Reza Shirmarz

Reza Shirmarz (Persian رضا شیرمرز), is a Greece-based published and awarded playwright, translator, researcher, theatre director and essayist with more than 30 books both written and translated by him, collaborating with major publishing companies, theaters, drama schools, radio channels, journals, etc. in Iran.[1] Reza Shirmarz was elected as a member of the board of directors of Iran's Playwrights Guild for 3 ongoing years. He has been a professional member of bodies such as Iran's Playwrights Guild, Pen America and Dramatists Guild of America. He also is a language specialist and a full member of Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL) in London.[2]

Reza Shirmarz
Shirmarz in Athens, Greece (2012)
Born1974 (age 46–47)
Tehran, Iran
EducationBS in Insurance Management
OccupationPlaywright, Author, Translator, Researcher, Essayist & Voice and Speech Trainer
Years activeSince 1998
Board member ofBoard of Directors in Iran's Playwrights Guild (2007-2009)
Spouse(s)Razieh Rafiee (since 2003)
ChildrenMaria Shirmarz
AwardsFadjr International Theater Festival (2007 & 2008)
Iran's National Playwriting Competition (2007)
Iran's Book of the Year in Roshd Festival (2011)
Websiterezashirmarz.ir
Signature

Early life

Reza Shirmarz was born in Khoy and raised in Tehran, the capital city of Iran. His mother, a kind-hearted housewife as well as an art lover, although not highly educated and his father a ground forces general who had no interest in art despite of his hidden artistic talent, taught him synchronously love and discipline. Reza is a born bilingual. He has been speaking Persian and Turkish since his birthday. He is left-handed.[3]

Reza Shirmarz (1986, Iran)

Reza has been influenced profoundly by great modern and classic writers and thinkers since his childhood. In a way, he was raised in an intellectual milieu, since his siblings were all well-educated. He was at the beginning influenced by his brother who was a movie fan and now is a script-writer and film director as well as by his sister who was into social sciences especially sociology. He began to read Persian classic literature, especially Rumi, when he was a teen. He also was quite fascinated by modern short stories, particularly the works of great modern Iranian writer, Sadegh Hedayat.[4] He began to read intensively the non-Persian literature after a couple of years. This was the first step for him to get familiar with western literature. Later on, Reza began to read more of ancient and modern drama which strengthened his creative imagination.[5] Such an intensive reading assisted him in his playwriting and translation career in the coming years. He said once: "Reading and translation were like workshops I attended in order to learn how to create drama." Poetry is another branch of literature that the Iranian author and artist has pursued throughout his life. In addition to Iranian classic and modern poets, Reza attempted to go meticulously through the eastern and western poetry as well. In the coming years he wrote a book on modern English poets T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound and William Butler Yeats.[6]

Career overview
Reza Shirmarz (Athens, 2014)

Reza Shirmarz wrote several plays of which two -Cinnamon Stars and Crystal Vines- were celebrated on a national scale in Fajr International Theater Festival and Iran's National Playwriting Contest.[7][8] He also translated tens of plays and books by famous world dramatists and authors, including Aristophanes (11 plays), Menanderus (1 play), Plautus (20 plays), Terentius (2 plays), George Bernard Shaw (7 plays), Edward Bond (1 play), Somerset Maugham (5 plays),[9] Terence Rattigan (2 plays), Clifford Odets (2 plays), Iakovos Kambanellis (6 plays),[10][11][12] John Mortimer (5 plays), Arthur Watkyns & J.A. Ferguson,[13] Edward Albee,[14] Marjorie Bolton, Jean Paul Sartre, Jean Anouilh, etc. He is mostly specialised in theater and philosophy. His last book on Robert Wilson, well-known American theater director, was published in 2015 by Ghatreh publishing company in Tehran.[15][16] One of his recent translations from Greek into Persian was Aristotle's Poetics which was published in 2018 in Tehran by a major publishing company called Ghoghnoos.[17] Although some of his works were already published at the time of President Mohammad Khatami, they have been constantly censored and banned by the Iranian official authorities since the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad, but he never gave up creating new pieces of art and translating drama and philosophy into Persian. More than six of his works, such as Cinnamon Stars, Crystal Vines, Deep Blue Sea, Yellow Snow Falls, etc. are officially announced as forbidden to be published and distributed. One of his translations is The Big knife by Clifford Odets which has been prohibited for more than a decade.

