Ali Akbar Alizad (
Persian: علی اکبر علیزاد; born 1973) is an Iranian theater director, known mostly for his performance of Waiting for Godot (2006)[1] Alizad has been a member of the Aein Theater Group and the Leev Theater Group for 10 years, and in 2006 he founded his theatrical group named
84theater.[2]
Career
Alizad is a lecturer at the Cinema & Theater College, University of Art since 2004, teaching drama analysis, playwriting, and dramatic principles.
He started his involvement in theater in 1991, where at the time he primarily directed. Alizad has experience in other parts of theatrical work as well, such as writing and acting. He was also a member of the Aeein Theater Group from 1991 to 2004 and a member of the Leev Theater Group from 2004. In 2012 TDR, The Drama Review, published an essay about an Iranian new theater and Beckett/Pinter written by Alizad. In 2009, he met Noel Greig in Tehran to hold a workshop where Alizad translated his book; Playwriting: A Practical Guide, into Persian.[2]
Performances 2005–2009
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, Tehran, Molavi Hall (2005)
Two Latin American plays, Tehran, Department of Cinema & Theater (2006)
Oleanna by David Mamet, Tehran, City Theater (2006)
Anniversary Celebratory and Swan Song by Chekhov, Tehran, Department of Cinema & Theater (2007)
Ohio Impromptu, Footfalls, Come and Go,[3] Catastrophe, and Rough for Theater 1 by Samuel Beckett[4] (Tehran, Molavi Hall, June 2008)
All That Falls by Samuel Beckett, Artist home, Tehran, September 2008
Police by Slawomir Merozek, first premier: May 2009
Performances 2009–2013
Catastrophe & Come and Go by Samuel Beckett, Romania, 2009
What Where / Mountain Language[5] Beckett/Pinter, (2010)
Magic Mountain, written and devised by Ali Akbar Alizad (2010), a collaboration between 84theater and 20 Stories High from Liverpool, performed in Manchester, UK, as a part of Contacting the World Festival
Catastrophe and Come and Go by Samuel Beckett, UK, Manchester, 2010
Endless Monologue, a documentary performance based on the verbatim technique. July 2011, East Gallery, Tehran
Play by Samuel Beckett, Arasbaran Art Center, Tehran, November and September 2011.
Krapp's Last Tape, by Samuel Beckett, Molavi Hall, 2012
Tango, by Slawomir Merozek, (banned by Iranian Art censorship)
Performances 2014–2022
The House of Bernarda Alba by Lorca, Tehran, 2014
Act Without Words I & II by Samuel Beckett, Tehran, Moje No hall, 2014
Oleanna by David Mamet, Tehran, Samandarian hall, 2015[6]
Mountain Language/Faith in Ourselves by Harold Pinter/Martin Crimp, Tehran, Molavi Hall, 2016
Fragments by Samuel Beckett, Tehran, City Theater (2016)
The Maids by Jean Genet, Tehran, Molavi Hall, (2018)
Alice in Tehran, written and directed by Ali Akbar Alizad (in rehearsal)