 Good morning, everyone. Hello. Welcome to No Summary, Golden Threads online conversation with artists who don't fit in a box. My name is Sheila Deavitt. I use she, her pronouns. I am the marketing and engagement manager of Golden Thread Productions. By way of visual description, I am a light skin woman with long hair currently up in a braid. I am wearing a black sweater and sitting in front of a blue curtain. I am also currently sitting in a room with construction happening outside. Hopefully that noise won't be coming through. I will mute myself as much as possible to prevent any disruption. For those of you who don't know, Golden Thread is the first American theater company devoted to the Middle East. We were founded by playwright and director Taran Giyagizarian in 1996. And we are based in the Ramaytush Ohlone land, colonially known today as San Francisco, California. I would like to take a moment here to acknowledge the people of the land on which we live and work today, the multiple Ohlone tribes. Despite the atrocities of colonization and genocide, native communities persist today and are active in efforts to preserve and revive their culture. Whether we are immigrants displaced by political or economic events or us born for one or more generations, we all appreciate the human connection to land. This today is our fourth episode of No Summary for 2022 and our 17th episode since No Summary digital series launched in 2020. This live stream series of conversations with artists who don't fit in a box takes us on a journey behind the scenes of making theater at Golden Thread. I am thrilled to have here with me today, the three cast members from our upcoming production, The Language of Wild Berries, a US premiere by Iranian playwright Nagmeh Samini, which will open at Golden Thread in October. The play is directed by Taran Giyagizarian. We are delighted to have our founding artistic director return to direct this play. It was originally planned for a fall 2020 production. But we all know what happened to our 2020 plans. It was then produced as a radio play in 2021. And we are so excited to finally bring the story fully to life on the stage with this amazing cast. So now I will invite our performers to join us in the room. Please go ahead and turn your cameras on. Hello. Hello, Ziya. Hello. Hello, Dina. Hello. Damien, go ahead and turn your camera on. Also, if you're there. Good morning. I'd like to give a brief introduction and then turn it over to you to introduce yourselves. So Ziya, I'll start with you. Ziya Kalyia is an Assyrian Bay area native. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting from the Academy of Art University. In early spring 2020, he was performing the role of Azad in On the Periphery, a co production with Golden Thread and crowded fire theater company. Ziya, welcome. Would you like to take a minute to tell us about yourself? Yeah, that was an awesome introduction. My name is Ziya Kalyia. My pronouns are he, him. I'm from Pleasanton, California, grew up in the Bay area. Now I live in Los Angeles, California, which is also the native American land of the Tongva. I love performing the whole thing, right? You want to hold like me or that is that good? Okay. I love performing. I am I got my degree from Academy of Art in acting. I've been I'm an athlete turned actor. I played football my entire life. basketball, soccer rugby started performing at a young age. My grandma was an Assyrian singer. So there was a lot of singing and performing in the household. So that was a big she lived with us. That was a big influence on me. My dad's from Iran, his whole family is from Iran. My grandma is also from Iran. My mom was born in Washington. So that is me. I yeah, I what else is going on? I'm gonna be coming to the Bay area next week to start rehearsals. I'm excited. Fantastic. Thank you, Ziya. Damian, I'll turn to you next. Damian Seperi is a San Francisco Bay Area local actor with over a dozen theater credits. He was last seen with Golden Thread as Syed in the 2017 production, Autobiography of a Terrorist. Other Golden Thread credits include the Reorient Festival of 2015, where Damian performed in four different short plays. Damian, welcome. Would you like to take a minute to tell us about yourself? Hi, hello, everyone. Yeah, my name is Damian Seperi. I go by he and him or it depending on the time of day. So yeah, I've been acting in the Bay Area since 2006. This was something I was sort of around growing up. I'm actually from Iran. I was born and raised there. I moved to the US when I was 17 back in the late 90s. But yeah, I was because I had members of my family who were in the industry back back home. So it was something I was I was always curious about. And in my mid 20s, I started just taking acting classes and auditioning. And the more I did it, the more I liked it. So I'm yeah, very excited. I've known Torrance for for many, many years. So I was very excited to audition for her because I've never actually had the chance to work with her on a full production. We did the Reorient when she would step in and help out and direct a little bit. But it was sort of a secondary role she took with directly artistically. So very excited to take this role and work on this play because it's a very interesting story. And yeah, I'm very excited to be here. Fantastic. Thank you so much, Damien. Dina. Dina Zarif was born and raised in Iran and is a San Francisco based multidisciplinary performing artist. She performed as Leila with Golden Thread Productions in Leila and Majnun, a stage reading collaboration with Cal performances in 2016. As a singer, Dina combines Western classical singing with Middle Eastern styles. And some of her vocal credits include Golden Threads 2017. What do the women say annual event? Dina is also the artistic and managing director at the Red Poppy Art House in San Francisco. Dina, welcome. Would you like to take a minute to introduce yourself? Hello, everyone. I'm Dina Zarif. I go by she, her. As you mentioned, I was born and raised in Iran. I moved to US at age of 26. And it took me a few years to