By Alyssa Cokinis
What if dyslexia were seen as creativity and not as a deficit?
The Words Will Come: Inside the Dyslexic Mind by Melody Erfani explores just that. This movement-driven piece follows Sheila, a young Iranian-American girl with dyslexia struggling in school. Movement, sound, projection, and language fracture onstage, translating Sheila’s mind for the audience in an immersive multisensory experience. Within the confines of her mind, Sheila finds an ally in fellow dyslexic Albert Einstein, and she starts to see her dyslexia as something creative and different that brings color to her life and learning.
I spoke with Erfani about how the piece was devised, her process, and her hope for audiences once they see the show.
Alyssa Cokinis: How did the concept and themes for The Words Will Come emerge?
Melody Erfani: During COVID, I became curious about how my dyslexia affects my day-to-day life as an adult. Other than getting lost very easily, I don’t think about it much now the way I did when I was a kid. I read a book called The Dyslexic Advantage by Brock L. Eide and Fernette F. Eide, which explores the ways dyslexia allows people to see the world differently. I began to recognize how those strengths show up in my theatre work in how I think spatially, visually, and emotionally.
Shortly after that, my niece Ella, who was eight at the time, began struggling in school. I was struck by how many of the same challenges still exist and how little has changed in 30+ years. It reminded me of a specific childhood memory, sitting in an English lesson on tenses or prepositions that made absolutely no sense to me. I remember looking over at another student’s paper because everyone else seemed to understand, and I didn’t. It felt like the teacher was speaking a completely different language, and I was on the outside looking in.
That feeling of confusion, isolation, and trying to make sense of something that isn’t built for you became a central emotional thread in the piece. I wanted to provoke conversation about our learning systems, offer a sense of hope, and illuminate the richness and complexity of the neurodivergent experience.
Cokinis: This is the world premiere of the play after two development residencies (congrats!!). How has each residency shaped the trajectory of the piece?
Melody Erfani: The piece began with an idea and a lot of research, but I initially felt stuck. I ended up creating my own mini writing residency, working with Jonathan Cullen, Rebby Foster, and Cynthia Petts. We met once a week over six weeks, and that process helped me through brainstorming, improvisations, and informal readings of the piece.
Those few scenes of material became the foundation for the HB Studio Residency in February 2024. That phase was a staged workshop where a rough draft of the script was developed further, collaborating with designers to add layers to the experience. We had four free public performances followed by talkbacks. Hearing directly from audiences helped me identify what was resonating and what needed to be reworked.
Most recently, I was in the Alembic Residency, which focused more on allowing rehearsal space for exploration of physical movement. That was instrumental, especially since movement plays such a key role in the piece. Working with other artists and receiving feedback on the physical storytelling has helped clarify the narrative in a much more embodied way.
Cokinis: How does movement drive the story of your play and the relationships between characters, as well as their relationship to dyslexia?
Melody Erfani: Movement is used to express shifts in time, confusion, distortion, and moments of overwhelm or chaos. It allows us to move beyond literal storytelling and into a more experiential space. Rather than explaining what’s happening inside the main character’s mind, movement gives the audience a way to feel it alongside her. It creates a shared sensory experience, one that mirrors the nonlinear, sometimes disorienting, but also imaginative and expansive nature of dyslexia.
Theatre, for me, is the right medium for that because it’s inherently collaborative and immediate. The audience is right there, breathing the same air as the actors. There’s something about that shared space – the vibrations, the breath that creates an experience you can’t replicate elsewhere. It allows the audience not just to observe, but to physically and emotionally enter the world of the play.
Photo by Edison Koo.
Cokinis: What are you most excited about with this next iteration of The Words Will Come?
Melody Erfani: From the beginning, the design elements have always been an essential layer of the piece. Even while writing, I was imagining how projection, sound, and movement would interact with the story. While our budget is modest (and there are always limitations that come with that), the design team we’ve assembled is incredibly creative and thoughtful. I’m excited to see how their artistry deepens the world of the play and transforms it into a more immersive, multi-sensory experience.
Cokinis: What do you hope audiences walk away thinking or feeling?
Melody Erfani: Empathy. Children between the ages of 7–12 often struggle the most with dyslexia. Our education system is so heavily rooted in reading that if a child struggles to read, it impacts every subject. One challenge compounds another, and many kids end up feeling left behind. There are sobering statistics around students not graduating and the school-to-prison pipeline, where a significant portion of the incarcerated population have learning differences.
Photo by Edison Koo.
At the core of it, I want audiences to leave asking: how can we better see, support, and advocate for these kids? And how can we begin to shift the narrative from deficit to difference?
There’s also a thread of hope in the piece, embodied in the character of Einstein. He represents possibility. He’s someone widely recognized as a genius, and he was dyslexic. Even as a child, knowing that gave me a sense of hope that there was another way to think, another way to be, and that difference could be a strength.
Performance Details
THE WORDS WILL COME: Inside the Dyslexic Mind
Created and directed by Melody Erfani
When: June 4–28, 2026
Thursdays–Saturdays at 7:30 PM
Sundays at 2:00 PM
Where: Shaking the Tree Theatre
823 SE Grant St
Portland, OR 97214
Run Time: Approximately 90 minutes
Tickets: $30 with limited Pay-What-You-Can tickets available
Tickets available at: www.lesshakespeareco.org
Alyssa Cokinis is a writer and theatre artist from Iowa, currently living in the Pacific Northwest. She is also the founder and editor of some scripts, which just published its sixth issue!