Migration
Reza Shirmarz in Acropolis (Athens, 2014)

Reza Shirmarz moved to Greece in 2010 in order to do research on ancient Greek culture and civilization, learn Greek language while studying at the university of Athens and translate Greek theatrical and philosophical works into Persian directly from Greek. Six plays of Iakovos Kambanellis were the first series of theatrical works he translated directly from Greek language into Persian.[18][19][20] He received a scholarship from the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the effort and assistance of Konstantinos Passalis, the cultural deputy of Greek embassy in Iran in 2009.

He has been translating the complete works of Aristotle into Persian language of which the first volume (The Poetics) was published in 2017.[21] The book was sold out in a short time and was republished in 2020. Reza Shirmarz announced in one of his recent interviews that he is translating the eight books of Aristotle into Persian at the moment along with other projects he is carrying out. He said that Rhetoric is going to be published soon by major Iranian publishing company called Ghoghnoos. In addition to his research and translation activities, Reza wrote several plays such as Immigrants, The Corners of Death, The Pipe, Tsunami, etc. in English while living in Greece. His play Immigrants was translated into Greece a couple of years ago.

Plays
  • Cinnamon Stars (celebrated play in Fajr International Theater Festival and National Playwriting Competition, published by Namayesh Publication Center, 2007).[22] This play was given a reading in the National Theater located in Tehran.[23] Next year the playwright attempted to direct it with a professional crew, but the performance was banned by official authorities after long rehearsals.
  • Crystal Vines (celebrated play in Fajr International Theater Festival and published by Namayesh Publication Center, 2008).[24] This play was read in National Theater as well, but banned at the time of performance as well in 2009.
  • My Hands (published in Theater Magazine, 2009)[25]
  • Deep Blue Sea (published in a literary magazine called Payab, 2010)[26]
  • Orestes (2010)
  • Meeting (2011)
  • Yellow Snow Falls (2012) (published in a literary magazine called Payab, 2011)[27]
  • The Corners of Death (2013),[28] is a modern four part play.
  • Acharnon Street Vulture (2014)[29]
  • Lanterns Are Weeping (2014),[30] this the third part of the trilogy called Cinnamon Stars.
  • Immigrants (2015, English),[31] this one-act play was translated into Greek by Nikos Anastasopoulos in 2016.
  • Tsunami (2016)
  • The Pipe (2019)

Books
  • Stage Speech: Practical Exercises, published by Ghatreh Publication Company, 1st edition in 2012 and 12th edition in 2020.[32]
  • I think through my eyes, on Robert Wilson’s Visual Theater, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2015.[33]
  • Comedy (forthcoming)[34]
  • The Philosophy of Theater (forthcoming)[35]

Translations

Articles & essays

Collaborations
Reza Shirmarz conducting a voice and speech workshop organized by Roozbeh Hosseini in 2016 (Iran, Tehran)

Reza Shirmarz translated two essays on African rituals and their theatrical aspects which were published as parts of a book called Drama and Religion published in Fajr International Theater Festival by Iran's Performing Arts Center in 2007.[48] He has been also active in various Iranian radio channels as writer, translator and narrator for more than a decade. Reza has adapted and translated more than 100 dramatic works to be performed in radio and has been active as a theater critic as well for several years. Despite all his artistic efforts in Iranian mainstream theater and media, he and his colleagues were deprived of their activities at the time of Mahmood Ahmadinezhad, the extremely fundamentalist Iranian president who was elected in year 2009.[49] Reza was also active in the administrative part of Fajr International Theater Festival for three years at the time of reformist Iranian president, Mohammad Khatami from 2001 to 2004. He has worked with several literary or theatrical magazines (Kelk, Theater, Payab, etc.), journals (The Linguist in London), newspapers (Hamshahri, Farhikhtegan, Shargh, Jame'e, etc.), news agencies (IBNA, ISNA, etc.). for almost two decades since the outset of his career. He has also been giving constantly speeches and lectures as a playwright, theater director, researcher, theorist and critic in different performing arts centers in Iran, mostly in Tehran. Reza Shirmarz became an honorary member of Vanagahan Theater Group in Iran and conducted a number of voice and speech workshops for the actors of the group. He also performed some vocal parts of some of the performances of the group in three languages a couple of years ago.[50]

