Khavaran Theater Complex Opens on Feb.5

Tehran Theater Campus, also known as Khavaran Theater Complex, officially opens on Sunday, February 5, on the occasion of the 10-day Dawn (Fajr) Festivities (January 31-February 10) which marks the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The award-winning solo performance ‘Mysterious Gift’ directed and performed by Yaser Khaseb is the first show at the complex, Mehr News Agency reported.

A blend of puppetry and mime, the performance was staged during the 35th Fajr International Theater Festival in several provincial centers in the past month.

Khaseb, an Iranian performance artist, created the show in 2006 and so far has staged it in the US, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Poland, Brazil, Tunisia, Denmark and India and won several awards. It also bagged the First Place Award at the 10th THESPIS International Monodrama Festival in Germany last November.

‘Mysterious Gift’ will be on stage till the end of the current calendar year in March.

‘Reyhaneh’ directed by Sirus Hemmati is another play that will be staged at the complex from February 6.

It tells the story of a girl Reyhaneh who wants to reclaim her father’s garden as it is been taken over by some people after her father dies. Hemmati also has a role in the play along with Ali Soleimani, Soroush Taheri, Nadia Faraji, Ali Yaqoubzadeh, Shahram Masoudi, Elaheh Rahmati and Arezoo Assari.

The play will be on stage through February 17.

As the largest professional theater center in Iran, Tehran Theater Campus has an area of 28,000 sq meters and consists of a main hall with 900 seats, a 150-seat multi-purpose hall, an outdoor hall of 2000 seats, two rehearsal halls, a décor workshop, five make-up rooms and five black boxes (large square rooms with black walls and a flat floor) which are named after renowned Iranian theatrical figures including the late actor Davoud Rashidi, late playwright and stage director Mahmoud Ostad Mohammad and veteran actors Jamshid Mashayekhi, Ali Nasirian and Mohammad Ali Keshavarz. Each box can accommodate over 100 people.

The complex is located at South Shahabadi St., East Mahallati St., South Imam Ali Highway in Tehran.