Built in 1904, the Haskell Free Library and Opera House straddles the border between Canada and the United States, with its main entrance located in Derby Line, Vermont and its collection of books on the first floor and the opera stage on the second floor located in Stanstead, Quebec. A thick black line runs diagonally across the center of the library’s reading room to mark the international border.
During the first Trump presidency, when travel to the United States from certain selected countries was banned, the Haskell became the setting of international family reunions. Officially, such reunions and cross-border visits were no longer allowed. As of March, 2025, the United States government no longer allows even Canadians who do not first pass through Customs to enter the Haskell through the main entrance on the American side, with the exception of staff and library card holders.
Weston Theater Company continues its season with “A Distinct Society,” a 2019 play set in the Haskell, written and directed by Kareem Fahmy. It is a fictional portrait of one such attempted family reunion between an Iranian father and daughter, and how that affects those in its wake. Friday evening’s opening night performance evoked laughter, rage, as well as sadness. It recalled what good theatre has the power to do.
The piece opens when Peyman Gilani (Barzini Akhavan), enters the Haskell nervously. He is greeted by the librarian stationed on the Canadian side of the reading room, Manon Desjardins (Polly Lee), and is noted indifferently by Declan Sheehan (Daniel Clark), a teenager reading Green Lantern comic books on the sofa. Peyman becomes spooked when the American Customs agent, Bruce Laird (Jason Bowen), begins asking too many questions.
As Peyman, Akhaven had a quiet, powerful presence. Portraying an Iranian father who was also a physician, he showed compassion for others but also the desperation of one who has traveled so far for moments with a loved one. Fatemeh Mehraban, playing Peyman’s daughter, Shirin Gilani, showed considerably less patience with government bureaucracy and its minions. Akhaven, however, was endearing as Shirin sheepishly admitted to her father that becoming a doctor like him was not her path.
As the librarian, Lee armed her character with a mousiness that slowly gave way to a fierce provincial pride and determination that revealed itself to Laird, the Customs Agent who was sweet on her. As Baird, Bowen walked a fine line, literally, between his official duties and natural inclination to make exceptions when due.
Clark gave Sheehan, the teenager apparently skipping classes to read about Green Lantern at the Haskell, an understandable petulance due to bullying by the native French-Canadian students at his school. Like Lee, Clark was revisiting a character he played in a previous production elsewhere. It showed.
I have not visited the Haskell Free Library and Opera House, but Scenic Designer Alexander Woodward’s and Lighting Designer Minjoo Kim’s library space gave the characters the intimate sanctuary it briefly was.
Playwright Fahmy ended the play with a speech by an older version of Declan, reciting bromides from the likes of the Green and White Lanterns that offered hope after continued disappointment. Following the performance, when asked about this coda, Fahmy replied that he wanted to complete Declan’s character arc. There are many storylines in the work, perhaps too many. I suggest that “A Distinct Society,” a powerful drama that illustrated the human consequences of government policies through story, would have done better leaving us with an untidy, uneasy feeling.
Performances of “A Distinct Society” will continue at the air-conditioned Walker Farm off Route 100 in Weston through Aug. 31. Ticket reservations may be made on-line at westontheater.org or by calling the box office at (802) 824-5288.
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