Dramaturgy

I am a diversity practitioner working to carve out spaces that have been previously non-existent for me. I believe dramaturgs and immigrants have to build up spaces to get inside cultures, spaces and processes. Both groups have to deal with politics, power structures and assumptions that surround their life, identity and profession. The diasporic and dramaturgical sections of my work and identity have been mutually constitutive: one has made my encounter with the other easy and fruitful, and both have broadened my intellectual and practical horizons.

As a transnational dramaturg, and given my positionality as an Iranian immigrant living in Toronto, Canada, I live, travel and work transnationally and diasporically, meaning my body, thoughts and dramaturgical choices are constantly moving, crossing and hybridizing. While I’m in Toronto my work and ideas move across continents including Tehran and other Middle Eastern cities.

Whether working in English or Persian, or for professional or nonprofessional groups, I know dramaturgical work comes in different guises, so I remain open to a variety of tasks. The best part of my dramaturgy work is the collaborative translation-dramaturgy process. Particularly in adaptation processes, I enjoy,

  • trying to answer the question “why this play now?”
  • doing research about the playwright’s vision and praxis, the play’s socio-political context, and its production history
  • interpreting texts and getting involved in different stages of rehearsal.

My least favourite part is when I have to address the changes imposed by the forces of market or state censorial interventions.

To read more, see “Highlighted Voice” by LMDA: Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas