Theatrical figures gather to pay tribute to director Rokneddin Khosravi

The 77-year-old director/playwright who resides in London was one of the pioneers of theater in Iran. He has directed numerous plays on TV and stage since 1959, concentrating on those written by famous international playwrights such as Anton Chekhov, Bertolt Brecht, Henrik Ibsen, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Iranians Gholamhossein Saedi, Akbar Radi, Arman Omid, and Manuchehr Radin.

Present day master playwrights, once students of Khosravi; Hamid Samandarian, Jamshid Mashayekhi, Jafar Vali, Hadi Marzban, Behzad Farahani, Gohar Kheirandish, and Roya Teimurian, were observed among the participants.

The ceremony began with the short speech delivered by stage and screen actress Elham Pavehnejad followed by screening several short clips of plays directed by Khosravi in older times.

Actor Mashayekhi was called on stage to talk about his role in the play “The White Horse”, the only play written and directed by Khosravi himself.

“I got to know Khosravi in 1987 when the Center for Dramatic Arts was established. Khosravi is a man of culture and I am proud to have worked with him,” he said.

Photos of Sophocles “Oedipus” were shown to the audience after which actress Teimurian performed an excerpt of her role as Jocasta. “In 1988, we practiced the play for six months. Khosravi was determined to train us and make us into real actors. It is one of my desires to perform once again in a play directed by Khosravi,” she remarked.

The ceremony continued with the staging of the play “Olive” written by Arman Omid once directed by Khosravi, the play was performed by Behruz Baqaii, Mostafa Tari, and Farnaz Rahnama.

Photos of the play “Glorious Smile of Mr. Gil” by Akbar Radi were shown in which actor Mohammad Moti talked about his recollections of the play.

A documentary on Khosravi’s character and his style of directing narrated by his colleagues and students, and produced by Hushmand Honarkar was later screened for the audience.

The director of Actors Association of Iran’s Theater Forum and organizer of the event Behzad Farahani concluded the ceremony expressing his pleasure over bringing all the dear theatrical personalities together once again.

RM/YAW
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MNA