choose US as my new home. And I'm an architect. I studied urban landscape design for my master. So that was my job. And I never considered myself a full-time artist. It kind of gradually transferred to this career itself. And I started performing with singing, inquires, and then singing and creating my own ensemble, and then performing in different theater productions. I started theater with Master Bezai in Stanford Iranian Studies Department. I was very fortunate to be able to start theater with him. And yeah, I think that's all about me. Thank you so much, Dina. Welcome. Before we dive into our conversation, I'd like to take a moment to welcome folks who are joining us here on Zoom, as well as those tuning into the live stream on HowlRound. For those here on Zoom, please feel free to utilize the chat function to post your comments and questions throughout the conversation. So I'm going to ask an open question and whoever would like to go first with an answer, please just go ahead and jump in. When did you first perform on stage and what made you choose acting or singing or performing as a career? I'll go first. I think the first time I remember being on stage performing. When I was younger, The Wizard of Oz was my favorite movie ever. We had like two or three different VHS tapes of The Wizard of Oz. And I'd go around and I would name people in my family as like the characters and we'd like reenact the scenes and sing and dance in the living room. So when I was, I went to a camp when I was younger. And at the camp, they had like a talent show. And my mom's like, Oh my God, you can do the Scarecrow song. And in my mind, I'm like, Oh, this is it. All the practicing in my living room of being the Scarecrow. And here's my big break. So they like did me up. I had a whole Scarecrow outfit on. And I know the song like like Pat. So I get up. It's my turn. I get up on stage. I think I probably was like five, five or six years old. And get up on stage. I'm in the whole make up and everything. And the music starts playing. I'm not singing. I get really nervous. I freeze. And then I just start peeing my pants on stage. And yeah, and I'm like, and my dad tells the buddy story because he says that I looked at him and I was like, And now I'm thinking, I'm like, well, everybody knew because it was everywhere. And and yeah, and now I've done many musicals since. So I guess we've grown. That's a great five year old moment. Yeah. When anybody else like to share first performance on stage or what made you choose to pursue this kind of work? I guess I'll go. So I my my first professional production was with a group named Dar Vag. And that was a production that Torange, I believe co produced. I don't know if it was golden thread co produced or just Torange. So yeah, I just I remember auditioning and doing that play right after right out of acting school and was very exciting. But the moment I remember thinking that this was sort of what I wanted to do seriously is it was two or three productions after that. It was my third play, maybe. And I remember waiting in the wings waiting to make my entrance. And I remember thinking after all these years, I'm still nervous. Why am I still nervous? And then I had a thought on maybe maybe like if I didn't want to become nervous, why shouldn't I become an accountant or something with more job security? So I remember thinking so maybe the nervousness is part of the fun. And then starting that one show, I started having fun with it. And that sort of opened up a whole new avenue for me, you know, and that's when I realized I like I should want to do this for a living because it was so much fun, you know, that was probably 1517 years ago. Yeah, I also that reminds me of something that I've been taught as an actor as a performer and that if you don't feel nervous, that's when you should be worried because that nervous energy is part of the energy that we bring to the performance. And part of our work is learning how to channel that. Yeah, I think I'm gonna I'm thinking about it. The first time I was on stage, I was five years old. And it was a kindergarten production. And I remember I was a yellow bird. I don't think it was a chicken or anything. But I managed to block everybody with this small costume that I had. I have no idea how I did that. And then I had this huge mask and it moved during the play. And my face was kind of like tilted the entire time, which I didn't realize. So that was my first experience. And in the and then later in school in high school, I did some production, but it was not professional. Then in the US, I started also with Darwag production. I think it was 2014 or 13. And it was one minute of silence by Muhammad Yakubi and the director was Bella Warda. And after that, I continued with Messer Bay Zayi in Stanford University. Absolutely. Thank you. So I have a couple of different questions here. I want to return to acting in a moment. But when you're not performing, what are some of the other activities that how you spend your time? I know, Dina, you said that you also work as a landscape architect. Is that something that you still do? Or does managing the red poppy take up all your time? I wish I could live that hybrid right now. But right at the moment, managing red poppy is taking all of my time, especially opening up after 113 weeks of closure. So that is what I'm doing the most if I'm not doing anything artistically. And I also do rehearsals with my music ensemble. Sometimes some design, some costume design, if I can get And Zaya, you also mentioned that you're an athlete. Yes. Well, yeah. So I play basketball a lot. So out here in LA, there's a few places around the area. Outdoor, there's parks, there's LA fitness, 24 hour fitness, I live pretty close to. So I would say I play basketball about three, four times a week. And then I write. So I spend time writing more on me and my friend, who's also a Syrian, me and her are writing a play. And so we're meeting actually meeting today after this to get through that. So I write, play basketball. I really like spending time with my friends and doing karaoke