Assurbanipal Babilla , a painter and playwright is originally from Iran, where in the 1970s he was one of the country's leading avant-garde directors. Babilla was one of three resident directors with the Drama Workshop of Tehran from 1973 to 1978. He fled to the United States in 1979. Both his plays and his paintings dealt with controversial material. This put him doubly at risk from the new conservative Islamic government . Plays written and directed by Assurbanipal Babilla have been performed in Los Angeles & New York. He has toured his work to Poland, Boston, Baltimore, Seattle and Portland. you can read a review of his work at http://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/15/theater/theater-in-review-199991.html