Philadelphia Fringe Festival is almost wrapped. You can check out this excellent writing from Leah Franqui about FORIEGNER’s Philadelphia run at Staged: Live Arts.

Next up: Scranton Fringe Festival on October 9th and 10th. Know anyone in the area, or Philadelphians with strong FOMO? Send them our way! Tickets are available.

After that, we are scheming toward a NYC premiere, and in conversations with UK presenters who expressed interest after seeing us in Edinburgh. We also continue to develop our next work, Super Compassionate. More to come.

Back in Philadelphia and jumping right into the Philadelphia Fringe Festival and producing for Cannonball.

In our final moments in Scotland, FORIEGNER was awarded a Bragi by Summerhall for performances that embody creativity, experimentation and excellence. We also received this thoughtful response from Anahit Behrooz, a journalist based in Edinburgh, which digs into the show's questions around identity and discomfort: "Drinking piss and refusing the theatre of representation" from Fringe of Colour.

The show has continued to evolve thanks to the 20+ performances during our Edinburgh run, and this month we’re bringing FORIEGNER home to Philadelphia for three performances as part of Philadelphia Fringe.

Aug 20, 2026

It’s a wild ride bringing an intentionally different, divisive, difficult work to the Edinburgh Fringe. I plan to write a longer article about it. Philadelphia is sadly laking in breadth and depth of arts criticism. Edinburgh has a different kind of problem, and is very invested in its star system.

**** The Guardian
“A show that is both wayward and intentional seems hellbent on destroying itself from within. Haghverdi does not want to be labelled as an Iranian, still less a minority; he resists being boxed in by his directors (Benjamin and Mason Rosenthal), and resents entertaining us even as he does so. His quest for perpetual reinvention leads to a Marmite show that is equal parts perplexing and delightful.”

**** Binge Fringe
“Foriegner is an unforgettable piece, if unpleasant. It feels more like performance art than clown, and certainly has a lot of passion within it. It is like if ‘Waiting for Godot’ and ‘American Pie’ merged into a clown show. This is a provocative show, raising big questions and challenging the audience to witness it.”

**** The List

“This show is surely the Fringiest of them all.”

**** Fest

“The more he assaults the audience’s sensibilities, the more they laugh.”

**** The Wee Review

“Rather than telling its audience exactly what to think, FORIEGNER leaves the room divided, uncomfortable, and unsure of where to stand.”

*** Scotsman

“Instead of coming across as transgressive genius, though, he mainly just appears traumatised.”

*** The Stage
“Doesn’t quite push the boundaries.”

*** The Recs
“The audience didn’t know how to respond … and though that discomfort was likely the point, it also fragmented the audience immediately into two camps: those who saw … a painful statement by an Iranian immigrant struggling to find his place in the world, and those who thought it was a comic bit.”

Our audience reviews are also a blast to read.

A week before we leave for Scotland, and then a week after that we open FORIEGNER at Summerhall for the Edinburgh Fringe. Right now we have about 90 tickets sold? Ben, Sohrab, and I are hoping that we can get a buzz going in that first opening week and fill houses as get deeper into the run.

There’s a whole Philadelphia crew bringing out shows, and Ben has created a nifty website for The Philly Special. Spread the word!

FORIEGNER is a “must-see” in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival according to The Guardian.

We’ve landed in Colorado, home of Sohrab’s alma mater, the University of Northern Colorado. Go Bears!

We can’t wait to hold our opening performance as part of the Denver Fringe Festival tomorrow night. Tickets are available here.

We are working hard on FORIEGNER in preparation for its Denver Fringe Festival run and subsequent international premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. But we need you help! Please consider making a donation here.

Fascist Groove is back! Performance lecture meets punk rock concert. Margaret Thatcher, the rise of neoliberalism and the cultural resistance that emerged in the UK between 1976 and 1990. Co-created with Janine Renee Cunningham and Matt O’Hare.

PHILADELPHIA: Friday, 4/24 and Saturday, 4/25 at Studio 34 as part of Philadelphia Theatre Week

BALTIMORE: Thursday, 6/25, Friday, 6/26 and Saturday 6/27 at Le Mondo

We've also partnered with PM Press and will have a selection of their books at all of our upcoming shows.

FORIEGNER tickets are on sale for our Edinburgh Fringe Festival tour at the renowned arts venue Summerhall! You can see more information about their festival lineup in this press release.

Marsha Blovotnick and the Marvelous Magical Chicken Soup is Barrymore Recommended. And some reviews are in: Broad Street Review and Burd Reviews.

Marsha Blovotnick and the Marvelous Magical Chicken Soup by Dan Kitrosser is open!

Check out the press release here, and some photos from Ashley Smith.

We’ve just wrapped our fourth workshop devising what will become America Again, the next project I am leading with Lightning Rod Special supported by Creative Capital. I’m hoping to get some photos and video from the workshop together to better represent the project here on my website. This project will likely premiere at the end fo 2027.

Tomorrow, I head into rehearsals for Marsha Blovotnick and the Marvelous Magical Chicken Soup by Dan Kitrosser.

I’m also hard at work putting together a tour of Foriegner with the hopes to take it to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival come August.

I’m back from Thailand with some great news: I’m a Creative Capital Awardee!

This is a prestigious and extremely competitive (50 winning projects out of ~5000 applications) national arts grant, and I’m very proud of everything it's taken to get to this point. Feel free to contact me if you want to chat about grant writing (I think I've gotten much better at this in the last two years) and all the unseen labor (rejections) it takes to get lucky. This award will support the development of America Again, the next project I am leading with Lightning Rod Special.

I'm also excited to announce that March will be my return to scripted acting. I'll be acting in a scripted work for the first time in a long time playing the Nephew in Marsha Blovotnick and the Marvelous Magical Chicken Soup by Dan Kitrosser.

Super Compassionate was excellent. Audiences had a lot of enthusiastic feedback and Sohrab, Ben, and I got a lot of good information. Perhaps a Philadelphia Fringe 2026 8 hour version? But that’s for later.

For now, I’m headed to Thailand for the next two weeks on my belated honeymoon! Happy 2026!