TEHRAN – The play “No Body Like Jimmy” written by the American playwright Burton Bumgarner will be staged at the Niavaran Cultural Center from December 24.

Directed by Ali Shahamati, the one-hour play has Ramin Abdollahi, Fardin Omidpanah, Ali Nahavandi, Pardis Hosseini, Atefeh Kashani, Shiva Khani, and Kamran Riazi in the cast, among others, ILNA reported.

A playful, lightly macabre story, “No Body Like Jimmy” relates the struggles of married couple Ralph and Eloise, as Ralph and his college pal Harold attempt to conceal a man they dub “Jimmy” at Eloise’s political cocktail party. The only drawback is that “Jimmy” isn’t quite alive.

Eloise is running for Congress and a small gathering for potential donors is planned by Nigel, her less-than-scrupulous campaign manager, and her husband, Ralph. Just before the first guests arrive, Harold, Ralph’s college roommate, shows up at the front door with a problem: he’s driving around town with a dead body in his van, and he doesn’t know what to do with it. 

Harold needs a place to stash Jimmy.  In this hilarious comedy, Harold’s timing couldn’t be more awful as Ralph and Eloise are expecting a house full of major campaign donors in about five, four, three, two… The body arrives in the house just as the first guests arrive. What can they do? They dress the body up like a guest and call him Jimmy.

Burton Bumgarner grew up in North Carolina, where he now lives and works as a musician. He earned an undergraduate degree in music from Greensboro College and a Master of Music degree from Southern Methodist University. 

He began writing plays in 1994. He is a four-time winner of the Robert J. Pickering Award for Playwriting from the Coldwater (MI) Community Theater, and in 2004, he won the McLaren Memorial Comedy Playwriting Award from the Midland (TX) Community Theater. A member of the Dramatist Guild of America, Burton has over 80 scripts (comedies, dramas, one-acts, and 10-minute scripts) in publication.

Burton writes plays for schools and community theater. Some of his monologues are published in “The Big Book of Monologues” from Brooklyn Publishers. He also writes under the pseudonym Andrew Ross.  

“No Body Like Jimmy” will remain on stage until January 8, 2026, at the Niavaran Cultural Center, located across from Niavaran Park on Pasdaran Street. 

SS/SAB