Siana Hristova / The Chronicle

Josh Kornbluth performs in the Bay Area debut of "White Rabbit, Red Rabbit," a play by Iranian writer Nassim Soleimanpour, performed by an actor without rehearsal each time.

White Rabbit, Red Rabbit: Solo show. By Nassim Soleimanpour. Through May 20. San Francisco International Arts Festival, International Festival Lounge, 540 Sutter St., San Francisco. One hour. $12-$15, subject to change. (415) 771-6900, http://www.sfiaf.org.

Josh Kornbluth clutches the script tightly with both hands and throws himself into the unfamiliar words with customary earnest nervousness. Actor Sean San Jos attacks the same lines with edgy, restless verve, sitting, pacing, even climbing a ladder as he lets each finished page fall to the floor.

Each approach to Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour's "White Rabbit, Red Rabbit" contains its own unexpected rewards - and none will be repeated. One of the beauties of this captivatingly oddball declaration of artistic freedom is the diversity of the artists lined up to perform it in the San Francisco International Arts Festival.

Soleimanpour wrote it for just such a purpose. Denied a passport to leave Iran, because he'd refused military service, he defied Iran's cultural blockade by writing "Rabbit" in English and sending it out to be performed by others. It premiered last year at the Edinburgh Fringe and Toronto SummerWorks festivals and has already been performed in at least 15 countries in a variety of languages. (He was finally given a passport four months ago, but has yet to see the work performed.)

Every performance is unique - because each performer can do it only once, without having read, seen or heard a description of it before getting the script at the beginning of the show. The few prior instructions include the pronunciation of the author's name, a note about indicating departures from the script and a heads-up to be prepared to imitate an ostrich.

Yes, there are ostriches - and bears, cheetahs, crows and, of course, rabbits - as both narrative and metaphorical devices. There's also audience participation, of a (mostly) nonthreatening and peculiarly rewarding nature.

More significantly, there's a magnetic mind behind the prose. "Rabbit" is a lightly comic, deceptively discursive, metatheatrical monologue that - without, I hope, giving too much away - raises provocative questions about the nature of theater, social responsibility, personal freedoms, suicide and the "limits of obedience."

It's also so different in tone, emphasis and impact in the hands of different actors that it's a treat to see more than once. Kornbluth's and San Jos's back-to-back opening night shows - Friday in the intimate back room of the gallery that serves as the festival's gathering place - evoked remarkably distinct elements of and reactions to the script.

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'White Rabbit, Red Rabbit' review: never the same