1. n.d.. Divine Plan, The: A Skit. Author unknown. 3-page screenplay dramatizing the building of the World Order of Bahá'u'lláh and its unfoldment and spread across the world. Scripts.
2. 2024/2025. Four Scripts for Dramatic Readings on Holy Days. Jaine Toth. Scripts for Ridván and the martyrdom of the Báb blending storytelling, dramatic readings, poetry and music; one for the Birth of the Bab program without a dramatic reading; a piece on equality for any occasion like Women's History Month. Scripts.
3. 2024-01. Strickland's Dilemma. James Tichenor. A graduate student who chooses not to serve in the Institute because he only has a little time to relax after his studies and intends to watch a football game with his roommate hears a heartfelt song by a new believer that affects his spirit. Scripts.
4. 2024. Amazing Grace: Stories of Personal Transformation from Slavery to the Present Day. Jaine Toth. A lengthy script, with accompanying slides, depicting real life stories of Americans, both black and white, who overcame issues of race, transforming their own lives, and in turn, the lives of others. Scripts.
5. 2024. That Uncertain Feeling. James Tichenor. A college freshman who has agreed to hold her first devotional meeting with a fellow Book One participant learns that she must hold it on her own and panics. Her tutor arrives with encouragement but finds that true accompaniment requires something more. Scripts.
6. 2023-05. Importance de l'art dans la promotion de la Foi. Pierre Spierckel, trans, Universal House of Justice, comp. Compilations.
7. 2023-05. Importance des arts dans la promotion de la Foi. Pierre Spierckel, trans, Universal House of Justice, comp. Compilations.
8. 2023. Эволюция Женских Образов В Творчестве и.а. Гриневской 1890-1900 (Evolution of Female Images in the Works of I. A. Grinevskoy 1890-1900). K. V. Sarycheva. Analysis of early works that represent lives and experiences of women in the early 20th century, with a focus on Tahirih; overview of the play "Báb" and women's issues of the time: education, age prejudice, appearance, and expected behavioral norms. Articles.
9. 2021. Light of the World: Selected Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Abdu'l-Bahá. Tablets of ‘Abdul-Bahá describing aspects of the life of Bahá’u’lláh including the tribulations He suffered, events in His homeland, the purpose and greatness of His Cause, and the nature and significance of His Covenant. Writings.
10. 2019-11. Instrument of Music, The: A Musical Comedy. Sarah Munro, David Cerpa, Niaz Massarrat. Dramatization of the role of music in the expansion and consolidation of Bahá’í communities, drawing on the example of Latin America, and the impact and use of music to contribute to the growth of any community. Scripts.
11. 2018/2025. Additional Tablets, Extracts and Talks. Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'í World Centre, trans. . 216 selections, last updated 2025. Writings.
12. 2018/2023. Now They Are Hanging Women. Jaine Toth. Presentation and script of a presentation on contemporary persecution of Bahá'ís in Iran; title taken from a newspaper headline for an article announcing the execution of ten Iranian Bahá’í women on June 18, 1983. Script is for three voices. Presentations.
13. 2018. Laura Barney's Discipleship to 'Abdu'l-Bahá: Tracing a Theological Flow from the Middle East to the United States, 1900-1916. Layli Maria Miron. How Laura Barney employed ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s teachings to influence social discourse as she taught the Bahá'í Faith in Europe and the United States. Articles.
14. 2017-03. This Gem-Studded Crown: A Dramatic Sketch. Sarah Munro, Sofie Geschier. Fictional dialogue of the first of eight actual meetings between Martha Root and Queen Marie of Romania, in January 1926. Scripts.
15. 2007. Vojdani: Ou, La quête: drame en huit tableaux. Pierre Spierckel. Drame relatant la recherche spirituelle de Vojdani telle que contée dans "Fire on the Mountain Top", joué par de jeunes gens bahá'ís et chercheurs. Fiction.
16. 2002. Dress for Mona, A: Abridged one-act version. Mark Perry. The story of Mona Mahmudnizhad. Fiction.
17. 2001. Layli, Majnun, and the Infernal Tree. Mark Perry. Short play dealing with the story of Layli and Majnun and partly inspired by the Seven Valleys. Fiction.
