Culture Days at Theatre Aurora

September 4, 2014 · 0 Comments

By Bruce Williamson

Theatre Aurora is excited to be participating in the national Culture Days initiative with a special presentation of a short reading from the theatre adaptation of Aurora resident Marina Nemat’s compelling, bestselling memoir, Prisoner of Tehran.

Prisoner of Tehran was the selected book of Aurora Public Library’s One Book One Aurora project. On Saturday, September 27, from 2 – 4 p.m., Ms Nemat will answer questions at the Library about her book and discuss her experiences at the age of 16 when she was held as a political prisoner in the notorious Evin Prison in Iran at the time of the overthrow of the Shah.

As an introduction to her presentation, members of Theatre Aurora will perform a short selection from Prisoner of Tehran which was adapted into a stage play by Maja Ardal and performed at Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto by the Contrary Company in 2012.

Those seeking the full theatrical experience will not want to miss a staged reading of the entire play performed by Theatre Aurora the preceding Thursday through Friday, September 18, 19 and 20.

For people unfamiliar with this type of theatre format, a staged reading follows the script in its entirety and will be accompanied by lighting, sound and visual effects to assist the audience in following the scene, location and time changes, and to help portray the moods, tensions and reactions of the actors as they become the characters in the script.

The theatrical adaptation of Prisoner of Tehran by Dora Award winning writer and director, Maja Ardal, was written to be performed by only three actors portraying more than 20 different characters. The script closely recounts the events and narrative of the book and will provide a chilling, provocative and moving evening of theatre as an inspiring preview to the short presentation as part of the Culture Days collaboration.

Theatre Aurora has been a proud contributor to the rich and varied cultural community of the Town of Aurora for 56 years, and we welcome this opportunity to collaborate with the Aurora Public Library in the presentation of this inspiring memoir.

This is a moving story of faith and survival, and given the current global mood of unrest and conflict, perhaps it is a story that will help to shed a bit of light into some of the dark places in our world.

The production of this staged reading falls outside the Theatre Aurora subscriber series, but everyone is welcome, and we encourage the people of Aurora to come and spend an engaging and entertaining evening at our local theatre on Henderson Drive.

Tickets will be available at the box office, or online at the Theatre Aurora website, www.theatreaurora.com.