Bringing ‘The Other Step’ Back to the Stage – April 16 & 17

On March 8th, I performed my solo show ‘The Other Step’ for International Women’s Day. It was my first time performing this piece in English in Canada, during one of the darkest periods of my life as an Iranian woman. Since January, the Islamic Republic has killed thousands of our young people. Every day I was crying, reading news of executions and violence, feeling sick and exhausted — and at the same time, I was preparing this show.
The first performance was powerful and successful, so we decided not to stop.

Many people told us, ‘Now is not the time for theatre.’ But my director, Hossein Afsahi, and I felt the opposite. We believed we had to stand by our people in Iran and stand by theatre. Art is our way to be their voice. That is why we chose to perform this show in English — to bring these stories to non-Iranian audiences in Canada.

Sometimes you don’t step onto the stage to perform…  you step onto it to speak what has long remained in silence.

This body, this voice…  is not only my story.  

It carries the stories of women, who were not seen, not heard…  and yet,  they are still standing.

Stories of women across the world, ending with the voices of Iranian women from 1979 until today.