Review: WHERE IS HERE?/ اینجا کجاست؟ at Seattle Public Theater

Seattle Public Theater’s Where is Here? takes audiences to an unexpected setting—a bleak airport baggage claim—only to eventually veer into the surreal. With performances in English and Persian, this one-woman show written and directed by Naghmeh Samini blends observational comedy, existential musings, and theatrical experimentation. For context, I attended the show in English, so that will be the show I review. At my performance, the show’s uneven execution left me more disoriented than transported.

The premise is intriguing: an Iranian woman, Azam (performed in English by Azadeh Zanjani, and Persian by Sarvin Alidaee), in baggage claim makes small talk with fellow travelers (the audience), frazzled by what we eventually learn was a harried 12-hour flight to the United States from Tehran. The conveyor belt begins delivering increasingly bizarre items—an open suitcase of loose snacks, a chair, a lipstick display—mirroring the protagonist’s unraveling emotional state. The shift from reality to something more dreamlike is visually clever and sets the stage for a deeper exploration of her psyche.

However, the show stumbles in its writing and pacing. The first half feels more like observational comedy rather than a cohesive narrative, with the woman rattling off quips about airline food and her wish for a “chatty” section on airplanes. Delivered at a breakneck pace, these moments lack the breathing room needed to land with emotional weight. The format of imagined dialogue with other travelers falls flat when the woman monopolizes the conversation. Rather than feeling like we’re privy to a shared human experience, it’s as if we’re stuck listening to an overly talkative stranger at the airport—a choice that makes it difficult to connect with her character. At one point I wondered how old Azam was supposed to be, for her unnervingly bubbly personality suggested someone much younger than her character is (we learn 42). 

It’s not until halfway through the 70-minute runtime that the protagonist begins to shed her manic veneer and delve into more vulnerable territory. She opens up about struggles with love, xenophobia, self-image, and aging. In these quieter, more reflective moments, the play finds its emotional core, and the audience begins to empathize with her loneliness and fears. Unfortunately, these moments are fleeting, and the script’s tendency to bounce between topics too quickly dilutes their impact.

Azadeh Zanjani’s portrayal of Azam effectively conveyed the character’s deep loneliness and sense of displacement, alternating between forced pleasantness and moments of raw, honest panic. When Zanjani allowed Azam’s polished facade to crumble, her performance became genuinely compelling. However, her portrayal lacked enough variety; the first half leaned heavily on frenetic energy, while the second leaned into angst, without fully exploring the nuances in between or emotions beyond. A greater sense of gravitas and complexity in her delivery could have better differentiated Azam’s many stories, creating more memorable and impactful moments. With more room for the performance to breathe, the audience might have been able to connect more deeply with the material.

There are bright spots in the production. The visual storytelling elements—such as the surreal conveyor belt and silhouetted shadow-puppet imagery—effectively underscore the theme of a world untethered from reality. These moments show the potential of the medium to convey complex emotions in ways that words alone cannot.

Still, Where is Here? struggles to find its footing. While the concept of exploring an Iranian woman’s vulnerabilities in an unexpected setting is compelling, the execution feels scattered. Tightening the script to reduce the number of topics covered and allowing moments to breathe would make it easier to connect with the protagonist. Likewise, rethinking the opening structure to bring the audience on her side sooner could transform this from a frustrating experience into a deeply moving one.

For now, Where is Here? is a mixed bag—at times clever and poignant, but ultimately weighed down by its own unevenness.

Grade: C