Still Life with Iris is a play by Steven Dietz.
In the magical land of Nocturno, where everything in nature is made overnight by people whose memories are tied to special coats that they wear, a little girl named Iris is taken away from her mother to live with a couple known as The Great Goods, who want to have the most perfect one of everything in existence, including the most perfect boy and girl. Iris would be upset, but her coat was taken away, and she can't remember her past at all, except for a single button that remains to her, giving her a faint image of the home she lost, giving her a "still life" picture in her mind. On her journey to find her home again, Iris befriends a young Amadeus Mozart, as well as Annabelle Lee from the Edgar Allen Poe poem.
The work contains examples of:
- Amnesia Missed a Spot The button that is all Iris has left of her Past Coat has a single memory tied to it, which is what motivates her to seek out her past.
- Painting the Frost on Windows In the land of Nocturno, everything in nature is created overnight, every night, by the Past Coat wearing people, including the Flower Painter, who gives flowers their color, and the Thunder Bottlers, who store up thunder for when it's needed by roaring into bottles.
- Take Away Their Name Averted by Iris, who stays Iris even when her memories are taken away. Played straight with Iris's mother, who is given a new name when her past is taken from her, as well as Mr. Matternot, who is really Iris's father with his past taken away, and the other people with their Past Coats stolen from them working for the Great Goods, Mr. Otherguy and Mr. Himtoo, which aren't their real names, either