or you know, going and doing things, seeing theater. There's a lot of great theater around here too. And I go to class a couple times a week just to keep the acting juices flowing and stay honed in. So yeah, just always honing the craft and working on fitness, trying to stay positive and energetic. Fantastic. Well, when you have something ready, we hope that you'll submit some writing to either our reorient or our new threads. Damian, what else occupies your time when you're not working on stage? I wish I had another artistic project like these guys I could that could share with you. But no, I'm a storage facility manager. I'm the onsite manager. So I live on location. So occasionally, I have to make sure everyone's behaving. But that's my full time job. That's what I do for a living. So yeah, I do a lot of that. I do a lot of reading. And sometimes I try writing like Ziya, but mine usually I usually hit a dead end very quickly and it stops. So yeah, it's a little bit of that and socializing and do sports, but I'm not serious about it. I just do it for exercise. So yeah. Anything on your reading list recently that you feel like sharing? I finally started crime and punishment. I have not touched those Russian classics yet. And it's it's it's very slow going because it's so dense and amazing. But yeah, I'm very, I'm very happy with it. It's amazing. Fantastic. Yes, enjoy. Thank you. So I want to turn return to acting or and or performing and talk a little bit about technique and process. And I imagine that this might be a little bit different for each one of you. Would anybody like to start in terms of how you approach in terms of training and technique or how you maintain your your skill set? Any thoughts about that? Well, I can maybe talk a little bit about my my sort of process about approaching a play is like if you if you look at the script I have right now, there's just you see tons of question marks. So I usually like to go in layers when I'm approaching a role. So I just do a very, very shallow read and then a little bit of a more of a deeper read and then deeper and then deeper. And that's how I like to approach it. So what you see in there is just lots, lots of question marks I have put orange. So clarifying things and making things more clear. And then the more we go, once we start the rehearsal process, the more we do the same scenes over and over, the more I like to add to it. I generally have like to have some general ideas about my character, but I don't like to make any sort of concrete decisions before starting rehearsals, because I think a lot of those are dependent on your castmates and director. So I like to be a little more fluid and open when I'm when I'm starting a role. But yeah, I go in layers and deeper. The more I do it, the deeper I like to get approaching script analysis and approaching character analysis and getting those first impressions, and then filling in a background, right? A story for how your character arrived at this moment in the play. Wonderful. Any other thoughts on technique or process? I think Damien said it perfectly. If I want to add to that, after I'm comfortable with the text, and of course, with consultation with, if I have access to the writer of the text, then I would communicate with the writer about that character that I'm performing. And I try to imagine her life outside of these lines and and see who is she, what is she doing when she's not saying these things when she's not doing these things. So eventually, I will just on the stage, it would be just a small window of her life. So it's much more consistent in my mind about like who is this person. So that really helps me. That is just something additional, I thought to say. Wonderful. Dina, I want to expand on that and then also come back and Zaya give you a chance to talk about this topic also. But Dina, you mentioned the writer. So the language of wild berries is written by Nagmes Samini, who is an Iranian playwright. And our production is translated by our founding artistic director, who will be directing this play, Taranjia Ghezarian. And so that brings up the the question of the writing and of language. And we're working with a translated script here. And I'm just curious, if any of you have any thoughts about performing in multiple languages, and how that might be? Does that ever affect your technique and your process? And I'm going to give you a minute to consider that and then come back to Zaya and give you a chance to answer my previous question just about technique and process approaching a script. I feel like I feel like with dealing with language, because language, for me is, you know, I really, I really get attached to people's lingo and people's cadence and and meeting different people like in life that remind me of other people in life, and how they talk and how they move. So I feel like when dealing with a script that was one language, and now is another language, and if we are switching languages throughout the script, I feel like it back to what you said about energy in the beginning is that it it's a different energy. So it's so with for me, like, if I'm like in the script that I'm writing as well, I go back and forth with English and Assyrian. And it's and it's very interesting because the way that I would express something in English, which is, you know, my main language that I speak every day. And then if I'm speaking to my parents or someone that is Assyrian, it's going to be a different energy. It's going to be a different point of view. It's going to be I can express myself differently. So I feel like for me, and most likely my character as well, that that way of expression and that that point of view that I'm coming from, the energy will be directed in a different way. And I feel like it is going to be more interesting. It's going to keep me more alive, because I don't know where it's coming from. Yes. So part of what we're talking about is language and looking at a script in terms of rhythm and cadence and people speaking styles, as well as how that informs character choices. Yeah. And part of that also is