Mehdi Forough (1911–2008) was an Iranian scholar, author, dramatist, writer on dramatic arts and culture, translator, and founder of the Academy of Dramatic Arts in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

. A native of

Esfahan Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...

, Mehdi Forough attended Danesh Sara-ye Aali in Tehran and went on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, London. He did graduate studies at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, NYC, where he completed his thesis, ''Comparative study of Abraham's sacrifice in Persian passion plays and Western mystery plays'', 1954. This work was later published by the Ministry of Culture, in Tehran. Upon his return to his native land he founded the Academy of Dramatic Arts at which he was the director, a teacher and a mentor to many notable actors, film directors, playwrights, and theater producers who continue his legacy around the world. He wrote for the journal ''Sokhan'' and authored numerous articles for many other publications. Amongst his books are a treatise on music, titled ''She'r va Musighi'' (Poetry and Music, 1957), ''Nofooz e elmi va elm-e-musighi-e Iran dar keshvar hay-e digar'' (The Scientific and Cultural Influence of Persian Music in other Countries), and ''Shahnameh va Adabiat-e-Dramatic'' (Shahnameh and the Dramatic Literature). In the late nineteen seventies he was the president of Bonyad-e-Shahnameh, an institution devoted to the preservation of the authenticity of

Ferdowsi Abul-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi ( fa, ; 940 – 1019/1025 CE), also Firdawsi or Ferdowsi (), was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a sin ...

's epic poem. He is also known for his excellent translations of English texts into Persian. Amongst his many translations of plays are

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thre ...

' ''

Glass Menagerie ''The Glass Menagerie'' is a memory play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame. The play has strong autobiographical elements, featuring characters based on its author, his histrionic mother ...

'' and August Strindberg's ''

The Father Father is the male parent of a child. Father may also refer to: Name * Daniel Fathers (born 1966), a British actor * Father Yod (1922–1975), an American owner of one of the country's first health food restaurants Cinema * ''Father'' (1966 f ...

'' both of which he staged and directed. Furthermore, he translated

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

's plays, '' A Doll's House'' and ''

Ghosts A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

''. Another translation related to the Theater is

Lajos Egri Lajos N. Egri (June 4, 1888 – February 7, 1967) was a Hungarian-American playwright and teacher of creative writing. He is the author of ''The Art of Dramatic Writing'', which is widely regarded as one of the best works on the subject of playw ...

's ''The Art of Dramatic Writing''. He also translated Aaron Copland's ''What to Listen for in Music'', and '' Men of Music'' by Wallace Brockway and Herbert Weinstock. Mehdi Forough, is said to have possessed a legendary voice, although he never performed publicly. He is the composer of a song cycle in which he set well-known Persian poems of Hafez, Saadi, and others to music. Mehdi Forough was married to Fakhri Dowlatabadi, one of the Iranian women pioneers in playing and teaching of western classical music and the daughter of Haji Mirza Yahya Dowlatabadi, who was the son of

Subh-i-Azal Ṣubḥ-i-Azal (1831–1912, born Mírzá Yaḥyá) was an Iranian religious leader of Azali, Azali Bábism, known for his conflict with his half-brother Baháʼu'lláh over leadership of the Bábí community after 1853. In 1850, when he was ju ...

and a prominent Constitutionalist of the 1906 Revolution and one of the founders of the modern school systems in Iran. Mehdi Forough's son is the violinist and professor, Cyrus Forough.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forough, Mehdi Iranian scholars Iranian writers 1911 births 2008 deaths Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Columbia University alumni