Revolutionary Guard!

Open up!

You know, the thing is, you watch a story, you know it's a true story, but it's still a theater show.

But When you actually see a person who stands up and says, yes, that was my story, It's like a very different feel, I think, for the audience members.

For the actors.

because it actually takes it a bit out of the entertainment or excitement into real reality.

Like there is the person who is tortured.

She's sitting in the front row watching this.

I've always loved theater.

I think from young.

I've wanted to act.

I remember we had Bahai summer schools growing up.

So I'd always ring up all my friends and we'd create a little theater piece and put it on at the summer school.

And this was the first time I produced a play.

So that was a big challenge.

when the project sits on your shoulders and you're trying to honor people.

Oh, I don't know.

I'm not very good with that.

It just sits there like this big weight.

My spirit was fine, had faith and knew it would be fine.

And like, my human side was just like, ahhh!

The director really helped because I remember just thinking like, oh my God, how are we going to get this to a professional stage?

she's like, we'll be fine.

They're fine.

They're okay.

Please, I must go with them.

And so and it was.

They all did fantastic.

The Baha'i Faith originated in Iran, and it's, about 200 years ago.

And ever since its founding, it's been very heavily persecuted.

Before the revolution, Iran was quite modern.

I mean, women in the main city would, yeah, could go to the beach and bikinis and miniskirts.

And they were being educated.

So they were really making great strides with human rights.

But because at the same time, there was a lot of corruption, that the Shah was eventually overthrown.

But they didn't realize that this revolution was now going to be hijacked by the religious element of society.

And then very, very quickly, they started implementing Sharia law.

After the revolution.

They decided they were going to finally stamp out the Baha'i Faith.

They started imprisoning a lot of people.

And then they would try and get them to recant their faith.

And when they wouldn't recant their faith, then they started kind of killing them.

And so this play traces the life of one lady, Rouhi Jahanpour and she was mysteriously released.

Till this day, she's not quite sure why she was released and the others weren't.

Throughout the play, she stands as Rouhi, sharing her story.

And then we have flashbacks to the prison.

And basically their story of faith and their story of their.

The strength of their human spirit.

She came to every show.

She sat right in the front row.

And having Rouhi in the audience was just so precious, I think because there was that person that I'm portraying that actually went through all of this.

We're all just human beings, but it's our circumstances that can make us into a hero.