switching back and forth from one language to another and how that also shifts, you know, some some mental perspective and working in different parts of the brain, which is a fascinating aspect of language. Dina, may I ask you, because you talk about combining different singing styles, classical Western music and music inspired by Persian roots. Do you sing in multiple languages? I do. Yeah, I was going to actually talk about it. So I've been singing in multiple languages. And and the process for me was, I think rather different. And then this is the first play that I'm performing in English. So I'm going to see how it's going to work out. And then I can give you my experience. But for example, for this play, I started I started reading the the text in Farsi, I tried to find it in the original language, so I can connect with it in that deeper level. And then I read the translation and it's beautifully translated. But for me, it really helps that I had access to the Farsi language text to be able to connect with that character, and then understand the choices of the words that Karan made in translation. And also now I'm working as a part of the language, I'm working, I'm working with a dialect coach, which is an amazing experience I've never had. I never had a dialect coach working with me on a play. I've had dialect coach working with me on specific songs that it was in different languages, but it was a short piece, but not a full lens play. So now I'm I'm understanding a lot of different layers of when I'm switching the language from Farsi to English, how how my brain function, how I sometimes I put some emphasizes on some words that I shouldn't or it's just a beautiful learning process for me. But I'm in the middle of it. So I don't know how it's going to turn out. That is one of the exciting things about processes that is ongoing. And oftentimes there it's less important, the destination that we get to and more important, the journey that we travel on, which actually brings me to one of the themes of the play. So I want to offer for our viewers a brief synopsis of the language of wild berries. This play focuses on two characters, a married couple, Dhanya and Davud, and they are celebrating their wedding anniversary by traveling to the same seaside town where they spent their honeymoon. But on this trip, their 10th anniversary, the mysterious young man is following them. Who is he? What does he want? Trying to solve the mystery of the young man throws Dhanya and Davud into a time warp, recalling their past nine anniversary trips. They remember what they have forgotten. But will that be enough to save their marriage? So this is an introduction to this play, the language of wild berries. And we have several different themes here. One is about language. And these two characters, Dhanya and Davud, both are specialists in language. They both study classical languages. And one of the themes revolving around their anniversary and their relationship is on communication and miscommunication. So we've got two major themes in the story of studying languages and language as a vehicle for communication and when it works and when it doesn't work, when it breaks down. And those are big themes to get into. And I know we haven't yet started rehearsal, so we haven't yet had time to really dig into that in the rehearsal process. But I wonder if any of you have initial thoughts about language and communication and when it works and when it breaks down? I'll say something because it's funny, I have no experience in performing in different languages. But I have, because I am bilingual, so it's really interesting because when you look at the same play and the same character in different languages, I think they come across very differently as well. So I have, I've had moments in here when I'm thinking about Davud and what he's doing and what he's trying to do and just he seems like so, I don't want to say crazy, but he seems so neurotic at times, you know, but so I was wondering why he's behaving like this. And some of it will make sense once you see the play. But a lot of times what I would do is like, I would think so, okay, so he's saying this, what was he saying in the original language and I try to go back and I go, oh, okay, so he's doing that. It's not because he's neurotic, it's because he's, he's unhappy or he's tired or something. It's really interesting because the same line and the same situations come across really differently when you, when you switch the language over, it's the same words, same the same sentences, but that's something I did notice, but I couldn't speak about performing in different languages just because I've never done that. I think you bring up some very good point though that in translation, even though there might be the same words, there might be a different context or a different interpretation. And even if we're just talking about one language, the the interpretation of the words that we are trying to communicate can so easily be misinterpreted. I'd like to pause here for just a moment for any guests who might be just joining us. Welcome to Golden Threads digital series, No Summary, conversations with artists who don't fit in a box. We are here today with the cast of the language of wild berries. Let's see, I'd like to ask another question. And this is sort of coming back to technique or process, but more specifically around the actual performance on the day of performance. Or before we get to performance in rehearsal, if we have a five minute break in rehearsal, what's something that you like to do on that little break? So we're doing all this work getting into language, getting into character. What do you do when you step away for five minutes? It's a water. Five minutes, huh? I think I'm going to spend that that entire five minutes in the bathroom. I'm checking my phone over there. Well, also, I mean, the the rehearsal facility at Golden Threads is very nice, and there's a little, you know, kitchen. So having maybe some some tea would be nice, you know, spending time with my cast, getting to know them, especially us