.jpg "The playwright and director Mohammad Rahmanian and his mother, from whom he gets ideas for his religious plays, pose during the commemoration ceremony his colleagues held for him in Tehran on March 15, 2014. (Mehr/Masud Saki)")
TEHRAN – The acclaimed stage director Mohammad Rahmanian was honored during a ceremony held by his friends, colleagues and fans in Tehran on Saturday.
A number of actors and theatrical figures including Reza Kianian, Mohammad Charmshir, Reza Babak and Ali Sarabi, and composer Loris Tjeknavorian attended the ceremony, which took place at the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA).
Speaking at the ceremony, playwright Charmshir said that for him Rahmanian is the individual who has achieved what he has desired in his life.
“Rahmanian has gone through many ups and downs in his life, and I am happy to have learned excitement from him. I have learned to be serious in theater, and to be courageous like him,” he said.
He has taught many great lessons to our theater and I hope our theater would make the best use of this potential, he said, adding, “I have always told the youth about his good memory, ambition and his seriousness.”
Rahmanian’s actress wife Mahtab Nasirpur next performed three minutes from the play “The Day of Hussein (AS)”, a play that could not obtain Iranian cultural officials’ approval to be staged last year.
The ceremony continued with the message of self-exiled Iranian director Bahram Beizaii read by Hamid Amjad. “Rahmanian had found a path which was long lost by our generation. His art is to dominate time,” reads part of the message.
Addressing Rahmanian, Kianian said, “I always envied you, not only you but Charmshir and Amjad, since you know a lot and I don’t. I have achieved what I desired in my life but I always wished to be like you.”
The ceremony continued with screening several parts of Rahmanian’s previous plays and handing a gift to Rahmanian who received it accompanied by his mother, Mansureh Nozari.
In accepting his gift, Rahmanian expressed his thanks to all, and said, “One of the reasons why I have written religious plays is due to my mother’s request since she asked me to write about it.
“I also thank (my wife) Mahtab for acting part of her role in the play ‘The Day of Hussein (AS)’, the play which forced us to leave the country.”
“I can say nothing more than thanks, and that I don’t deserve your kindness,” he concluded.
RM/YAW
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