MONA
(holding phone, talking to her mother who's on the other side of a glass barrier)
Hi Mama. Hi... I know it's really good to see you too... I'm fine. It‘s just a cold... Yeah, three times a day. How are you doing?... Worried about what?... Like what?... Mama, please don't say that. (MONA wipes her nose with her sleeve.) It's just, It's just really good to see you... I don't know, I haven't really thought about it... I'm sorry, I'm just... I don't know how it looks to you out there, but from where I'm sitting... Don't be upset. I don't want you to be upset. (She sighs.) You're right. It's possible. I'm just tired. My body's tired. My mind's tired. (A beat.) Mom, I need to ask you something. Don't get upset... If they do execute me... That's not what I have to say. Will you let me ask?... Don't cry, Mama. It's really not sad, really... But if it does. If God wants to take me... But Mama, it's a great honor. (She shudders.) No, it's just... I know I'm not God, but you have to accept that it may happen! And if it does, what will you do?... Mom, but if it does, what will you do?... Mom, I need to... Mama, please listen to me. Please. This is important.... Are you listening?... I need to know that you'll be safe... Safe is that you'll have food to eat, a place to sleep... Mom, don't say that. You have to care... Please don't say that. You do still have a reason. Please. Please don't... Please don't put that on me. I have enough.
MONA
I’ll be honest with you. I didn’t expect to face this situation. I didn’t. But I have not been abandoned. I’m seeing things now... Life and death. They don’t mean the same things any more. Everything around us is telling us how fleeting this life is. But God is present with us in this very moment, Mr. Alizadeh. Do you feel Him? He doesn’t speak through human language, Mr. Alizadeh. He speaks in the heart. And sometimes it takes time to understand what He’s saying. (Standing, trembling.) I stand on my own. I have left the house of my father. My clothes are packed. My rugs rolled up. And I’m on a journey. To the abode of my lover. I am a bride. And this is my wedding day. This is my wedding dress. The dress I have chosen. The dress I have put on. And no one will take it off me... until my wedding night. And then only him.
YADU'LLAH (Mona's Father) monologue
FATHER
This mulla... What was his name? Could you point him out if you saw him again? Answer me, would you know him if you saw him? I'm going to track down Mr. Mulla if it's the last thing I ever do... (He picks up the phone.) I'm going to track down Mr. Mulla and I'm gonna... I'm gonna thank him! (Into phone.) Operator, give me Mr. Mulla on the phone right this instant. What? You don't know who Mr. Mulla is?! That fearless protector of the chastity of women?! (Hanging up the phone.) I need to find Mr. Mulla, and to thank him for setting my wife straight, for setting me straight and reminding me of my duty as a good Iranian citizen to beat my wife into line. Woman! You! Come to your husband this instant! (To MONA.) You! You, saucy girl! Give me that! (He takes her chocolate.) It's time I showed the women in this house who's who! (Breaking off a piece of chocolate and slamming it on the table in front of MOTHER.) Take that! Huh? How do you like that, woman?! You what?! Then take another! (He slams down another piece of chocolate.) And, you, saucy girl! I'll teach you to laugh! (He slams down a piece for MONA.) Oh, yes, I need to thank Mr. Mulla! And, by God, my women will thank Mr. Mulla too! (MONA & MOTHER say 'Thank you, Mr. Mulla!') More lashings to go around! (Slamming down the rest of the chocolate.) Oh, Mr. Mulla, how your lash has made everything right in the world! It just makes me want some too!
FARKHUNDIH (Mona's Mother) monologue
MOTHER
Where in hell are we living??!! (She covers her mouth in shame.) Hate. Hate. Everywhere, hate. These people, they hate. They’re filled with hate, and I don’t know why we stay. (Sitting.) I was coming back from the market with the bags and it was windy. The wind was blowing my chador, and this... this man, this mulla, stops me and shouts at me for not having my neck covered up, I’m unchaste and desecrating the name of Islam. He said if he were my husband, he would have me whipped. What could I do? Nothing. I have no power. Who am I? I’m nothing to him. Nothing.
ARAM
I like “Mona-Mona-Mona.” And that’s what I’m going to call you. (To Farah.) Farah, I took one look at your friend and decided that destiny is not something to run away from. Nothing can hold it back or frustrate it. This one is mine. Now, Farah, you love me too much to think rationally. I must admit that I’m only interested in your friend at the moment. Maybe if she and I don’t work out, you and I can take another stab at it. Now, now, don't protest! I can't just change my heart like that. Besides, what really interests me is why the two of you are here. (A beat.) You see, as I understand it, this piece of property was sacred to a certain reprehensible religious sect that all pious Muslims deem “unclean.” And I know Farah isn’t yet deep enough to be part of some esoteric cult... So I’m trying to piece this together. (To Mona.) When I first saw that face, I knew it was mine, from this world into the next -- And now I see my radiant damsel in this den of moral darkness and I can’t figure it out. How can this be unless you are... alas, Mona-Mona-Mona! ... a Baha’i?