18. 2001. Coming Out. Ian Kluge. Short, humorous play depicting the confusions that can result from trying to be too delicate in announcing one's commitment to the Bahá'í Faith. Fiction.
19. 2000. Arts, Importance of in Promoting the Faith. Bahá'u'lláh, Abdu'l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi, Universal House of Justice, Universal House of Justice, comp. . Compilations.
20. 1999. My Beloved Coloured Brother, Louis Gregory. John Chesley. A play focused on the race unity situation in the early 20th century and an imagined meeting between John Good, a street person from the Bowery Mission, and Hand of the Cause Louis Gregory, imagined as old friends. The setting is Green Acre Baha'i School. Scripts.
21. 1995-12. Sailor's Problem, The. Ben Roskams. A short play about unity featuring Sherlock Holmes. Fiction.
22. 1981. Indiscretion of Marie-Thérèse Beauchamps, The. Roger White. Fictional dramatization of a recollection of seeing Abdu'l-Bahá in Montreal (1912). Scripts.
23. 1981. Some Sort of Foreigner. Roger White. Fictional dramatization of an encounter with Abdu'l-Bahá in 1911, and reflections on "this business of religion." Scripts.
24. 1979. Glimpses of Abdu'l-Baha: Adapted from the Diary of Juliet Thompson. Roger White. Portrayals and dramatizations in verse, adapted from recollections by Juliet Thompson. Poetry.
25. 1976. Spiritual Assembly's Growing Pains, A. Rúhíyyih Khánum. A play, in 28 pages, showing "some of the workings of a Bahá'í Spiritual Assembly: some of the blunders, some of the problems; how certain types of people fit better into one office and others into another." Fiction.
26. 1943. Two Shall Appear. Olivia Kelsey. A play which attempts to depict in a brief form the background and some of the heroic events of Bahá'í history. Fiction.
27. 1936. Count Leo Tolstoy and the Bahá'í Movement. Martha L. Root. Leo Tolstoy encountered Bahá’í teachings late in life, and admired their ideals of peace and unity. Articles.
28. 1933. Drama of the Kingdom. Abdu'l-Bahá, Mary Basil Hall. A play written in 1912 by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá while he was in London and adopted with permission by Mary Basil Hall (named Parvine by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá). Books.
29. 1916. Read-Aloud Plays. Horace Holley. Nine short plays. Contains no mention of the Bahá'í Faith. Books.
30. 1910. God's Heroes: A Drama in Five Acts. Laura Clifford Barney. A play based on events in the lives of the early Babis, with a focus on Tahirih. Fiction.
31. 1903/1912/1916/2007. Баб / Беха-Улла (Блеск Божий) (Báb and Bahá'u'lláh (The Splendor of God)). Isabella Grinevskaya. Links to two plays in Russian. Link.

1. 1903-05-00 —
   Russian poet Isabella Grinevskaya wrote the play "Báb" which was performed in St. Petersburg in 1904 and again in 1914 and once again in 1917. It was translated into French and Tatar (and later into German by Friedrich Fiedler) and lauded by Leo Tolstoy and other reviewers at the time. It is reported to have been Tolstoy's first knowledge of the Faith.
   • In 1910-11 she spent two weeks in Ramleh as a guest of `Abdu'l-Bahá and after she returned to Russia she had several letters and Tablets from Him.
   • Immediately upon her return from Egypt in January of 1911 she began work on the book "A Journey in the Countries of the Sun", an account of her visit with 'Abdu'l-Bahá. This work was not completed until 1914 because in the summer of 1912 she made a trip to Paris to work with the French translator of "Báb", Madame Halperin, and when she returned to Leningrad she began work on the drama entitled Bahá'u'lláh. It was published in Leningrad in 1912 but was never performed. "Journey", a book of some 550 pages did not get published because of the disruption caused by the advent of the war. See BW6p707-712 for the article "Russia's Cultural Contribution to the Bahá'i Faith" by Martha Root.
   • Both plays can be found at wikisource.org (under "Unsorted").
   • For a photo see BW6p709 or here.
   • Also see Notes on the Bábí and Bahá'í Religions in Russia and its territories by Graham Hassall.
