INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
TEHRAN-Iranian theater director and playwright Amir Reza Koohestani has actually been welcomed to direct the 34th Ecole des Matres (School
of Masters), which is an innovative theatre training project, set to be kept in different European cities from August 26 to October 3
Koohestanis workshop is entitled Daily Life as Performance: Crafting Narratives from Everyday Experiences, Mehr reported.In the workshop,
Koohestani invites the artists to check out the performative capacity of daily life
By transforming ordinary occasions into engaging significant narratives, the workshop highlights the power of personal experience as raw
material for theatrical development
Participants will reflect on their day-to-day routines, environments, and interactions to uncover their significant possibilities.A crucial
part of the workshop focuses on journal entries written by individuals, capturing the information of a single day
These journals, written in the first individual and simple past tense, will function as the structure for producing narratives
To enrich their storytelling, participants are encouraged to bring a physical item connected to the day explained in their journalanything
from a household item to a meaningful artifact.The workshop uses a special technique to theater-making, motivating participants to see their
daily lives as a creative canvas and to experiment with ingenious types of storytelling.The 34th edition of the School of Masters will begin
in Lige, Belgium, on August 26 and will continue with work stages and public discussions in the various European venues.It will remain in
Lisbon, Portugal, from August 31 to September 5, in Coimbra, Portugal, from September 6 to 11, in Milan, Italy, from September 12 to 16, in
Udine, Italy, from September 17 to 26, and in Angers, France, from September 27 to October 3
This year, there will be 16 participants chosen, 4 from each Ecole des Matres partner nation, to which will be added some individuals from
the 2025 guest country, Slovenia
The group will be as varied as possible in terms of gender, origin, and culture.The cole des Matres is an advanced theater training project
conceived by Franco Quadri in 1990
The training objective of the project is to initiate a relationship between young actresses and actors, trained at drama academies and
theater schools in Europe and currently working as professionals, and prominent directors of the international scene, to enliven a work
experience strongly focused on comparing and exchanging skills on staging approaches and practices, beginning with various texts, languages
and creative languages, during itinerant ateliers.Born in Shiraz, Fars Province, Amir Reza Koohestani, 46, is thought about among the most
crucial Iranian theatre makers of his generation.At the age of 16, he began publishing short stories in local papers
Drawn in to cinema, he took courses in directing and cinematography
Koohestani studied Cinema at the University of Tehran
In the future, he continued his research studies at the University of Manchester in the field of theater.After producing 2 unfinished movies
and a brief experience as an entertainer, he devoted his time to composing his very first plays, And the Day Never Came (1999) and The
He established the Mehr Theater Group in Tehran in 2001 and with his 3rd play, Dance on Glasses (2001 ), Koohestani got worldwide fame and
found the assistance of a number of European theatrical artistic directors and celebrations
This was followed by the plays Recent Experiences (from the initial text by Canadian authors Nadia Ross and Jacob Wren, 2003); Amid the
Clouds (2005 ); Dry Blood & & Fresh Vegetables (2007 ); Quartet: A Journey North (2008 ); Where Were You on January 8th? (2009 ); Ivanov
(2011 ); and The Fourth Wall (from the original play England by Tim Crouch, 2012)In 2012, the movie Modest Reception, which was co-written
by Koohestani and Mani Haghighi, actor and film director, won the Netpac Award at the Berlin International Film Festival
In 2013, the Festival Actoral in Marseille (France) commissioned Koohestani to write and stage a brand-new play, Timeloss (based on his
previous play Dance on Glasses)
From October 2014 to March 2015, throughout a residency at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany, Koohestani composed the play
Hearing.Since 2006, Koohestani has worked often in Germany, where he has actually produced more than 15 productions.In September 2018, he
was welcomed, in addition to other directors, for the opening of La Comdie de Genve in Switzerland, where he created a brief play in French
based upon Miss Julie by August Strindberg.Summerless, which premiered in May 2018 at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels, Belgium, and
existed at the Festival dAvignon in 2018, is the third part of a trilogy about time and memory, following Timeloss and Hearing.In May 2023,
Koohestani created Blind Runner, which premiered in Brussels as part of the Kunstenfestivaldesarts
A brand-new partnership with Mani Haghighi led to the release of the movie Subtraction in July 2023
This article first appeared/also appeared in Tehran Times
