This week, the East Village theater scene prepares for a unique arrival. Opening May 16, 2026, "HEX: A Two Fold Play in Five Acts" promises to challenge conventional notions of drama. We sat down with writer and director Babäk Mehrabi to discuss the "mystical theater" tradition.

On the Nature of the Production

StageBuddy: Tell us about the philosophy behind HEX.

Babäk Mehrabi: "The nature of the show... is following a tradition of mystical theater, which is the crossroads of entertainment, art, religion, and magic. The idea is that the audience are going to be involved in... bringing back a very, very, very old... tradition of theater... done with the means of today's world."

On Background and the Meaning of "Drama"

StageBuddy: You didn't take a traditional path to the director's chair. How did that influence your view of theater?

Babäk Mehrabi: "I noticed that what [people] are very invested in... is drama... conflict, a story with a conflict. I refer to Mary Overly's idea of what a story is, which is just logic of events. So I think there are stories. And then when you add conflict to it, then you have drama... what I was personally very interested in was something we can kind of bring the platonic term of forms."

On the Ancient Lineage of Performance

StageBuddy: Where does this work sit in the history of theater?

Babäk Mehrabi: "I think theater and the lineage that we're trying to describe here... goes back... to somewhere around the campfire where somebody paints their face, starts singing a song in a circle and trying to maybe heal someone from a possession... This form of theater to me is... the crossroads of art, magic, religion and entertainment."

On Staging and "Spatial Immersion"

StageBuddy: How do you use the space at Arts on Site?

Babäk Mehrabi: "Our shows are always in the round... the central piece is something that we are going to discover together throughout the play... and as the play goes on, there is this knowledge slowly might seep in with the audience that they might be a part of it... It's not because the word immersive... is now adopted by a certain type of theater... It's immersion in a spatial setting."

On the Plot of "HEX"

StageBuddy: Can you give us a brief synopsis?

Babäk Mehrabi: "This one is about a gathering. You're invited to a mansion somewhere... you are one of the guests... and the central question of the whole play is, what are we gathered here for?"