   • Isabella Grinevskaya (the pen name of Beyle (Berta) Friedberg), born in Grodno in 1864, died in Istanbul in 1944. [Revolvy]
   • In His message to Isabella Grinevskaya, 'Abdu'l-Bahá praised her efforts to stage theatrical performances about the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh but cautioned her that people's attention at that moment was focused on "war and revolution." However, He added, "the time for staging it will come" and it will "have a considerable impact" in Europe.

     Ms. Grinevskaya's play about the Báb was first staged in St. Petersburg in January 1904. Mr. Tolstoy read the play and wrote Ms. Grinevskaya to praise her and share his sympathy with the Baha'í teachings, according to an article by Martha Root in the 1934-1936 edition of The Bahá'í World.

2. 1910-00-00 — The publication of God's Heroes: A Drama in Five Acts by Laura Clifford Barney, (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1910). The play, based on the life of the Báb, centred on Táhirih.
3. 1911-09-09 —
   'Abdu'l-Bahá visited the home of Mrs Thornburgh-Cropper at 31 Evelyn Mansions, Carlisle Place, Victoria.
   • In the afternoon 'Abdu'l-Bahá visited the home of Miss Anett Schepel and Miss Alice Buckton, Vanners, Byfleet, Surrey (since demolished), some 20 miles out of London. He spoke with a number of working women from the Passmore Edwards' Settlement who were visiting while on holidays. (The Passmore Edwards' Settlement began in 1890 as one of the first "settlements" run by socially-conscious middle-class educators for the benefit of local working people and their children.) The talk has been entitled, "The small house and the path to true happiness". ['Abdu'l-Bahá Speaks, SYH39]
   • Alice Mary Buckton (1867-1944) wrote many plays and poems. Her play Eager Heart was seen by 'Abdu'l-Bahá on His second visit to England. She became a member of the Froebelian Society which was formed to reform educational methods. She persuaded Anett Schepel who had worked at Pestalozzi-Froebel Haus in Germany to move to England and together they worked to improve child education, opening a school in St John's Wood. [ABL85-86, In the Footsteps of 'Abdu'l-Bahá p9-10]
4. 1912-12-21 —
   'Abdu'l-Bahá witnessed His first dramatic performance. It was a mystery Christmas play entitled Eager Heart written by Miss Alice Buckton and performed at the Church House, Westminster before an audience of 1,200. [SoW Vol III no 19 2March1913 p 7, CH154, AB34]
   • He is reported to have said, perhaps on another occasion, "The stage will be the pulpit of the future". [Quoted by Loulie Mathews in The Magazine of the Children of the Kingdom, Vol 4, No. 3 (June 1923, p69]
   • Star of the West, Vol. 19 no. 11 Feb1929, p.341 quotes 'Abdu'l-Bahá as saying: "drama is of the utmost importance. It has been a great educational power in the past; it will be so again,". [BW1994-1995p255]
   • For a short biography of the life of Alice Buckton see The Early Years of the British Bahá'í Community (1898-1911) p97-103.
5. 1960-07-12 —
   Horace Hotchkiss Holley, Hand of the Cause of God, passed away in Haifa. (b. 7 April, 1887 in Torrington, CT) [MC226-227, BW13:849-858]
   • See FMH58-59 for the story of how he came to believe in the Faith.
   • He had served on the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States from 1923 until 1959 and as the secretary from 1924 to 1930 and 1932 until 1959. After the passing of the Guardian he served in the Holy Land. [UN110; BN No 347 January 1960 p1]
   • Shoghi Effendi had appointed him among the first contingent on the 24th of December, 1951. [MoCxxiii]
   • For his obituary see BW13:849–858.
   • For cable from the Hands of the Cause see MC217–18.
   • See also SBR214-247, LoF253-264 and Holley, Horace Hotchkiss by R. Jackson Armstrong-Ingram.
