The Girl Who Lost Her Smile

THE GIRL WHO LOST HER SMILE

Adapted from the story by Karim Alrawi

Presented by Golden Thread Productions’

Fairytale Ensemble

Featuring Suha Araj, Ava Bayani-Kazerouni, Nojan Bayani-Kazerouni, Jen Colasuonno, Carol Ellis, Vida Ghahremani, Sahar Hojat, Tehmina Khan, Sena Soleimannejad, Torange Yeghiazarian, and Chelsea K. Zephyr.

Backdrop designed and painted by Termeh Yeghiazarian

Props and construction by Garrett Westfal

Technical Director Kayumars Hekim

Inspired by a poem from Rumi’s Mathnavi, The Girl Who Lost Her Smile features Golden Thread Productions’ Fairytale Ensemble. Presentational concept & additional dialogue by Torange Yeghiazarian. Persian Poetry by Fedowsi from the Shahnameh or King’s Book of Kings. Originally developed and co-directed by Dariush Irannejad.

SUHA ARAJ likes to get her hands dirty in art, film, acting and anything else that combines a little movement, thought and heart. She has preformed with Golden Thread and Darvag theatre groups in San Francisco. Her films and art installations focus on identity and displacement have shown both locally and internationally.

JEN COLASUONNO is a versatile performer, choreographer, collaborator and teacher. If anyone asks how she became a performer she says that it was through pure exploration and play! Jen has performed partner balancing acrobatics, physical comedy, acting, singing, dancing, aerial arts, puppeteering, fire arts and circus sideshow internationally - as a soloist and as part of a troupe: www.jencolasuonno.com

CAROL ELLIS holds an MFA from Columbia University. She has worked in Poland, Bulgaria, Russia, Chile, California, Massachusetts, and NYC. She created the role of Tia Choco in Tortilla Moon, a new play for children that debuted at the World Children's Theatre Festival in San Diego, CA and at the Centre de Cultura in Tijuana, Mexico. She founded The Ochlos Theatre Workshop in 2004.

VIDA GHAHREMANI began acting in film as a teenager in Iran where she established the standards of stardom.Vida is an associate artist of Golden Threadwhere she performed in Abaga and Nine Armenians.A member of the Screen Actors Guild, Vida has performed in numerous Iranian and American films, most recently one by Wayne Wang.

SAHAR HOJAT Born in Iran, Sahar lived in Paris where she studied Greek and French theatre. In the US, she has concentrated on dance and reciting Persian poetry. She is a principal performer with Ballet Afsaneh and studies Kathak with Padit Chitresh Das. She was in Golden Thread Productions’ Island of Animals, and is happy to be back in theatre.

TEHMINA KHAN is a poet and educator with a long time interest in storytelling and children's theater. As a parent, she has taught science, puppetry and storytelling to preschoolers. She speaks Urdu, Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese and loves to learn new words. She lives with her family in San Francisco.

TORANGE YEGHIAZARIAN writes, directs and acts for the Theatre. Among her plays are Call Me Mehdi, Waves, Dawn at Midnight, Behind Glass Windows, Abaga. A native of Iran and of Armenian heritage, Torange is the founding artistic director of Golden Thread Productions.

CHELSEA K. ZEPHYR is a performer, director, teacher, and writer. Upon her arrival to the Bay Area in 1996, Chelsea founded Splash Circus, a local youth circus-theatre troupe based in Emeryville. Currently, Chelsea directs original productions, teaches theatre arts and juggling, and performs locally. She most enjoys Commedia dell’Arte, club passing, and her son, Julian. Not in that order.

Also Featuring AVA and NOJAN BAYANI-KAZEROUNI and SENA SOLEMANNEJAD, past participants of Golden Thread Productions’ Theatre Camp. Thank you to the Solemannejad, Bayani & Kazerouni families for their support.

LITURATURE and POETS

KARIM ALRAWI (Author) was born and raised in Egypt, and lived in England from an early age. Some of his earliest plays were performed at the Royal Court Theatre and the Theatre Royal Stratford East. He taught at the American University in Cairo, becoming active in the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights. Now living in North America, Alrawi has had productions at a number of theatres in Canada and the US including Deep Cut, produced by Golden Thread Productions.

Rumi was a 13th century Persian mystical teacher, poet and storyteller who lived in the present-day Turkish city of Konya. He was the founder of the order of the Whirling Dervishes, who use music and dance to achieve a mystical state of worship. The order continues to this day. His two major works are the Mathnavi and Diwan-e Shams-e Tabrizi.

Ferdowsi lived from 940-1020 in Persia, in what is present-day Iran. He was a great poet, and worked for 30 years on his masterpiece, known as Shahnameh, or King’s Book of Kings, an epic tale of heroes in ancient Persia. Ferdowsi wrote during a time when Arabic was known as the main language of science and literature. By writing this masterpiece in Persian, he gave new life to the Persian language.

Nizami was a poet living in present-day Azerbaijan from 1141-1203. He wrote several short and epic poems, many of which had a far-reaching influence on poetry throughout the world. He is most famous for Khamseh, a collection of five epic love poems, including Leyla and Mejnun and Khosrow and Shirin.

Attar lived from 1142-1220 in present-day Iran. He started life as a pharmacist, but eventually abandoned his store in order to travel and spread the mystical ideas of Sufism. He is a famous mystical poet, and his works, like The Conference of the Birds, had a great influence on Rumi and many other Sufi poets.

The Girl Who Lost Her Smile

LITURATURE and POETS

FURTHER READING