News: A New Political Thriller, Shaken, Not Stirred. Amphibian Stage closes its 2026 season with AJAX
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A New Political Thriller, Shaken, Not Stirred.
Amphibian Stage closes its 2026 season with AJAX, a darkly comic thriller about American intervention in Iran in the 1950s. Runs October 14 – November 1.
DALLAS/FORT WORTH, Texas (September 21, 2026) – Oil is money, and money is power. Iran’s first democratically elected prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, made an unprecedented decision about his nation’s greatest asset: take the oil out of private (mostly foreign hands) and put it back in the hands of the people. Enter Kermit Roosevelt, a young CIA officer sent to solve that pesky problem and make a name for himself. Named after the operation Roosevelt ran, AJAX runs October 14 – November 1.
Oil and water don’t mix. AJAX tells the story from the perspective of Kambiz, the poolboy who tends the villa where Roosevelt stays during his time in Tehran. The hoz (the pool at the center of the villa’s courtyard) becomes the play’s guiding metaphor, and the production realizes it two ways: as a character, and as the centerpiece of the scenic design. Jovane Caamaño plays Pool, and scenic designer Leah Mazur is tasked with the feat of putting a working pool onstage in Amphibian Stage’s black box. “Putting nearly 1,000 gallons of water onstage is obviously a huge technical challenge, but the hoz is so central to the world of Ajax that it felt important for it to be real,” says Mazur. “The pool isn’t just scenery, it’s a character and a witness. It is present for the history unfolding around it, responding to every body that enters it, and every disturbance of its surface. So much of my work asks what a space can know or remember about us, and Ajax makes that question incredibly literal. The challenge has been figuring out how to make something this technically complicated feel inevitable within the world of the play.”
Audiences should expect a thrilling night out. AJAX pairs a James Bond noir style with wit sharp enough to keep them on their toes, and that balance: real historical thriller, laugh-out-loud absurdity, is what drew Amphibian to the play.
“I received the script for AJAX at a busy time last season. I opened the script to peruse the quick details and thumb through the first few pages…and before I knew it, I had finished the whole play in one sitting. I passed the script along to Elizabeth and Evan, who both had the same experience. It’s one of the easiest “yeses” we’ve made in season selection. It’s
arresting, it’s incredibly funny, and it’s so emblematic of what we want an “Amphibian show” to be: something you can’t stop talking about on your ride home. In a world that’s desperate for your short lived attention, we’re teeming with excitement to present this story that is sure to completely enrapture you.” -Jay Duffer, Artistic Director
Our Key Players: Dallas-based actor Carson Wright steps into young Roosevelt’s shoes, flanked by Fort Worth’s Randy Pearlman as Loy, an American ambassador. Shayan Hooshmand reprises the role of Kambiz from the Boise Contemporary Theater world premiere. David Mattar Merten, last seen on Broadway in An Enemy of the People, plays the Shah. Frequent Amphibian Stage collaborator, actor Jovane Caamaño plays the ever-elusive Pool.
Setting the Scene: The design team brings together longtime Amphibian and DFW talent: scenic designer Leah Mazur (UTA faculty) and costume designer Sarah Mosher (Baylor University faculty). Omar Madkour (recent credits: Pasadena Playhouse, LACMA) serves as lighting designer, and Amphibian’s resident sound designer David Lanza returns. Kaitlin Hatton, another frequent Amphibian Stage collaborator, stage manages and designs props. Sherese Reed is assistant director, Justin Miller is specialty props designer, Levi Richey supervises costumes and makeup, and Daniel Reyes (known onstage as Danny King) consults on magic and sleight of hand.
For more information, or to set up an interview with Amphibian Stage leadership, contact Evan Michael Woods at evan@amphibianstage.com.
AJAX — October 16 – November 1
By Habib Yazdi
Directed by Kareem Fahmy
A darkly comic political thriller about the CIA-backed coup that reshaped Iran.
The CIA walks into a Tehran courtyard in 1953. What happens there shapes 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.
General admission tickets can be purchased by visiting amphibianstage.com or calling the box office at 817.923.3012.
Cast & Creative Team
CAST
CREATIVE TEAM
*Denotes member of Actors’ Equity Association, the professional union of Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
Amphibian Stage 2026 Season At A Glance
AJAX (October 16 – November 1)
Winter’s Cabaret (December 4 & 5)
ABOUT AMPHIBIAN STAGE:
Amphibian Stage, a non-profit theater company founded in Fort Worth in 2000, strives to produce innovative and engaging theater that inspires new ideas, opens new doors and increases understanding of the vast world around us. Now in its 27th season, Amphibian has produced numerous groundbreaking and challenging plays that foster a deeper understanding of ourselves as members of the global community. The company is widely recognized for its stylistically and thematically varied scripts.
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