Watch the Song of the North trailer!
Get a sneak peek at the show.

Song of the North

Fictionville Studio with support from Two Chairs
from Brooklyn, New York

March 12 – 21, 2025
Recommended Grades
Grades 4 – 8
Price
Students: $2
Chaperones: $5
What Kind of Show?
Shadow theater; adventurous and intricate
Running Time
90 minutes with no intermission
Venue
The New Victory Theater 209 W 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036

School-time tickets may only be booked by Partner organizations.

Select a Performance

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Few Seats Left

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Key

  • Audio Described Performance
    Audio-Described

    Live audio-description provided

  • Audio Described Performance
    Sign-Interpreted

    Live sign-interpretation provided

  • Audio Described Performance
    Talk-Back

    Performance followed by a short Talk-Back

About the Show

During a time of fragile peace between rival kingdoms, the princess Manijeh must summon all her strength and skills to rescue her beloved, Bijan, from a perilous predicament of her own making. Can their love quiet the drumbeat of war? Shadows from 9 performers and 483 handmade puppets play against stunning animated projections in a cinematic performance as epic as the story that inspired it. Pulled from the pages of the Shahnameh—the thousand-year-old Persian Book of Kings—Song of the North trumpets unity, compassion and the beauty of Iranian culture.

Created, designed and directed by Hamid Rahmanian

The whole family will be enchanted.

The Music City Review

Things to Know

  1. What did that puppet say? Song of the North will feature captioning on screens throughout the theater.
  2. A literary masterpiece central to Persian language and culture, the Shahnameh preserves centuries of history and legends from pre-Islamic Iran.
  3. Before the show starts, you’ll get a glimpse of the performers setting up their hundreds of puppets and props on stage!

About the Artist

Iranian-American artist Hamid Rahmanian founded Fictionville Studio in 1998 to produce both documentary and narrative films. In the decades since, he has merged his love of traditional Persian art forms like illustration and shadow puppetry with the technology of modern theater to breathe new life into the beloved tales of the Shahnameh. This extends beyond the stage as well, with a new English translation of the full epic poem and colorful pop-up books of individual stories.

Photos

Photo: Richard Termine
Photo: Richard Termine
Photo: Richard Termine
Photo: Richard Termine
Photo: Richard Termine

Creative Team

Producer
Melissa Hibbard

Writers
Hamid Rahmanian and Melissa Hibbard

Puppet Designers
Saba Niknam and Hamid Rahmanian

Original Score Writer & Orchestrator
Loga Ramin Torkian

Accessibility

On the left, two shadow puppet people hold hands against a green background, and on the right, an ASL interpreter signs in front of a purple background.
Watch the Song of the North ASL-interpreted trailer!
Watch Trailer

For every performance at the New Victory Theater…

  • You can request to borrow supports like fidgets, earplugs, assisted listening devices, wheelchairs and more.
  • Our quiet Cozy Zone and a live feed of the performance are available in the lower lobby at all times for those with sensory sensitivities or anyone who needs a break from the theater.
  • Wheelchair-accessible seats and Companion seat tickets are available (see more details when buying tickets).

Additionally, every performance of Song of the North also features:

  • Captioning on screens in the left and right boxes for all three seating levels

 
Get additional accessibility details, and prepare for your visit with our New Victory Social Narrative.

Curriculum & Trip Planning