Brent Askari

Brent Askari

Brent Askari is a Persian-American writer and actor. He is the winner of the NNPN Smith Prize for Political Theater for his play The Refugees, which received its world premiere at Gulfshore Playhouse in 2024. Barrington Stage Company commissioned his play Andy Warhol In Iran, producing its world premiere in 2022; the play won Berkshire Theater Critics Award for Best New Play of the season. Chicago's...
Brent Askari is a Persian-American writer and actor. He is the winner of the NNPN Smith Prize for Political Theater for his play The Refugees, which received its world premiere at Gulfshore Playhouse in 2024. Barrington Stage Company commissioned his play Andy Warhol In Iran, producing its world premiere in 2022; the play won Berkshire Theater Critics Award for Best New Play of the season. Chicago's Northlight Theatre produced a second production of Andy Warhol In Iran in early 2023 and it will be part of City Theatre of Pittsburgh's 2023-2024 season. Some of Brent's other plays include American Underground (Runner-up winner Bonnie and Terry Burman New Play Award, produced at Barrington Stage Company 2019), Hard Cell (PlayPenn Conference 2017, produced at Geva Theatre Center in 2019), White Party (Semi-finalist for O’Neill Conference, Finalist Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Finalist Ashland New Plays Festival), Digby’s Home (Semi-finalist O’Neill Conference, produced at Mad Horse Theatre); Cocktails and Travails (Winner of Neil Simon Festival’s National New Play Contest and produced at The Theater Project); Bending Reeds (Semi-Finalist Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Blank Stage Living Room Series); Dirty Deeds Downeast (Finalist, B Street Theater New Comedies Festival, produced at Penobscot Theatre Company). In addition, Brent has had plays produced at or developed by Florida Studio Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre LA, Florida Repertory Theatre, Vital Theatre, The Boston Theatre Marathon, Palm Beach Dramaworks, New American Theatre, The Drilling Company, Swarthmore College, Eastern Connecticut State University, and the College of Southern Nevada. Brent has also been a finalist for the Actor’s Theatre of Louisville’s Heideman Award and the Reva Shiner Comedy Award. He was part of HBO’s New Writers Project and has written screenplays for several companies including Paramount Pictures, Marvel Films, MTV, and Reveille Entertainment. He is an ensemble member of Mad Horse Theatre Company and an affiliate artist of the NNPN.

