this performance will be tied to other cultures -- primarily American culture. I made this decision to provide some familiarity, I do not want to convey the idea that Iran is an "other". As stated by the Prophet-Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, Bahá’u’lláh, "The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens".

-- Anisa Hosseini