The Huntington Theatre opened Iranian German playwright Nassim Soleimanpour’s “Nassim” an experimental theatrical production about language and sharing of cultures Oct. 4. This two-person play is unique — the show features a different local guest performer each night, in addition to Soleimanpour’s appearance in his own production. For the Boston performances, currently running at the Huntington-managed Calderwood Pavilion, guest performers have included Mike Gorman, the former voice of the Celtics; Jared Bowen, the Emmy award-winning executive arts editor and host of GBH’s “The Culture Show”; and John Tobin, the vice president of city and community engagement at Northeastern University, among others. 

Guest performers do not read the script until they get to the stage, adding elements of surprise and humor to make the performance even more entertaining. Once on stage, a livestream of Soleimanpour backstage is projected onto the stage backdrop as he is seen annotating and flipping through the script, and the guest performer and audience read it together for the first time.

The play is originally written in Farsi, Soleimanpour’s mother tongue, but has been translated to English for American audiences. “Nassim” has toured globally and is translated and performed in the language of each country. Still, there are many moments throughout the play where Farsi is spoken and even learned by both the audience and guest performer. The play is interactive — the guest performer is instructed via the script to invite audience members to help read the script.

One of the biggest themes of the play centered around the universality of culture despite language barriers. Soleimanpour teaches the audience the Farsi word for “mother,” which is māmān, a word that is used throughout the performance. Audience members were also instructed to shout out words to Soleimanpour. Throughout the play, he showed that people can still connect with each other, regardless of language barriers, on a personal level by sharing things they have in common.

The play’s unique nature keeps audience members on the edge of their seats, or in some cases, out of their seats. In an interview with Soleimanpour and The Huntington, he said that most of his shows “are designed emotionally, like a roller coaster,” and that rings true. In one part of the play, some people hopped out of their seats in excitement to hand Soleimanpour personal trinkets, while in the other parts of the play many were heard chuckling and laughing in their seats. 

Although Soleimanpour does make an appearance on stage, he never speaks a word. He communicates to the audience and guest performer through hand gestures for the duration of the play, pointing at the script and using facial expressions. Despite a lack of verbal engagement, the audience was able to clearly understand him. Although nervous, Bowen, the guest artist for the Oct. 9 performance, was able to complete the full 75-minute play without any hiccups. It was a stunning performance, given that he read the script for the first time on stage.

Soleimanpour did an amazing job at connecting audiences of different backgrounds in “Nassim” through his translated play and amiable personality. Audiences gave a standing ovation after the Oct. 9 performance, a testament to the exemplary production and versatility of the guest performer, who went into the performance without any preparation. 

One of the beautiful elements of this play is its multifariousness. Even if one has already watched it, they can attend “Nassim” multiple times over due to the different guest performers each night, who surely add their own unique personality and flair to the show.

“Nassim” is running at the Calderwood Pavilion until Oct. 27.