Plays

  • Andy Warhol In Iran by Brent Askari
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, political
    In 1976, the artist Andy Warhol, having re-invented himself as the portrait painter of the rich and famous, travels to Tehran to take Polaroids of the Shah of Iran’s wife. Amidst taking in the Crown Jewels and ordering room service caviar, Warhol encounters a young revolutionary who throws his plans into turmoil.
  • The Refugees by Brent Askari
    Recommendations: 7
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: comedy, drama + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, political, satire
    After a civil war in the United States, the Sutton family from Connecticut flees the country, ending up as refugees in the Middle East. The Suttons find themselves impoverished and in the minority, struggling for existence in their new home. Winner of the National New Play Network's Smith Prize For Political Theater.
  • White Party by Brent Askari
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
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    Keyword: satire, Politics + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, political, satire
    Keyword: satire, Politics, confused white people, Surreal, Farce, comedy, cultural and racial divides, middle eastern playwright, American/Middle East Personal Politics
    John and Laura Baron throw their annual White Party -- however, when none of their guests arrive, they grow confused and angry. Feeling like victims and wondering why this is happening to them, John and Laura harbor suspicions toward Mary, the African-American cook; Nando, the Hispanic bartender; and Hank, a Middle Eastern man who shows up even though they didn’t invite him.
  • Advice by Brent Askari
    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: comedy
    Genre: comedy
    ADVICE is a three-character comedy of manners that concerns Ron and Joy, a professional couple who learn that their biggest screw-up of a friend, Gary, has somehow managed to get a self-help book published by a small press. The couple attempts to persuade Gary that he should not quit steady employment to pursue dreams of becoming a life coach; however, in their attempts to set Gary straight, they end up...
    ADVICE is a three-character comedy of manners that concerns Ron and Joy, a professional couple who learn that their biggest screw-up of a friend, Gary, has somehow managed to get a self-help book published by a small press. The couple attempts to persuade Gary that he should not quit steady employment to pursue dreams of becoming a life coach; however, in their attempts to set Gary straight, they end up uncovering secrets that throw their relationship into chaos.
  • American Underground by Brent Askari
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: drama, horror + 3 more
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    Keyword: Middle East, Dystopia + 6 more
    Genre: drama, horror, mystery/thriller, political, science fiction
    Keyword: Middle East, Dystopia, Arab, Politics, thriller, espionage, American/Middle East Personal Politics, middle eastern playwright
    An interracial couple enjoys a visit from their college-aged son when a young Muslim woman arrives at their back door looking for safe passage via a new Underground Railroad.
  • Hard Cell by Brent Askari
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: Middle East, Islamophobia + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, farce, political, satire
    Keyword: Middle East, Islamophobia, Farce, comedy, racial prejudice, Arab, racial profiling, Persian, American/Middle East Personal Politics
    Hard Cell is a comedy concerning Nick Abtahi, an Iranian-American professor whose car breaks down during a cross-country road trip. When a tough local thug falsely identifies the mild-mannered Nick as a terrorist -- and threatens his life -- Nick feels he has no choice but to pose as a bomb-wielding terrorist merely to stay alive. As the situation spirals out of control, Nick uses his attackers' own...
    Hard Cell is a comedy concerning Nick Abtahi, an Iranian-American professor whose car breaks down during a cross-country road trip. When a tough local thug falsely identifies the mild-mannered Nick as a terrorist -- and threatens his life -- Nick feels he has no choice but to pose as a bomb-wielding terrorist merely to stay alive. As the situation spirals out of control, Nick uses his attackers' own Islamophobic stereotypes and fears against them, manipulating the situation in order to survive a modern American nightmare.
  • Exiled Kings Of Persia by Brent Askari
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 5 more
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    Keyword: middle eastern playwright, Middle East + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, docudrama/historic, drama, period, political, tragedy
    Keyword: middle eastern playwright, Middle East, Iranian-American, Persian culture, Iranian, 1970s, Texas, Politics
    EXILED KINGS OF PERSIA takes place in Texas in the late 1970’s. Fereydun is a recent college graduate who dreams of opening his own night club back home in Tehran. He tries to recruit his friend, Mehdi, to be his business partner; they fly up to New York to check out Studio 54 as research. Fereydun’s hopes shatter because of the Iranian Revolution; when Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran, Fereydun’s final...
    EXILED KINGS OF PERSIA takes place in Texas in the late 1970’s. Fereydun is a recent college graduate who dreams of opening his own night club back home in Tehran. He tries to recruit his friend, Mehdi, to be his business partner; they fly up to New York to check out Studio 54 as research. Fereydun’s hopes shatter because of the Iranian Revolution; when Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran, Fereydun’s final illusion implodes. He suffers a mental breakdown where he calls upon the ancient kings of Persia to come save him.
  • Bending Reeds by Brent Askari
    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: comedy, drama
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    Keyword: family, Persian culture + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: family, Persian culture, Persian-American actor, Iranian-American, Middle Eastern Americans, middle eastern playwright
    BENDING REEDS concerns Ali Farzan, a Persian screenwriter who comes home to Boston to attend an early screening of his first produced movie. However, when Ali’s mother learns that his movie features Middle Eastern stereotypes, arguments ensue that expose decades-old family secrets involving key moments in Modern Iranian history… and cause Ali to confront his own identity as a Persian-American.
  • Trigger Warning by Brent Askari
    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: comedy, political + 1 more
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    Keyword: absurd gun violence, Farce + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, political, satire
    Keyword: absurd gun violence, Farce, NRA, a comedy of errors
    Gun rights lobbyist Ralph Meers accidentally shoots himself in his hotel room before a major speech. He then attempts to cover it up, leaving disaster in his wake.
  • Digby's Home by Brent Askari
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: comedy, drama
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    Keyword: Maine, new england + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: Maine, new england, comedian, family, awkward encounters, modern comedy of manners, Stand-up comic
    Digby’s Home concerns Digby Preston, a prop comic living in Los Angeles, who returns to his small New England town after his first national television appearance. He arrives home hoping that, after his newfound brush with fame, he will finally receive the respect and admiration that he’s felt he’s always deserved – from his family, his ex-girlfriend, and the kids who pushed him around in high school.
    He doesn’t.
  • Cocktails and Travails by Brent Askari
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: comedy, farce
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    Keyword: Farce, cocktails + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, farce
    Keyword: Farce, cocktails, family, party, broad comedy, comedy of errors, slapstick, physical comedy, hilarious
    Greg has arranged a nice, quiet, intimate cocktail party with his wife, Emily, and his stuffy colleague, Professor Stilton. A perfect evening could mean Greg achieves tenure at the college. But when Professor Stilton arrives, Emily and the hors d’oeuvres are missing, Greg’s mother-in-law insists on crashing the party, and Greg’s deadbeat brother is convinced he can somehow help. And what on earth is in the...
    Greg has arranged a nice, quiet, intimate cocktail party with his wife, Emily, and his stuffy colleague, Professor Stilton. A perfect evening could mean Greg achieves tenure at the college. But when Professor Stilton arrives, Emily and the hors d’oeuvres are missing, Greg’s mother-in-law insists on crashing the party, and Greg’s deadbeat brother is convinced he can somehow help. And what on earth is in the punch? Things couldn’t get any worse. Or could they?

    WINNER of the Neil Simon Festival National New Play Contest in 2015. FINALIST for the Reva Shiner Comedy Award and the Mountain Playhouse International Comedy Competition.
  • Dirty Deeds Downeast by Brent Askari
    Cast: 
    4–7
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    Genre: comedy, mystery/thriller
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    Keyword: mystery, comedy + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, mystery/thriller
    Keyword: mystery, comedy, comic mystery, Maine, new england
    Dirty Deeds Downeast concerns hapless policeman Gerard who has the jurisdiction of a small Maine island. The problem? Nobody takes the poor guy seriously as law enforcement.