Remains and Returns

by Novid Parsi

In 2018, as the Shirvani family talks about nothing and everything, two middle-aged brothers confront their elderly parents about impending realities. Thirty years earlier, the parents confront their teen sons about their own hopes for their children’s futures. Returning to 2018, Remains and Returns considers how we deny our pasts, and how our pasts endure.

In 2018, as the Shirvani family talks about nothing and everything, two middle-aged brothers confront their elderly parents about impending realities. Thirty years earlier, the parents confront their teen sons about their own hopes for their children’s futures. Returning to 2018, Remains and Returns considers how we deny our pasts, and how our pasts endure.

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Remains and Returns

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  • Playwrights Foundation: Remains and Returns by Novid Parsi
    “

    The community of National Committee readers for the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival advanced REMAINS AND RETURNS as a Semi-Finalist at Playwrights Foundation. We appreciated the pacing and rhythm to dialogue, which contributes to the play's authenticity and captures the family dynamic well. We enjoyed the stylized approach to conveying what's unsaid in families, as this play explores the trauma towards a son, and the continual damage of covering up past hate with the facade of progress. We hope this play is considered for further development and investigation, and finds dedicated...

    The community of National Committee readers for the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival advanced REMAINS AND RETURNS as a Semi-Finalist at Playwrights Foundation. We appreciated the pacing and rhythm to dialogue, which contributes to the play's authenticity and captures the family dynamic well. We enjoyed the stylized approach to conveying what's unsaid in families, as this play explores the trauma towards a son, and the continual damage of covering up past hate with the facade of progress. We hope this play is considered for further development and investigation, and finds dedicated collaborators in this play’s journey towards production. #BAPF46

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    ”
  • Nick Malakhow: Remains and Returns by Novid Parsi
    “

    A powerful and human exploration of family and how time can both put family trauma into soft focus and also seismically shape the ultimate relationship one has with their parents. The intersection of generational, cultural, and and identity divides is woven through. I also enjoyed the structural and theatrical inventiveness of the two present day chunks of the play sandwiching a rich and illuminating scene of history that puts the present moment into context.

    A powerful and human exploration of family and how time can both put family trauma into soft focus and also seismically shape the ultimate relationship one has with their parents. The intersection of generational, cultural, and and identity divides is woven through. I also enjoyed the structural and theatrical inventiveness of the two present day chunks of the play sandwiching a rich and illuminating scene of history that puts the present moment into context.

    ”
  • Beth Kander: Remains and Returns by Novid Parsi
    “

    A heartwrenching and humor-laced script that explores family trauma, resilience, and the things we try to erase but never really can (and truly shouldn't); a tight, taut piece that will leave you deeply moved.

    A heartwrenching and humor-laced script that explores family trauma, resilience, and the things we try to erase but never really can (and truly shouldn't); a tight, taut piece that will leave you deeply moved.

    ”
View all 4 recommendations
Zarah Shirvani, F, mother, 78 and 48 years old
Ramin Shirvani, M, father, 80 and 50 years old
Ash (Ashkan) Shirvani, M, son, 48 and 18 years old
Ben (Behnam) Shirvani, M, son, 50 and 20 years old
TV sitcom voice 1 and 2: the voices of two older white American women
The actors playing the Iranian-American family do not need to be of Iranian or Middle Eastern descent.

Development History

Awards