Aurash by Bahram Beyza'ie, translated and adapted by Soheil Parsa with Brian Quirt, edited by Peter Farbridge

Based on a Persian myth dating back over one thousand years, in the 1970s the fable was adapted into a dramatic narrative by Bahram Beyza'ie. In Beyza'ie's story, Aurash, a naïve and human stablehand, becomes an unwilling player in his country's post-war border treaty. He must determine his people's fate by firing an arrow from the top of a mountain.

The Death of the King by Bahram Beyza'ie, translated by Soheil Parsa with Peter Farbridge

A retelling of Persian history. At the end of the Sassanian Empire, during the onslaught of Muslim invasions into Persia, the last king of Persia, Yazdgird III, finds death in an impoverished flourmill. Discovered red-handed by the king's army, the helpless miller, his wife, and his daughter must reenact their experience with the king to prove their innocence—or else face a horrible death.

Stories from the Rains of Love and Death by Abas Na'lbandian, translated by Soheil Parsa with Peter Farbridge

A quintet of interrelated one-act plays written in 1977. The play presents us with characters that are gripped by forces and events beyond their comprehension. Emotionally raw and psychologically unfathomable, they struggle to find reality and solve the riddles of life in environments that conspire against them.

Interrogation by Mohammad Rahmanian, translated by Soheil Parsa

Two youth, loyal to the anti-colonial struggle in Algeria, cannot stop their acts of violence even after the revolution has been won. Their stories tell a timeless truth: nothing enduring can be built on violence.

Soheil Parsa is an award-winning director, actor, writer, dramaturge, choreographer, and teacher whose professional theatre career spans twenty-nine years and two continents. In his native Iran, Soheil completed studies in theatre performance at the University of Tehran and began a promising career as an actor and director. Arriving in Canada with his family in 1984, Soheil completed a second Bachelor of Arts in theatre studies at York University and then went on to establish Modern Times Stage Company as one of the most exciting culturally diverse theatre companies in Canada. As a director, set and stage designer, translator, adaptor, choreographer, and actor, Soheilâ??s work is based on his experience in Iran and focuses on oppression and loss of freedom (especially loss of speech). His art is created to empower those who are often marginalized and under-represented.

Soheil Parsa's profile page

Peter is a theatre actor, dramaturg, and producer working in Montreal. As a founding member and co-artistic director of the Modern Times Stage Company from 1989 to 2022, Peter appeared in many of the productions, including the title roles of Macbeth and Hamlet. He has earned several Toronto Dora nominations and awards for his work with Modern Times. Among that work, Peter has co-translated and adapted the plays of several Iranian playwrights with Soheil Parsa, and he has served as co-writer or co-deviser on several new theatrical productions. Peter has worked as an actor in film, TV, and theatre in Montreal both in English and in French. In 2017 he was nominated for a Meta Award for his acting work in Progress! for Infinitheatre. He currently directs the project Postmarginal: Inclusive Theatre Practice, which seeks to increase the representativity of marginalized artists. 

Peter Farbridge's profile page

Brian Quirt is a dramaturg, director and playwright. He is Artistic Director of Nightswimming, a Toronto dramaturgical company that has commissioned 30 works of dance and drama, and Director of the Banff Centre Playwrights Lab. With more than 25 years experience as a dramaturg, Brian has worked with many of Canada’s leading playwrights. As a director, his credits include premieres of these Nightswimming commissions: Anita Majumdar’s Fish Eyes Trilogy (2014/15 national tour) and Same Same But Different (Theatre Passe Muraille/Alberta Theatre Projects), Carmen Aguirre’s Blue Box (2012-2014 national tour), Anosh Irani’s Bombay Black (Cahoots Theatre and tour), Judith Thompson’s Such Creatures (Theatre Passe Muraille), Andy Massingham’s Rough House (national tour) and Richard Sanger’s Whispering Pines (GCTC). He has created seven of his own plays, most recently Why We Are Here! (with Martin Julien). His plays include the 2009 Summerworks hit Lake Nora Arms (adapted from Michael Redhill’s book with Jane Miller), Blue Note (with Martin Julien; Harbourfront Centre), The Death of General Wolfe (Theatre Passe Muraille), and adaptations of Jane Urquhart’s The Whirlpool (Tarragon Theatre), and the Iranian play Aurash (with Soheil Parsa; Modern Times Theatre in Toronto, Iran, Columbia, Cuba and Bosnia). He has been Interim Artistic Director of the Great Canadian Theatre Company, Company Dramaturg at Factory Theatre, Dramaturg at the Theatre Centre and Dramaturgical Associate at the Canadian Stage Company. He is a Board member and past-President of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, a two-time recipient of LMDA’s Elliott Hayes Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dramaturgy, and has been nominated for three Dora Awards, two for Direction and one for his adaptation of the Aurash.

Brian Quirt's profile page

• Short-listed, Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play

"[C]ontemporary resonance from a story that sounds as old as time itself. "

Vit Wagner, Toronto Star

"[A] fascinating piece, muscular, yet curiously elusive. "

Robert Crew, Toronto Star

"[A] dramatic language and tempo that can bolt the spectator to her seat…"

Soma, The Iranian

"[A] plot twisting narrative, made up of layer upon layer of 'truth' and fabrication. "

Jon Kaplan, NOW Magazine