A New Dress for Mona: A play

SYNOPSIS

A country in revolution. A dream of three dresses. 16 year-old Mona is finding out the meaning of love.

Shiraz, Iran. 1982. Fanaticism runs rampant in the streets, and Mona, as a Baha'i - a member of Iran’s largest religious minority - is the fanatic’s prime target. One night, she has an important dream. It is a dream of three dresses, each representing a different direction her life might take. In her dream and in her waking life, Mona makes her choice - a choice that will lead her straight into danger’s path. Based on a true account, this full-length drama raises fundamental and challenging questions about life, faith and sacrifice for all to consider.

The play is followed by over 40 pages of historical notes on the life of Mona Mahmudnizhad, her family and her community. These notes contain details of Mona’s life shared by her late mother that have not yet published in English. The availability of such rich, new material prompted this major rewrite of the original play published in 2002.

EXCERPT

MONA: I want to see this world changed, Mom. I want freedom and love and opportunity and joy and light for all the people of the world. And I want the children and the youth to take the lead. If they rose up and overcame the barriers that have separated us, if they learned to meet hatred with love, they could become a new race of men that the world has been waiting for, dying for! The world needs them, desperately, and I believe somehow, if I am strong enough to take this path before me, it will help them on their path. And they’ll change this earth into heaven. That’s what I want really. That’s my dream, Mom. And for that dream, I wish I had a thousand lives to give.

CAST

5 female; 5 male (minimum)