ANDY WARHOL IN IRAN Extended Through July At Mosaic Theater Company

Mosaic Theater Company is extending the DC premiere of Andy Warhol in Iran to July 6, 2025. Written by Brent Askari and directed by Serge Seiden, this provocative, humorous portrait is a fictionalized account of the artist's infamous visit to Iran in 1976.

Asked by the Empress Farah to create pop-art portraits of the royals, Andy Warhol arrives in Tehran and is taken hostage by a fascinating university student, hoping to publicize his group's demands and get their “15 minutes of fame.” A life-or-death struggle ensues over revolution, responsibility, and the arts. Performances run at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. 

“I love comedies that count; plays that make you laugh and make you think,” said director Serge Seiden. “The play asks ‘What is the responsibility of the artist to society–and by extension the responsibility of any individual?' The play is a roller coaster of emotions–thoughtful, humorous and deeply moving. It's about truly seeing each other across deep divides. I also love tour-de-force acting opportunities for extraordinary creatives like multi-hyphenate actor Nathan Mohebbi and Alex Mills, whose physical-theater superpowers are no secret to DC audiences.”

“I am thrilled to welcome Serge back to the director's chair for this production following his previous work at Mosaic and throughout the DC community,” said Reginald L. Douglas, artistic director of Mosaic Theater. “The questions that playwright Brent Askari asks in this play are strikingly relevant: What is the value of art in a world of war? How do we find the humanity in a pop icon as well as for the people who often go unnamed and untold? What responsibility do we all share to help make our world a more just place for people of all backgrounds including those vastly different than ourselves? The questions are core to Mosaic's identity and provide a fitting close to our 10th Anniversary Season.”

About Andy Warhol in Iran

It's 1976, and less than 3 years before her exile, the Empress Farah beckons Andy Warhol to begin pop-art portraits of the royals in Tehran. When a fascinating University student takes Warhol hostage to publicize his group's demands, a life or death struggle ensues over revolution, responsibility and the arts.

A fictionalized account of Andy Warhol's real-life trip to Iran, Andy Warhol in Iran hums with intelligence and humor. Award-winning playwright Brent Askari affirms the power of art to transcend boundaries and connect across cultures and time. Serge Seiden returns to direct after Popular Productions of Hooded and Eureka Day, where he showed his skill at bringing dark, clever, spiky comedy to life.

About the Artists
Brent Askari (playwright; he/him) is excited to be working with Mosaic! Brent is the winner of the National New Play Network's Smith Prize for Political Theater for his play The Refugees, which was produced at Gulfshore Playhouse in 2024. Barrington Stage Company commissioned his play Andy Warhol In Iran, producing its world premiere in 2022; the play won the Berkshire Theater Critics Award for Best New Play of the season. It has since been produced at Chicago's Northlight Theatre and City Theatre of Pittsburgh. Other produced plays include: American Underground at Barrington Stage Company, Hard Cell at Geva Theatre, Cocktails and Travails (Winner of Neil Simon Festival's National New Play Contest and produced at The Theater Project), and Dirty Deeds Downeast at Penobscot Theatre Company. His play, Advice, is part of a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere, with productions at Florida Studio Theatre in Sarasota, B Street Theatre in Sacramento, and Florida Repertory Theatre in Fort Myers. Brent was part of HBO's New Writers Project and has written screenplays for companies including Paramount Pictures, Marvel Films, and MTV. Brent is a National New Play Network affiliate artist and a member of Mad Horse Theatre Company. Brent thanks his wife Reba and daughter Yasmine; he also thanks Mosaic's Artistic Director Reg Douglas, who directed an early workshop production of Andy Warhol In Iran, helping it along its journey.

Serge Seiden (director; he/him) is the Managing Director of Mosaic Theater Company of DC, which he helped to found in 2015. From 1990 to 2015, Seiden held many positions at Studio Theatre including Stage Manager, Literary Manager, and Producing Director. He is also a director. For Mosaic he most recently directed Birds of North America and Eureka Day. Other Mosaic credits include Ulysses on Bottles and Hooded; or Being Black for Dummies, which received the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding Original New Play in 2017. In 2013, Seiden received the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Director/Resident Musical for Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris... at MetroStage. His production of Bad Jews at Studio Theatre was nominated for four 2015 Helen Hayes Awards including Outstanding Director. Seiden also directed Studio's acclaimed The Apple Family Cycle and his productions at Adventure Theatre MTC—A Little House Christmas and Charlotte's Web—were both nominated for Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Production/ Theatre for Young Audiences. More directing credits include When January Feels Like Summer at Mosaic, Everett Quinton's A Tale of Two Cities at Synetic Theater, Freud's Last Session at Theater J, and Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing! at Olney Theatre Center. Other Studio Theatre credits include The Motherfucker with the Hat, The Golden Dragon, Superior Donuts, In the Red and Brown Water, Grey Gardens, My Children! My Africa!, Souvenir: A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins, and Old Wicked Songs. Seiden has been a faculty member of the Studio Acting Conservatory for 30 years where he regularly teaches courses in realism and Shakespeare. 