     Some of his is publications: See Collins7.1197 to 7.1233]
     • The Bahá'í Religion: Papers Read at the Conference on Some Living Religions Within the British Empire Papers presented by Horace Holley and Ruhi Afnan. 1925 [Collins7.386]
     • Bahaism: The Modern Social Religion, (1913) [Collins7.1203]
     • Religion for Mankind, (1956) [Collins7.1222]
     • World Unity,
     • Bahá'í, The Spirit of the Age, (1921) [Collins7.1201]
     • Bahá'í Scriptures; Selections from the Utterances of Bahaʼuʼllah and Abdul Baha, (1923 and 1928) The first general book-length compilation of the writings of Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Many passages were early and nonauthoritative translations. The book was superseded by Bahá'í World Faith [Collins4.71]
     • Read-aloud Plays,
     • Divinations and Creation,
     • The World Economy of Baháʼuʼlláh
     • The Inner Garden; A Book of Verse
     • The Reality of Man (1931) [Collins3.103]
     • He was a man of enormous capacity. When asked about it he referred to a "zone of energy" in which he sometimes operated when more than normal strength was available to him. [FMH58]
     • See the biography Infinite Horizons - The Life and Times of Horace Holley by Kathryn Jewett Hogenson published by George Ronald 2022.
6. 2018-07-08 —
   The opening of the play about Tahirih called Daughter of the Sun to an audience of 450 people at the Azerbaijan State Academic National Drama. The dramatic presentation was produced by journalist Kamale Selim Muslimgizi and came at a time when the life of Tahirih was gaining renewed attention and interest in Azerbaijani society due, in part because a book on Tahirih's life and works that were translated and published in 2016 which catalyzed a growing interest among the people of Azerbaijan about the life of this iconic champion of women's emancipation.
   • Tahirih wrote in Persian, Arabic, and Azeri, a widely spoken language in Qazvin and the surrounding region. Azeri is also the main language of Azerbaijan. Tahirih has long attracted interest among scholars. Western Orientalists of the 19th century wrote of her influence on literature and gender equality. In recent years, there have been numerous academic articles and books about her as well as translations of three volumes of her poetry into English.
   • The play continued its run in Baku and in the following months on stage in other cities across the country. [BWNS1276; 30 April, 1960]

1. 1951-06-14 — All will note with interest the increasing use of plays and playlets as a teaching medium. The Montreal community produced one entitled "Fireside Chatter", written by Harold Hamwee. They report "The Maxwell Home was crowded for the event, and it was an exciting evening, not only for the audience, but for the 9 Montreal Bahá'ís in the cast, some of whom had never been on stage before, and were rather surprised to find out that in the new era one also ACTS. The play takes place in the home of a couple who had pioneered to a new city and are holding a fireside. The discussion is typical of most Bahá'í firesides where Bahá'u'lláh's remedies for a better world are discussed. The most outstanding character was Alix, whose thinking was obviously mixed up, but who bravely wore a bright red shirt in honour of her ideas. Rena Gordon deserves praise for the character study of this pathetic but comic figure. Alex had prejudice against everything except names. ·She had no difficulty with the word Bahá'u'lláh. "My own name is Yosopovitch", she said, "which does not includemy three middle names!" The play had no dramatic action, but it had continuity and held the attention of the audience. It presented the Baha'i Faith. to new contacts in a more vivid manner than any speaker could have done." [CBN No23 November 1951 p6]
2. 1953-09-05 —
   Maritime Summer Conference was held during the Labour Day weekend at Little Sands on Prince Edward Island. Bahá'ís from three of the Atlantic Provinces attended-with a total of 18 adults and one youth.
   • Peggy Ross of Scarboro gave a course on "The Reality of Man".
   • The Charlottetown friends presented the play written by Ruhiyyih Khanum, A Spiritual Assembly's Growing Pains. This play included a scene from a real incident which took place in early Montreal Bahá'í history between Ruhiyyih Khanum and Charlottetown Bahá'í Ernest Harrison. [CBN No 45 October 1953 p4]
3. 2001-05-15 — A tribute to Ruhiyyih Khanum, much in the form of music and drama, was held at Canada House in Trafalgar Square in London. It was attended by some 150 prominent people including Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

   The main focus of the evening was a theatrical performance entitled A Life So Noble, which had been inspired by Ruhiyyih Khanum's life. Written by Canadian-born actress/writer Beverley Evans and directed by Annabel Knight, the show took four major aspects of Khanum's life and character and personified them in four women actresses, Maria Friedman, Beverley Evans, Sarah Clive and Kerry-Ann Smith, who told her story using words taken from Ruhiyyih Khanum's own lectures and writings.[BWNS124]

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