ARAM (as RELIGIOUS MAGISTRATE) monologue 2
MAGISTRATE
Let us talk about "Baha'i." (Pause.) Baha'i says it is a religion. Islam says Baha’i is a political sect. The Twelfth Imam has returned, Baha'i says. My friends, if the Twelfth Imam had returned, I should not be standing here. He should be here, and I should be on the floor in humility like you. But here I am, and I ask: Where is Imam? (A beat.) But wait, you may say. Baha’is aren’t so bad, you may say. You see them around. They seem nice, you say. Before you know it, you’re seeking them out. Meeting them in back alleys, and they begin to fill you up with their poison! Filling your cup! The poison is sweet, they say! Drink it down, my friends, BUT KNOW!!! God reads your heart, even as I read this Qur'an! (With a thick guttural Arabic pronunciation) “Házá va enna letagheyna lashara ma’ábe, Jahannama yaslavanahá fabe’ass-al Mehádo!” This is what God has revealed! This plague will be eradicated from this land. Starting now. And you will do it.
FARAH
Okay, so he’s acting like he is in control, like he’s the man. And he works up his mouth like he just bit into a sour lime like I’m going to kiss that? Excuse me, little boy, I said. I said, two things you need to know. One, for the sake of humanity, don’t ever do your lips like that again. Two, you get nothing, nothing, unless you got a ring for this finger. This is what I said. I said it just like this. You want the control you get from Islam, but you like the freedom of the West too. But I’ll tell you one thing. Give me a veil or give me a mini-skirt. But keep your controlling hands off Farah unless you’re ready to buy the whole package. Sound like shopping? Maybe so, but this item is not on sale. He wants me, he pays full price. So where are we going?
MR. ALIZADEH
And again... (Leading some students through an English phrase.) "I would like to buy a kidney pie for my wife." (To audience.) Everyone, please. Yes, you too. (THE CLASS: "I would like to buy a kidney pie for my wife.") Not "vife"! Wa-wa-wa. Wwwwwwife! Speak it like an Arab! (Same phrase.) Now what about this word ordering? Does someone have it? Yes? The subject comes first! And what is that subject... Yes? The subject is "I." Now, class, is it necessary to include the word "I"? Are you sure? Class, is it not like Persian where you can just add the pronoun if you feel like it? Nooo. The English are very impatient, you know. They don't want to wait til the end of the sentence before they figure out who's doing what. The subject is first. Yes, please continue, what is next? The verb comes next! Exactly, those English are so impatient they need to know right away what's happening and who's doing it. Where's the poetry in that, I ask you?! Huh? Huh? Persian, you see, is a circle. You need the whole of it to understand any of it, but the English, the English are in such a hurry, they hear the headline, the "who" and the "what" and, bam, they're off to colonize another part of the world, and you're not even finished with your sentence!
MRS. KHUDAYAR
What kind of dream, Mona? (Low.) Mona, you can tell me... I know, honey. You can tell me... (Bursting.) Mona, if you just say yes to the boy, these dreams won't haunt you any more! What's wrong? Oh, as if...! Oh! Your father doesn’t know yet? Sorry, honey, my lips are sealed. (So Mona's Father can hear.) I had a class once where we talked about psychology and dreaming. Sounded fascinating. Absolutely no practical benefit. Everything was death and sex, death and sex! Who needs to dream? It's our waking world, girl! Nice class though. (She drinks.) Anyway, it's good that you talk about these things. It's very good to talk about things. The tea is delicious, Yadu'llah. (Aside.) Mona, I saw your little present. At the door. Is he handsome? Go! Run away with him, honey! Oh, to be young again! Mona, when I was sixteen, I was already married with a loaf in the oven. You won't get any more beautiful, my dear. (Leaving, so Father can hear.) Such a lovely rug! Oh, I almost forgot. Yadu‘llah, they delivered this to the wrong address. I swear to you, it arrived unsealed. Those goons with the Revolutionary Guard can't admit that they're censoring the mail so they try to put it off on me.
AQA HUSAYNI
The Baha'i sect is an illegal organization in this land and that girl is actively propagating it. Poisoning the minds of impressionable children against Islam. I'm here because of a certain teacher's union you belong to. (A beat.) Now, Alizadeh, as you say, let's drop the pretense. You stand there with your cocky, Marxist politics and hollow European values, and think you can judge the rest of the world from your perch. But you are not my judge, Alizadeh. We’re in the midst of a revolution... The Judgment, when the righteous and the sinners are separated, and those in the middle -- who fail to take a side -- are hacked in two by the sword of God. (A beat.) But what I’d like to know is if this girl is expelled, the teachers will show up for school tomorrow. As you well know, this is not my only recourse to action. The girl is part of a much larger problem and I think you know what I mean.