Alex Mills* (Andy Warhol) has local credits include: Frozen at Olney Theatre Center;:Wig Out!, Torch Song Trilogy, 2-2 Tango, and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at Studio Theatre; Shakespeare's R&J at Signature Theatre; The Tell-Tale Heart, The Tempest, Richard III , A Tale of Two Cities, The Man in the Iron Mask, Three Men in a Boat (To say nothing of the Dog) (Helen Hayes Nomination: Outstanding Supporting Actor), Othello (Helen Hayes Nomination: Outstanding Lead Actor), and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Helen Hayes Nomination: Outstanding Supporting Actor) at Synetic Theater. As an educator working with Synetic Theatre since 2008, he has specialized in physical theatre practices including fitness and the implementation of non-verbal techniques to enhance an actor's process of creation. He worked at Stephens College in Columbia, MO, teaching as a World Guest Artist and bringing devised Synetic practices and techniques to explore independent creation. Concurrent with performance, he also teaches with the Wolf Trap Institute as an Early Childhood Development Artist/Teacher.@millsacm

Nathan Mohebbi* (Farhad) is an actor and writer based in LA. His Film/TV credits include: NBC's Bluff City Law and Ellen More or Less; YoutubeRed's Sideswiped; Showtime's Masters of Sex; ABC Family's Chasing Life; Rabbit Bandini Productions' Child of God; and Universal Studios' Neighbors. Stage credits include: A Going Away Party Play at Boston Court Pasadena; Afterglow at Hudson Theatre; A Splintered Soul at International City Theatre; The Boy From Oz and Die, Mommie, Die! at Celebration Theatre; Hairspray at Flat Rock Playhouse; Funny Girl at 3-D Theatricals; The Taming of The Shrew at Hollywood Fringe Festival; and Dog Sees God at The Sherry Theatre.  He is repped by Authentic Management & Allegory Talent. 

The creative and Production Team for Andy Warhol includes Andrew Cohen++ (Scenic Designer), Jeannette Christensen++ (Costume Designer), Alberto Segarra++ (Lighting Designer), David Lamont Wilson (Sound Designer), Mona Kasra++ (Projection Designer), Deborah Thomas (Properties Designer), Sierra Young (Fights and Intimacy Director), Anahita Sepehri* (Stage Manager and Assistant Director) and Herbert Welch (Production Stage Manager). 

* Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. 
++ Member of United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829 of the IATSE.

Additional Events

Mosaic continues its Reflection Series, started in 2022 in conjunction with The Till Trilogy, with year-round programming that provides inroads for deep engagement with the themes of our plays. In addition to being an official partner of Capital Pride Alliance and a Featured Event in  World Pride 2025, events for Andy Warhol in Iran include:

• Tuesday, June 3, 2025 at 7 p.m. — DC Public Library Performance. As part of World Pride, join Mosaic at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library for a brief performance from Andy Warhol in Iran.
• Thursday June 5, 2025 at 11 a.m. — Intergenerational Matinee. After watching Andy Warhol in Iran together, students and seniors will engage in a post-show conversation with Mosaic's artists and one another.
• Saturday, June 7, 2025 at 3 p.m. — Persian Dance: Nomad Dancers on Mosaic's Stage. A post-show performance. Nomad Dancers is a world dance performance group from Washington, DC, specializing in dances of the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia. They have performed nationally and internationally, including at the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian Museums, and the White House.
• Thursday June 12, 2025 at 11 a.m. — Intergenerational Matinee. After watching Andy Warhol in Iran together, students and seniors will engage in a post-show conversation with Mosaic's artists and one another.
• Thursday, June 12, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. — Equality Chamber of Commerce Night. Before the show, join the Equality Chamber of Commerce for a night of queer community exploring a queer icon. Light refreshments provided, drinks available at the Atlas bar.
• Wednesday, June 18, 2025, at 7 p.m. — A Snapshot of DC's Queer Artistry. Join Mosaic at the Hill Center to meet and explore the work of some of DC's current queer artistic talent, exploring galleries alongside conversing with artists alike.
• Friday, June 20, 2025, at 7:30 p.m. — From Page to Stage: Persian Dramaturgy in Practice. Persian storytelling techniques and traditions stretch back thousands of years. Join Marjan Moosavi, educator, researcher, digital curator, and dramaturg at the University of Maryland, alongside Mosaic Education and Engagement Director and dramaturg Jacob Ettkin as they reflect on elements of historic Persian and Iranian theatrical aesthetics and how they appear in Andy Warhol in Iran.
• Saturday, June 28, 2025 at 3 p.m. — Artist Conversation. Curious about what went into the making of Andy Warhol in Iran? After the performance, come join members of the cast to hear about the process behind the production and their artistic practice.
• Saturday, June 28, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. — Open-Captioned Performance. This performance is open captioned.
• Sunday, June 29, 2025 at 3 p.m. — Artist Conversation. Curious about what went into the making of Andy Warhol in Iran? After the performance, join playwright Brent Askari alongside director Serge Seiden to hear about the process behind the play and their artistic practice.

Additional events and partner organizations include a Pride Performance in partnership with DC Public Libraries and a panel diving into Iranian history and how it impacts the story of Andy Warhol in Iran, with dates to be announced soon. 

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