Staged Plays
Plays Staged at Stanford University
Sponsored by the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies and part of the Stanford Festival of Iranian Arts.
Dash Akol According to Marjan (forthcoming)
Dash Akol According to Marjan is a feature play, based on the acclaimed contemporary short story by Sadegh Hedayat, about the love of a Luti, Dash Akol, for Marjan, the daughter of a businessman who has passed away. However, in Beyzaie’s version, the story is instead narrated by Marjan and told from her perspective.
Tarabnameh
Tarabnameh tells the story of a hadji who sets out to sell his servant and buy in his place a young slave girl. On the way, they see a poet about to be beheaded; a young lover in search of a purloined beloved; and troubadours, their profession banned, desperate to bring joy and laughter to any face. In short, the world they see is all topsy-turvy.
Tarabnameh has its genealogy in the tradition of Takhte-Hozi plays—a tradition of popular plays, combing comedy and music, dance and poetry. Centuries of despotism have rendered this form bereft of content. In Tarabnameh, a play with a cast of thirty-seven actors, this ancient comic genre keeps its joyous ambiance but takes on new form and meaning, underscoring the possibilities of once forgotten traditions becoming rich, robust, and lively modern forms of theater.
Arash
Arash is one of the most enduring stories of Iranian mythology—the story of a man who offers to end the bloodshed between Iran and its neighbor, Touran, and instead uses the power of his arrow to determine the border of the two countries. Past renditions of this myth have been suffused in messianic hero worship. In this rendition, the only salvation will come from ones own action.
Arash is one of Beyzaie's earliest writings, and though it has been performed numerous times, in numerous countries and languages, this was the first time Beyzaie himself directed it. This stage reading was lead by acclaimed artists Mojdeh Shamsaie and Mohsen Namjoo.
Other Staged Plays
- One Thousand and First Night, (play-reading) performed by Mojdeh Shamsaie, Stanford University (2013)
- Afra or the Day Passes, Vahdat Hall (2007)
- A Re-enactment Play, In Recounting the Agonies of Maestro Navid Makan and His Spouse Architect Rokhshid Farzin, The Main Hall in City Theater (2005) (publication and images from Bisheh Publishers)
- One Thousand and First Night, Chahar-Soo Auditorium in City Theater (2003)
- The 1001st Night (the first episode) directed by Alan Lyddiard, Betty Nansen Theater of Copenhagen (2002)
- The Testament of Bondar Bidakhsh, as part of the Silk Road Theater Festival, the Ruhr Theater, Mulheim, Germany (1998)
- The Lady Aoi, by Yokio Mishima, Qashqai Hall in City Theater (1997)
- The Testament of Bondar Bidakhsh, Chahar-Soo Auditorium in City Theater (1997)
- Staged Death of Yazdgerd, Chahar-Soo Auditorium in City Theater (1979)
- The King Snake, Iranian National Theater Ensemble, the 25th of Shahrivar Auditorium (1969)
- Heritage and The Feast, Iranian National Theater Ensemble, the 25th of Shahrivar Auditorium (1967)
- Puppets, the Iranian National Theater Ensemble, for Television (1966)
- Sunset in a Strange Land and The Story of the Hidden Moon, directed by Abbas Javanmard, the Iranian National Theater Ensemble, at the Theater Festival of Nations, Paris (1965)
- Pahlavan Akbar Dies, directed by Abbas Javanmard, Iran’s National Theater Ensemble for Iranian Television (1964)