Humor, Drama and Pathos Combine in Andy Warhol in Iran at Mosaic Theater
Andy Warhol in Iran
Mosaic Theater
Jordan Wright
June 2, 2025
Nathan Mohebbi (Farhad) and Alex Mills (Andy Warhol) in Mosaic Theater’s Andy Warhol in Iran. (Photo/Iwan Bagus)
In our digital age, an artist with a Polaroid camera and a penchant for telephone chitchat, seems rather quaint, but that’s exactly how Warhol started before achieving his massive empire. An awkward Polish kid from Pittsburgh brings his artistic interests to New York City and whammo! Within a few years he’s moved into his film and recording studio, The Factory, managed the band Velvet Underground, and is hanging out with artists, celebrities, socialites, wealthy patrons and odd ducks.
I’d often see Andy in Max’s Kansas City, where artists from the Lower East Side would congregate. He was always with an entourage. Ghostlike he would swan in while his colorful followers would captivate the room flitting from table to table. Though his shock of white hair and sunglasses would make him instantly recognizable, he would shrink into a back booth to watch the effect. Andy was a voyeur, an archivist, an artist, and social catalyst.
Andy Warhol in Iran opens with a few small familiarizing scenes that touch on his early life and his penchant for the telephone. “I just love talking on the phone,” he coyly confesses. Video projections reveal the Pop Art pieces that brought him fame – the Campbell’s soup can and later, silk screen portraits of Elizabeth Taylor, the dress designer Diane Von Furstenburg, Chairman Mao, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, a politically insulting one of Richard Nixon that got him in trouble, and Jackie Kennedy, to name a few of his iconic silkscreen images. Fairly quickly, Warhol realized that these could be reproduced, and along with the business savvy of friend and confidant, Fred Hughes, the money and social influence rolled in.
Alex Mills (Andy Warhol). (Photo/Chris Banks)
This one-act play imagines a moment in time when Warhol was summoned to Iran to do a photo shoot with Empress Farah Pahlavi who was married to the Shah of Iran. The royal couple were the darlings of American high society. although the Shah had built one of the most repressive police states in history – responsible for propping up British and American oil interests in Iran through the torture, arrest and murder of its citizens. All this is cleverly examined in the play and sets the stage for the planned kidnapping of Warhol from his Teheran hotel by a small radical group seeking international publicity for their cause.
The action really begins to ramp up when room service arrives to Andy’s hotel room. After cordial exchanges, the waiter points a gun at Warhol and tells him he is being kidnapped for political reasons. Warhol protests that he is apolitical, “I find politics really abstract,” he insists. But Farhad is wild-eyed and desperate and over the course of the play they fight about art, politics and humanity. I won’t go any further into the plot which expands and deepens their relationship in ways increasingly electrifying and suspenseful. And although the kidnapping or threat of it never happened, the story reveals the precariousness of human and political relationships
Nathan Mohebbi as (Farhad) and Alex Mills (Andy Warhol). (Photo/Chris Banks)
Veteran actor Alex Mills inhabits the spirit of Warhol, segueing effortlessly from light-hearted, self-absorbed humor to a portrait of an artist with a tragic backstory and fierce sense of survival. He is evenly matched by Nathan Mohebbi’s dark and dangerous portrayal Farhad, a university student and Iranian revolutionary. When the two men eventually bond over their respective tragedies, emotions shift.
This is a fascinating play filled with drama, humor and pathos. Kudos to Playwright Brent Askari and Director Serge Seiden for bringing it to life.
Scenic Design by Andrew Cohen, Lighting Design by Alberto Segarra, Costume Design by Jeannette Christensen, Wig & Makeup Design by Larry Peterson, Sound Design by David Lamont Wilson, Projections Design by Mona Kasra, Assistant Director and Stage Manager Anahita Sepehri and Intimacy and Violence Director Sierra Young.
Through July 6th at Mosaic Theater at the Atlas, 1333 H Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002. For tickets and information call the box office at 202.399.7993 or visit www.MosaicTheater.org.