Marjan Moosavi

My Story:
I was educated at the University of Tehran and York University (Toronto), and received my PhD in Theatre and Performance Studies from University of Toronto’s Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, where I also trained in the theory and craft of theatre-making, dramaturgy, and diasporic performances. In Iran, I won Iran’s National Fadjr Theatre Festival Special Acting Award (1989) and Iranian Women’s Theatre Festival Award for my research on “Gender Dynamics” in plays by Iranian women playwrights (2009).

I teach at Roshan Institute for Persian Studies, University of Maryland. I have served as a faculty member and designed curricula for the University of Toronto, York University (Canada), Portland State University (U.S.A), and Parand Azad University (Iran). Recent collaborations include those with Gatherings (University of Toronto), IPCCR (International Program for Creative Collaboration & Research, University of Maryland), and Nowadays Theatre (Toronto). I am the author of several articles and reviews in scholarly journals and theatre websites; the Principal Investigator and Curator for the First Photo Exhibition on the Middle Eastern Theatre; the Regional Managing Editor of the Iran section for TheTheatreTimes.com and I was the 2018 Graduate Fellow at the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies at the University of Toronto.

My curatorial work and scholarly research have been featured in LMDA (Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas), on BBC Persian, and with Iranian and Turkish news agencies. My research, writing, teaching and other creative endeavors are focused on the political and ethical dimensions of theatrical practice in Middle Eastern countries and their diasporas, with a particular emphasis on contemporary Iranian theatre. My research interests include Iranian and Middle Eastern performing arts, cross-cultural theatre, transnational feminist theories, postcolonial performance studies and critical methodology in Middle Eastern theatre studies. I appreciate my everyday life, with all its messiness and ambivalence.

Education

• Ph.D., Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies (CDTPS), University of Toronto, Canada
• M.A. Theatre Studies, York University, Toronto, Canada
• M.A. English Literature, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran