It’s hard to believe the cast of White Rabbit Red Rabbit is real: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Michael Sheen, Jason Isaacs, Harriet Walter, Adjoa Andoh, Miriam Margolyes, and Lenny Henry, for example, are just seven of the 48 actors set to perform Nassim Soleimanpour’s play. The twist? Only one actor appears each night, having done no rehearsals and receiving no direction. They know as much as the audience: a sealed envelope containing the script they will perform waits for them onstage. Soleimanpour wrote the play in 2011, while forbidden to leave Iran after refusing his home country’s required military service. Translated into more than 30 languages and performed more than 3,000 times, White Rabbit Red Rabbit is a powerful exploration of the modern Middle East and the forces that shape global dynamics. —Jeanne Malle