The Leeside New Work Series

The Leeside New Works Series is a workshop and reading series for Pacific Northwest artists.. Three writers are given a week of workshops, culminating in a public reading of their new work.

Join a reading of Naghmeh Samini’s upcoming work, The New Vocabulary of Theatre.

About Naghmeh Samini

Naghmeh Samini (PhD) is a playwright, scriptwriter, and lecturer in Dramatic Arts. Born in Iran, she earned her BA in Drama and MA in Cinema from the University of Tehran. She completed her PhD in Art Studies at Tarbiat Modarres University in Tehran, with a thesis focused on Drama and Mythology. Naghmeh was a professor at the University of Tehran for 15 years and has been an affiliate professor at the University of Washington (Seattle) since 2019.

Play Synopsis

Sara Farivar, a prominent Iranian professor of theater history in Seattle, believes that contemporary theater has lost its purpose and is in need of a new dictionary—with fresh concepts and definitions. However, in the process of creating this vocabulary,she must confront her own mysterious past…The arrival of a young man who has recently come from Iran and is set to be Sara’s assistant during his PhD studies in theater, intensifies her internal struggles.

This play is the result of six years of my life outside of Iran, in Seattle. It reflects all the political, social, and theatrical experiences of recent years. In this play, theater speaks about theater itself, and concepts such as love, immortality, the conflict between science and art, and the very nature of theater are challenged.