Memberships

References
  1. "Reza Shirmarz Professional Biography". Iran Theater.
  2. "Reza Shirmarz". Iran Theater. 2016.
  3. "Biography of Reza Shirmarz". Official Website of Reza Shirmarz. 2020.
  4. "Writer's Duty is to Detect the Wounds". Shargh Daily Newspaper. 2016.
  5. "Biography of Reza Shirmarz". Official Website of Reza Shirmarz. 2020.
  6. "Biography of Reza Shirmarz". Official Website of Reza Shirmarz. 2020.
  7. "Unveiling Celebrated Plays in 26th Fadjr International Theater Festival". Iran Theater.
  8. "Plays of Reza Shirmarz". Official Website of Reza Shirmarz. 2020.
  9. "Somerset Maugham's Sheppey in Iran". Iran's Book News Agency. 2010.
  10. "Kambanellis Plays in Farsi". Greek News Agenda. 2012.
  11. "Second Volume of Iakovos Kambanellis' Plays Translated into Persian". Greek World Reporter. 2012.
  12. "Plays of Iakovos Kambanellis Reach Iran". Greek World Reporter. 2010.
  13. ""Two modern one-act plays" in a book". Iran's Book News Agency. 2012.
  14. "Edward Albee's 'A Delicate Balance' published in Persian". Iran's Book News Agency. 2016.
  15. "'I Think with My Eyes' explores masterpieces of Robert Wilson". Iran's Book News Agency. 2015.
  16. "Books of Reza Shirmarz". Official Website of Reza Shirmarz. 2020.
  17. "'Poetics' rendered from Greek into Persian". Iran's Book News Agency. 29 July 2018.
  18. "Kambanellis Plays in Farsi". Greek News Agenda. 2012.
  19. "Second Volume of Iakovos Kambanellis' Plays Translated into Persian". Greek World Reporter. 2012.
  20. "Plays of Iakovos Kambanellis Reach Iran". Greek World Reporter. 2010.
  21. "'Poetics' rendered from Greek into Persian". Iran's Book News Agency. 2018.
  22. "Fadjr Festival Playwriting Winner". Hamshahrionline. 2007.
  23. "Play-reading in Iran's National Theater". Magiran. 2007.
  24. "Fadjr Winner Plays Were Published". Art News. 2007.
  25. "Reza Shirmarz". Iran Theater. 2016.
  26. "Reza Shirmarz". Iran Theater. 2016.
  27. "Reza Shirmarz". Iran Theater. 2016.
  28. "Reza Shirmarz". Iran Theater. 2016.
  29. "Reza Shirmarz". Iran Theater. 2016.
  30. "Reza Shirmarz". Iran Theater. 2016.
  31. "Reza Shirmarz". Iran Theater. 2016.
  32. "Stage Speech: Practical Exercises". Iran's Book News Agency. 2012.
  33. "'I Think with My Eyes' explores masterpieces of Robert Wilson". Iran's Book News Agency. 2015.
  34. "A Historical Research on Comedy". Iran's Book News Agency. 2009.
  35. "Official Website of Reza Shirmarz". rezashirmarz.ir. 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
  36. "Aristophanes' "Lysistrata" and "Thesmophoriazusae" in Iranian bookshops". Iran's Book News Agency. 2010.
  37. ""The Birds" in Iran". Iran's Book News Agency. 2009.
  38. "Aristophanes' plays translated into Farsi". National Book Center of Greece. 2010.
  39. "Somerset Maugham's Sheppey in Iran". Iran's Book News Agency. 2010.
  40. "Roshd Festival's Best Books of the Year". Iran's Book News Agency. 2011.
  41. "Annually Celebrated Books in Roshd Books Festival". Iran's Students News Agency. 2011.
  42. "The Best Theatrical Books in Iran (Roshd Festival)". International Quran News Agency. 2011.
  43. "Annual Award-winning Theatrical Book in Iran (Roshd Books Festival)". Mehr News Agency.
  44. "The Best Thearical Books Are Celebrated in Roshd Festival". Culture and Art News. 2011.
  45. "Second Volume of Iakovos Kambanellis' Plays Translated into Persian". Greek World Reporter. 2012.
  46. "Kambanellis Plays in Farsi". Greek News Agenda. 2012.
  47. "'Poetics' rendered from Greek into Persian". Iran's Book News Agency. 2018.
  48. "Iran publishes dramas to mark Fajr Theater Festival". Mehr News Agency.
  49. "Reza Shirmarz". Iran Theater. 2016.
  50. "Reza Shirmarz Joins Vanagahan Theater Group". Iran Theater. 2016.
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