three are going to be doing a lot of a lot of work together. So getting to know both of them and their stories and and, you know, becoming friends with them is going to be a big one. So, you know, communicating. Yeah, so part of it I'm hearing is taking care of the physical instrument, right, making sure that you are watered and fed and nourished, and also taking care of our relationships with each other and checking in maybe in a little more informal way when we step away from the rehearsal table. Yeah, anything else? Any other thoughts on that? I'll ask another question. When we do get into performance. Are there any techniques or maybe rituals or other practices that you'd like to do in the five minutes before you go on stage? So, yeah, a big one for me is when I first started college, it was like a year after I had just stopped playing almost 10 years of football. So it was very much getting into my body and I studied Alexander technique. So a lot of like movement based stuff and, you know, allowing my neck to be free and all this stuff. And so I like to do a nice constructive rest, depending on where my energy level is at before the play and depending on the piece we're doing because again, I love performing. So right right before we're about to go on, I just get this burst of energy to just I could go for hours and hours. And so depending on where I want to hone that, I'll get into a little constructive rest, lay on the floor, you know, stretch out my arms and legs and make sure everything is in tune and free and I'm my breath, I'm on breath. And yeah, especially for this piece, without giving too much away, there's a lot of me speaking with the audience and a lot of me being here and there. So I, yeah, I'm not sure because we haven't started rehearsals yet of what exactly I have some ideas, I guess, but I'm a lot of this is going to be very physical for me, I think. And because he's very, again, with language, he's very vocal about how he's feeling. So I feel like that's going to there's going to be a lot of that physicality. So definitely making sure I'm physically warm and getting my voice all warmed up in my in my breath, for sure. And then giving both these guys a hug and then getting on the stage. Nice. I'm going to be probably hidden somewhere you can't find. I need to focus before the curtain call, like I'm always trying to find a corner to just just go to my zone. And and sometimes it's horrifying because there was a time that I almost miss the my my cue because I was just so hidden and I forgot about the time. So I personally try to do some breathing exercise and calm myself down because I get a lot of anxiety before going on the stage. And that happens every single time, no matter if I'm going to just sing on the stage or have a I don't know perform or just talk. But that's always there. And I'm always before the performance is I'm like, why I'm doing this to myself? I can do something else. I'm going to get out and I'm going to start designing architecture. And then after that, I'm like, OK, what is the next project? So that is my vicious cycle. I think I don't know what it is. I used to have a little ritual. So back in Iran, there's this I want to call this a it's maybe it's like a martial arts that's an Iranian martial art. It's called and it's it's a form of exercise for these guys who don't actually seem like to be in perfect shape. They go in and it's a semi religious experience. They go into this on this particular stage and they do certain exercises to music. But before they enter that little arena, they touch the ground and they sort of kiss it. It's like this. So anyway, what I used to do is before I right before my entrance, I used to touch the ground. I thought maybe I had ritualized it, you know, made it sacred somehow. But that's actually not something I do anymore. So yeah, aside from doing the physical and the speech warmups to get our instruments going, I don't really do much. But definitely be hugging Zaya. I'm waiting. I'm waiting for that big hug. Nice. So I want to ask about another theme from this story. So we've talked about two characters going on a road trip back to the place where they spent their honeymoon. And a road trip is, you know, a big part of the story. And so I'm curious about a couple of things. One is what are your thoughts on the journey versus the destination? This is sort of an open ended conceptual question. And what what happens between two people when you're on a long road trip together? And the other one is, do you have any stories that you feel like sharing today about a fun road trip that you've been on? Another story, but it has to do with peeing again. I don't I don't want to go ahead. I don't want that to be just my thing, you know, like, give me another piece story. This one wasn't me peeing. So it's good. Um, no, with that aspect of road trips, right? Where is the next rest stop? Right. Exactly. You know, I don't have any specific stories. But I do growing up. So I have two brothers and then my mom and my dad and then my grandma live with us. So there was always six of us everywhere we went. And my dad drove a green minivan. We called the green bullet. And any, I mean, we used, we there was a, I mean, we did a lot of road trips. We drove and I used to live in Washington before the Bay Area. So I mean, we drove from Washington to LA to visit family a lot. We drove to San Jose to visit family. We did a we did a from California to Colorado road trip. And it was all six of us in the car. So I mean, just there's no space, you know, two younger brothers who are just creating my I love my brothers. They're my best friends. But they're just crazy people. And and I'm crazy. And I'll, you know, I'll put that on me that I have wild energy, but they are wild, wild people. And, you know, being in a green minivan with them for almost 10 hours is insane. So there's a lot of I mean, there's a lot of little stories here and there, just, you know, everybody yelling at each other and and then singing and then watching movies. And well, the other thing we like to do was we had a little DVD