PHOTOS: Brooke Burton Photography
AJAX
by Habib Yazdi
Directed by Kareem Fahmy
April 22-May 9, 2026
World Premiere
~95 mins, Dark Comedy
A political thriller about the 1953 CIA-backed coup that reshaped Iran. A comedy. Until it isn’t.
It’s a hot summer in August 1953, when a clean-cut American arrives at a peaceful villa in North Tehran. Kambiz, the villa’s gardener and pool boy, wonders if the new guest may be his ticket to a better life. As their friendship deepens, Kambiz finds himself entangled in strange affairs involving the Shah of Iran and the country’s elected prime minister. What happens next shaped the next seventy years of Middle Eastern politics. In this darkly comic spy thriller, a swimming pool becomes a nation, tennis becomes oil politics, and politeness becomes warfare. You’ve never seen American foreign policy look this seductive- or this damning.
How will it end? Only the pool knows…
“This is the story of friendship. Of how I got a new job. A story of love and balance and time. And the smallest of chances.”
-Kenneth in Primary Trust
Cast:
Amin El Gamal* (Shah)
Ben Farha (Pool)
Shayan Hooshmand (Kambiz)
Andy Ingalls* (Kermit)
Gordon Reinhart* (Loy)
Production and Design Team:
Kareem Fahmy (Director)
Hayden Pedersen (Assistant Director)
Elena Maddy (Stage Manager)
Sophie Ventresco (Assistant Stage Manager)
Alexander Woodward (Scenic Designer)
Lily Kennedy (Props Designer)
Chanté Thornton Hamann (Costume Designer)
Omar Madkour (Lighting Designer)
Caroline Eng (Sound Designer)
Steve Cuiffo (Magic Consultant)
Nicholas Jules Hewitt (Technical Director)
Amandalynn Lovewell (Scenic Charge)
Matthew Chilcoat (Main Electrician)
Brayden Buckley (Sound Engineer/Board Operator)
Chris Pedersen (Head Carpenter)
Dacia Murdoch (Light Board Operator)
Lex Gonzalez (Scenic Painter and Crew Hand)
*Member of the Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
Play AJAX's 1953 Radio Ad for Iran Air
Did you hear Gemma Gaudette interview Habib Yazdi on Idaho Matters? Listen on demand to the segment on Boise State Public Radio.
Did you catch us on Idaho Today? Watch the interview with Melissa Paul and actors Ben Farha, Shayan Hooshmand, and Andy Ingalls.
Reviews:
“One of the best plays I’ve ever seen, AJAX, at Boise Contemporary Theater. Get your tickets now.” -Richard O. from the first preview, 4/22.
“Ah Ajax. A light little Iranian comedy. Fun, sun, and the CIA. No, nothing bad will happen, why would you think that? Pay no attention to the drumbeat of history, the humid sense of unease that climbs the hairs of one’s neck. Though in truth playwright Habib Yazdi has created a comedy of manners (or ill-manners) that serves, tennis like, from lightness to frightfulness, from sweet to delectably bitter.” -Kemper Corner Reviews
About the Playwright
Habib Yazdi is an Iranian-American playwright and filmmaker whose work blends comedy with history and cultural memory. He produced and directed the PBS series United States of Comedy and is a recipient of South Coast Repertory’s Elizabeth George Commission. AJAX, his play about the 1953 American coup in Iran, was developed at The New Group and Bay Street Theater and will premiere at Boise Contemporary Theater in spring 2026, followed by a production at Amphibian Stage. He is a current member of The Writers’ Room at Geffen Playhouse.
Habib’s films have screened internationally at festivals including St. Louis, Brisbane, Brooklyn, Vail, and Pan African, and institutions such as the Barbican Centre, the de Young Museum, and Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
Habib earned his M.F.A. from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, where he received the Oliver Stone Screenwriting Award and the Goldberg Play Prize. He is an alum of Sundance and ISF’s Building Bridges Fellowship, as well as the Warner Bros. Discovery Access Directors Program, Mentorship Matters Writing Lab, New York Stage and Film Workshop, and Gotham Week.
Play Sponsor
Venturous Theater Fund
Media Sponsor
Boise State Public Radio
Additional Support Provided By
Morrison Center Endowment Foundation
Special Performance Dates
Preview Nights: April 22, 23, and 24 – ALL Seats $28
Pay What You Want Nights: Wednesdays, April 22 & May 6
Opening Night & After-Party: Saturday, April 25. Read more about Dinner at The Avery.
Educators’ Night: Wednesday, April 29
Post Show Convos: Saturday, May 2 matinee & Friday, May 8
Brunches Before BCT: Saturday, May 2 & 9, Noon-1:30 pm. Pre-Fixe Brunch at Avery Bar + Brasserie. Read more here.
First Thursday Happy Hour: 5:30-6:30 pm, Thursday, May 7
Closing Night: Saturday, May 9
Show Times
ALL EVENING PERFORMANCES NOW START AT 7:00 PM
Wed, Thur, Fri, & Sat – 7:00 pm
Saturday Matinee – 2:00 pm
Content and Stage Effects Advisory
BCT does not proactively offer advisories about subject matter, as sensitivities vary from person to person.
If you have any questions about content, age-appropriateness or stage effects (such as strobe lights or theatrical fog) that might have a bearing on patron comfort, please contact the box office at 208.331.9224 or boxoffice@bctheater.org.
