TEHRAN – Director Mohammad Aqebati is staging a puppet show at Tehran’s Honar Hall to placate children’s natural curiosity about the mystery of baby making.

Speaking to the Persian service of MNA, Aqebati said that he has consulted the Rah Society, a non-governmental organization providing safe sex education, to stage the play “Where Do We Come From?”.

“The play has a dual function i.e. it is both amusing for children and answers one of their most important questions,” he stated.

Aqebati, 43, said, “The younger generation’s outlook on the birth issue and this question ‘where do we come from’ is really different from what our generation had years ago.”

“Children show wonderful reactions to the issue as they sit and watch the puppet show,” he added.

The puppet show’s target audience is preschoolers and children between 7 and 11 years old.  

He said that children’s theater is rarely taken seriously by the cultural officials while Iranian parents always regard it highly.         

Aqebati’s stage adaptation of famous Iranian writer Samad Behrangi’s short story “The Little Black Fish” won him the award for best director at the 25th International Theater Festival for Children and Young Adults in Hamedan in November.

The play was also performed at the Triskelion Arts in Brooklyn, New York for three nights in April.

Photo: Puppeteers Mohammad-Hadi Atai (L) and Elka Hedayat perform the puppet show “Where Do We Come From?” at Tehran’s Honar Hall on November 11, 2018. (Tiwall/Sara Saqafi)

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