player. Sometimes when we upgraded from the minivan to another vehicle, we had a little DVD player. So then we would drive, we would see other cars with DVD players, and we would try and guess what movie they're watching. So that was another thing that we'd look out the window and get a movie or they watch. So yeah, just I mean, I guess my main theme of whatever I started by talking about P and then now I'm talking about road trips is just being around family. I love my family and I love being around them and and yeah, spending time and getting to know to quote the great Tony Stark part of the journey is the end. So, you know, I like getting to know my family now that we're all older. I'm 25 and my brothers are 23 and my brothers 21. So just getting to know who they are in and out of college and it's it's been great. So yeah, that spending time with family in close proximity. Yeah, too close. So I think there's an interesting thing that happens on long road trips. Whether it's a family of six enclosed in a car or whether it's a married couple of just two people enclosed in a car. There you are. Both, you know, facing forward looking out at the road, most likely not necessarily facing each other like you might across the dinner table. And there you are for maybe three hours on a shorter road trip or 10 hours on a longer road trip and and there's a sense that that confined time that journey allows conversation to arise that might not in a different setting. And one of the themes in the play coming back to communication and relationships is this sort of breakdown of communication. And so I'm curious about this theme of being in an enclosed space for a long period of time and how that might affect communication within a family. Does that spark any thoughts for you? I mean, I feel like it doesn't affect Iranian people a lot because we all talk at the same time anyway. So it's a question of like two people talking at the same time or six people. Not a lot of words are being absorbed. No one's listening. You know, but what's I think interesting because this play is like you said, the entire story sets takes place on the road and they're going to different locations. And so why my guess is that that the set is not going to provide us with a lot of details. So it's going to be on the audience to sort of actively remember where we are and what's happening. You know, so I think that makes the theatrical experience is a little more interesting for the audience because they have to be more actively involved, you know, because the location of the story changes constantly. We're on the road. Yes, we actually have a question from one of our viewers. Our dramaturg is joining us today, Heather Rastavak Akbarzadeh, and she asks, Have any of you ever taken a trip on the same road in the play? The journey in the play is very specific. It is on the Chaluse Road. And she asked if any of you have ever traveled that road? Yes. Yes. Yes. It's very popular. If you grew up over there, especially in the Tehran area, our vacation spots were always in the north by the Caspian Sea, and that's a very popular destination. And that road is probably the second most popular road. So lots and lots of people take that road. Yeah, it's beautiful, absolutely beautiful, very, very slow going, very windy, it's very mountainous, but stunningly beautiful. Yeah. Yeah, I think there's not that much chances for you to stop on that and that road. So that's probably even harder to be in the car and being forced to continue that conversation that you do not want to go there and you need to just stay and listen. And that's what's going to happen in the play also. I love it that in one part of the play without giving anything away, but these two, the couple, they're both specialists on the language. So they should be good in communicating with each other. But they would lose that. Like there are parts that they can't even like they talk, but they don't understand each other. They're just saying some things that it doesn't make any sense. And I love it the way that Narmé wrote it and Torrance translated that. And at one point, Davoud says something that the car engine died, like the engine of our conversation. And I really like that line. It's just it summarizes the what happens between these two couples. And both of them maybe feel that they're they're not being seen or they're isolated, although they're talking, but they're not actually talking. So it is it is a hard situation for two people that don't understand each other to be in a car in that situation and not have any space to run away and they have to listen to each other. Yes, nice. I'd like to switch topics just a little bit and ask each of you. Do you have any particular advice that you might give to emerging actors who maybe don't fit in a box either? If you were to give them one tip about working in the world of theater in the United States, or if there is something that you might say to your younger self, what might that be? I mean, I could try because I mean, I think growing up and trying to become become adults and become romantically involved, we're always constantly trying to fit in, you know, we're trying to figure out what what would make us more popular, more attractive, blah, blah, blah, but you can never you can never completely achieve that. It doesn't matter who you are. No matter who you are, you're never going to completely satisfy someone else's standards of whatever that is. So as mundane and as repetitive and original, this as this advice is just be yourself. And if you're interested in the arts, you're lucky because you will probably be involved, be working with people who value diversity and being different a lot. So just take advantage of that and just be as weird and strange as you possibly can. That's my advice. I love that. Thank you. I have another question. And this actually comes from our Executive Artistic Director at Sahar. What does it mean to you to be in a full Iranian cast? It doesn't happen every day here in the United States. I have something for that. But let me I have I had advice. Yes, not like advice, because I don't have anything figured out and I'm just doing this. But someone wants when I came to LA and I was trying to find representation and stuff is that I want to I had a meeting with an agent who was just giving me some advice on things. And what he said was when people ask you like, tell me about yourself or who are you know how you want people to perceive you. So know what it is that you want, how you want to be represented and perceived by other people. So, you know, I heard that. But I also like what I take from that, but also my own thing is that earlier when I was I had like a poster behind me, I like Charlie Chaplin. One of my big things is smiles. So like, you don't know what people are going through and you don't know what just happened to them 10 minutes ago or a month ago or a year ago. So a smile can go a long way for somebody, right? And as a performer, I feel like that's my thing and I want to be able to get on stage and make people feel something, maybe realize things, maybe go, you know, leave wherever that is, whether it's their couch where they're watching on TV or a movie theater or or or live theater, preferably live theater. They leave. Feeling different and in a positive way, you know, there are many times where you hear people's say, like, I needed I needed to see that today, or I needed to hear that today, or, you know, you don't know how much that means to me. And you can take that face value or they really meant what they said. So that always when you're coming up and there's a lot of things being thrown at you and that's me right now. I mean, I'm coming up in this industry and whatever. I just know who I am and know what I want. You know, for other people. And I just have so much fun doing it. And there are people that are, you know, not taking it as easy out there and letting the industry hit them. And you just got to be positive around those people and don't let anything bring you down because you will make it. Did literally you like you will make it to wherever you want to make that success to you. You just need to keep going. What was the other question? That's really lovely, Zaya. Thank you so much for for sharing that. I'll come back to the other one in a minute, but I wanted to give a Dina an opportunity to share if there's anything that you would say to other actors who are coming up or to your younger self. Any thoughts about emerging performers who might not fit in a box? I think Zaya and Damien said it beautifully. And what I would say to myself like. I would say don't be harsh on yourself. And I think many people in the performing art industry, I don't know, singers, performers, they're too harsh on themselves sometimes and. Yeah, take it easier, honestly. And that that is something that I I always struggle personally. I always take take myself too seriously and that doesn't help me. So if somebody would have told me 10 years ago or 15 years ago that just don't be hard, you know, don't be harsh on yourself. Don't don't take these things too seriously. That would have been much easier for me. So, you know, because these these carrier has a lot of you can get a lot of rejections, you know, you may you might audition for something you might not get it. So you have to protect yourself from those emotions and not take them, you know, personally. And it's pretty hard to not to take these things personally. But I always try to say that, OK, if I was an architect and I and I failed in this in this plan or something that I designed. That feeling that is that is that is normal. But if I'm if I'm going to audition for a role and I don't get it, why I'm getting so, you know, sad and mad about it. It's just the same thing. It's so. I think what I would say is just don't be harsh on yourself. That is very important. You know, Robert Downey, Jr. has a really good quote and I there's profanity in it, so I won't use the profanity. But it's but it's. Listen, smile, agree. Then do whatever you were going to do anyway. So. Be stubborn. I mean, nobody can stop you and follow up. And follow up. Hi. Follow up. Yeah, never give up. I'm gonna say you're annoying, but they're going to be OK with that. I I annoy people. Let me tell you. Stop talking already. Could I ask, Dina, how long ago did you come from Iran? Do you have any performance experience in Iran at all? Beside from that yellow bird, I've I've performed. I've performed in choir groups in Iran and I sang in Iran as a. Peter, no, no, that was just in high school and I was actually under and, you know, I was always behind a camera. I was always taking video or taking photos, but I never considered myself. You know, to to be in front of something to be the the, you know, the focus of something I wanted to get the attention, but I never thought I would, you know, it was just too nerve wracking for me. And I never thought about it. And especially because in Iran, I was studying for my master's. I was very focused and I was, you know, architected. That was my thing. And I studied for a long time. I never had the courage to put that aside to do what I liked to do. And at the time that was singing, it was never acting and acting kind of happened to me, honestly, here. It was not something I chose. I was trying to get singing gigs and I was getting acting gigs instead. So, yeah, I don't know if I answered your question, but yeah, no, you did. It's just because of. So, like I said, I have relatives and family who are involved in the entertainment industry back there. So it was sort of like growing up when I was growing up and I was a child that I remember having hearing so many strict rules about what's allowed on TV and like, I remember this one that if like a man or a woman is sitting in a chair, then a person of the opposite sex is not allowed to follow them and sit in that chair if they get up within five minutes because their body heat might be transferred and that's not OK, according to Islam. That is not the country I grew up. No, but that's what I mean because my relatives just sent me some videos about this musical show where there's a operatically trained lady singing and I was it was completely mind blowing for me because it was not like that when I was growing up, you know. The I think the theater industry in Iran is amazing. For some reason, this industry is just whenever I get to go to Iran, I try to go and see a play and I'm always in shock like, wow, they're amazing actors and actresses, writers, directors, all of these like 30 nights of performances are sold out, something you don't see it here. For some reason, it's just it's just so beautiful over there. I don't know why, but. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know which generation, you know, I don't know your age, Damien, but I think it's I think it's enough talking, I think. I think we're supposed to be about like thirty seven or forty. Yeah, but when I grew up in Iran, there were there were a lot of strict rules, especially in the cinema, I think in the in the in the TV and cinema, it was much more than theater, because in the life setting, you can get away with things and then you can always say like, oh, we didn't know what happened or whatever. Even with singing, I mean, I know about singing. I knew that you could not sing as a soloist as a solo singer. You need to have another either female singer or male singer to sing with you. But if it was a life setting, that person would not sing that duo with you. So you will have a moment of solo and they wouldn't say anything. And sometimes they will come in and crash the entire, you know, program that you have and not they don't let you perform. We had that experience in our choir. I was born and raised in Mashhad, which is considered a very religious city. But actually, it has an underground art and culture going on because of that, you know, that whatever that's happening over there. So we couldn't see live music performances in our city because of the some some specific rules. So there was there were this beautiful performing art centered in in Asia for two hours from Mashhad, which we could see it over there. But then later on, it had changed. So I have I mean, I've been going back and forth to Iran, but I haven't been involved with the artistic community over there as much. But I've seen from the from what I've heard from my friends and what I've seen in the, you know, the productions, the pictures and the videos. I'm like, wow, this is Iran. Why I'm here. We have just a couple minutes left today. And I do want to revisit this question that Sahar asked briefly. What does it mean to you to be in a full Iranian cast here in the United States? It doesn't happen that often. I will let that to Ziya and Damien to talk about it because I've performed only in Iranian place before. I'll keep my brief and I'll go to Damien. When I first worked with Golden Thread, I did a staged reading. I'm pretty sure Damien was there. And this was probably like, I don't know how many years ago this was, but which play was it? Migrants. How many how long ago was that? Like four years ago, four or five years. Anyway, it's like four or five years ago and got to be around a lot of people that look like me. And I never had that before, ever. So it it's always something special to do the thing that you love the most in the world with your people. It's just different. And and that is why I'm super excited to do this with you guys. And although I'm going to be the only one in the room that doesn't speak Farsi, but it'll be it'll be it's just really awesome to submit on representation. So just bringing Iranian play with all the Iranian cast is just it's amazing. And I'm excited about it. For me, I mean, I don't want to sound a little careless here, but I think I mean, the. Main interest in fact for me is just talking to Dina and seeing how because we come from the same place of hearing and she's performed there. That for me is I have so many questions I want to talk to her about. We have a long road. Long car ride. Unintended. Yeah. Yeah, no, I'm curious to get to know these guys. But yeah, no, that's that's it for me. So Damien, I didn't know that you speak Farsi. I finished high school there. And yeah, my Iranian name is Farhad. If anyone can pronounce it, please. Well, we are at the hour. I would like to thank you all so much. We've come to the end of our time today. Many thanks to our guests, Zaya, Damien and Dina. Can't wait for us to start rehearsals next week. I would like to thank Howl Round for hosting this episode and this entire series. The program offered nine new episodes in twenty twenty one. We hosted around twenty seven artists from various backgrounds and ethnicities, including playwrights, directors, storytellers, makeup designers, artistic directors, founding members of emerging Mina theater companies, Swana queer artists, cultural advisors from Turkey, Egypt, Afghanistan, Iran, Lebanon, Palestine and the Mina diaspora. As a reminder, all no summary episodes live on Golden Threads website and on Howl Round. I'd like to thank our team always to Wendy Reyes, who is our live stream technician and to the rest of the Golden Threads, small but mighty team, including Sahar, Michelle, Linda and Heather. A huge thank you to our audiences without whom none of this would be worthwhile. The language of wild berries by Nugmes Amini, translated and directed by Toran Gizarian, will be performing live October 14 through November 6, 2022, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Sundays at 3 p.m. at the Protrero stage, 1695 18th Street in San Francisco. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit our website at goldenthread.org. If you're not already on our email list, please sign up to stay on top of our programs and events. If you would like to support our work and the voices that we bring to you, please consider making a donation. We are always looking for volunteers and board members. So talk to us if you're interested. It takes a village to make great art. Here. Thank you all so much and goodbye for now. Thanks, everyone. Thank you so much. Thank you. Are we done? Do we have any other participants with us here? Participants, we have eight participants.