Theater for the New City and Et Alia Theater, in association with Aurora Nova, present:
White Rabbit Red Rabbit
by Nassim Soleimanpour
Produced by Luísa Galatti and Ana Moioli
Performed by Maria Müller
March 13th, at 8pm
Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue
New York, NY 10003
Will you participate? Will you be manipulated? Will you listen? Will you really listen?
With no rehearsals, no director, a different actor each night, and a script waiting in a sealed envelope on stage, internationally acclaimed White Rabbit Red Rabbit, by Iranian writer Nassim Soleimanpour, is an audacious theatrical experiment and a potent reminder of the transgressive and transformative power of theatre.
Forbidden to leave his native Iran, Soleimanpour wrote a play which travelled the world in his place. The audience joins each different performer on a journey into the unknown; stumbling upon the personal and profound, the limits of liberty and ultimately where theatre can take you. Since its joint premiere in 2011, the play has been translated into over 25 different languages and has been performed over 1000 times by some of the biggest names in theatre and film, including actors Whoopi Goldberg, Nathan Lane, John Hurt, Simon McBurney, Stephen Fry, Sinead Cusack, Marcus Brigstocke and Ken
Loach.
Synopsis: Visionary playwright Nassim Soleimanpour was denied a passport in his native Iran because of his status as a conscientious objector. Unable to travel, he decided to write a play which could travel the world in his place. “White Rabbit Red Rabbit” requires no director or set, and a different actor must play the single role at every performance. This makes for a unique, thrilling experience for all. The audience joins a different performer each night on a journey into the unknown; stumbling upon the “personal and profound, riffing on the limits of liberty and exploring where theatre can take you, with or without a passport.”
On an otherwise bare stage there is a ladder, a table and a chair. On the table there are two glasses of water, a spoon and an envelope containing the script. Told in the author’s voice and using allegorical animals to make its points about power and society, the play is described as intense, comic and unnerving. Despite the lack of director or rehearsals “White Rabbit Red Rabbit” is a powerful and audacious theatrical experiment that has been celebrated worldwide as one of the most astonishing evenings in theatre. Through audience participation as you’ve never seen it before, both audience and actor create a heartwarming, genuinely original piece that defies national boundaries, censorship and a longer description!
Since its joint premiere in 2011 in Edinburgh and Summerworks festival, “White Rabbit Red Rabbit” has been translated into 20 different languages and has been performed over 1000 times by some of the biggest names in theatre and film including actors Dominic West, Arthur Darvill, Stephen Rea, John Hurt, Katie Dickie and Siobhan Redmond, comedians Sue Perkins, Phil Jupitus and Mark Watson, and filmmaker Ken Loach.
As an invitation from Aurora Nova, for the second time, this performance will be part of Let There Be Theatre – A Call to Action on March 13th.
“Friday, the 13th of March 2020 was the day most theatres in the world had to shut down. Initially it was thought that the closure would last just one month or maybe two or until July at the very last. It soon became (…) the longest theatre shutdown in modern history.
We want to mark the anniversary of that day by creating an extraordinary global event that celebrates live theatre and the resilience of our sector. An event that generates much needed income as well as hope and inspiration in this time of uncertainty and isolation. On the 13th of March 2022 in all countries in the world we want a play to be staged. A play which is living proof that creativity can overcome adversity. At 8pm in every time zone there will be a multitude of shows starting at the same time for 24 hours, thus creating a massive theatrical community. Hundreds of performers will face
the daring task to read a text they have not seen before to a live audience and everybody will be present at the same moment.” Wolfgang – Aurora Nova
In 2021 92 theatres in 33 countries took part in this initiative and performed the play on the same day. Needless to say, the event will happen again in 2022, with the hope that even more theaters will take part!
The in-person performance will happen on March 13th 2022 at 8 pm
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Et Alia Theater is a NYC based theater company founded and led by international women. We bring together an unfamiliar combination of foreign and immigrant voices and offer them a space to explore their multicultural perspectives. We use our art to expose the obstacles experienced by immigrant women and empower our community. Et Alia is Latin for ‘And Other’: we create art for the other, by the other, and about the other.
Nassim Soleimanpour is an independent multidisciplinary theatre maker from Tehran, Iran. His plays have been translated into 20 languages. Best known for his play White Rabbit Red Rabbit, written to travel the world when he couldn’t, his work has been awarded the Dublin Fringe Festival Best New Performance, Summerworks Outstanding New Performance Text Award and The Arches Brick Award
(Edinburgh Fringe) as well as picking up nominations for a Total Theatre and Brighton Fringe Pick of Edinburgh Award.
By the time Nassim was permitted to travel for the first time in early 2013, his play White Rabbit Red
Rabbit had been performed over 1000 times in 20 languages. Since then Nassim has facilitated workshops and panels in different countries including World Theatre Festival (Brisbane), Tolhuistuin (Amsterdam), SESC Vila Mariana (Sao Paulo), Schauspielhaus (Vienna), DPAC (Kuala Lampur), Theatertreffen (Berlin), British Council (London), Asia House (London) and University of Bremen (Germany).
Nassim’s second play Blind Hamlet for the London based Actors Touring Company premiered at the 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and has since toured extensively around the UK and was received well in Bucharest and Copenhagen. His third play BLANK premiered in November 2015 at Dancing on the Edge Festival in Amsterdam and Utrecht followed by performances at Radar Festival in London.
2017 saw the premiere of Nassim’s latest play, the eponymously titled NASSIM which features the playwright himself on stage. Co-produced by the Bush Theatre in London, the play premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to great acclaim, winning the prestigious Scotsman Fringe First Award. Nassim now lives in Berlin with his wife Shirin and dog Echo, and tours the world with NASSIM while working on new material for the stage.
Maria Müller is a Romanian actor, writer and producer based in New York. She is also the CoFounding Artistic Director of Et Alia, a theater company led by international women. Her most recent theater credits include This is Me Eating___, directed by Debora Balardini, Where Are You? (Digital), as part of Mabou Mines’ 2020 SUITE/Space program, and On How To Be A Monster, written by her and directed by Federica Borlenghi. Her film credits include the feature film Queen Marie of Romania, directed by Alexis Cahill Sweet (available on HBO GO) and a short film she wrote, produced and starred in called Where Are You from Again? for which she won Best Actress at Indie Short Fest – Los Angeles International Film Festival and was nominated at the Paris Film Festival.
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