Reza Shirmarz (), is a Greece-based Iranian published, and awarded playwright, translator, researcher, theatre director and essayist with more than 40 books published both written and translated by him, who has been collaborating with major

publishing companies Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

, theaters, drama schools, radio channels, journals, etc. in Iran. Reza Shirmarz was elected as a member of the board of directors of Iran's Playwrights

Guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

for 3 ongoing years. He has also been a professional member of bodies such as Iran's Playwrights Guild,

PEN America PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922, and headquartered in New York City, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose goal is to raise awareness for the protection of free expression in the United States and worldwide th ...

, and

Dramatists Guild of America The Dramatists Guild of America is a professional organization for playwrights, composers, and lyricists working in the U.S. theatre market. It was born in 1921 out of the Authors Guild, known then as Authors League of America, formed in 1912. M ...

. He also is a

language specialist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds and equivalent gestures i ...

and a full member of

Chartered Institute of Linguists Founded as the ''Institute of Linguists'' in 1910, the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL) received its royal charter in 2005, and is the UK's not-for-profit royal charter body for languages and linguists. CIOL supports linguists in their ...

(CIOL) in London.

Early life

Reza Shirmarz was born in

Khoy Khoy (, ) is a city in the Central District (Khoy County), Central District of Khoy County, West Azerbaijan province, West Azerbaijan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Occupied since Medes, Median times, ...

and raised in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

, the capital city of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. His father was a

ground forces An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by p ...

general with no interest in art and his mother an art lover who taught him both discipline and love. Shirmarz is

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

, speaking

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

since childhood. He is

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply l ...

. Shirmarz has been influenced by great modern and

classic A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of Masterpiece, lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or Literary merit, highest quality, class, or rank – something that Exemplification, exemplifies its ...

writers and thinkers since his childhood. He began to read Persian

classic literature A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...

, especially

Rumi Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (), or simply Rumi (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century poet, Hanafi '' faqih'' (jurist), Maturidi theologian (''mutakallim''), and Sufi mystic born during the Khwarazmian Empire ...

, when he was a teen. He also was quite fascinated by modern

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

, particularly the works of great modern Iranian writer,

Sadegh Hedayat Sadegh Hedayat (, ; 17 February 1903 – 9 April 1951) was an Iranian peoples, Iranian writer, translator, satirist, and poet. Best known for his novel ''The Blind Owl'', he was one of the earliest Iranian writers to adopt literary modernism in ...

. He began to read the non-Persian literature intensively after a couple of years. This was the first step for him to get familiar with western literature. Later, Shirmarz began to read more ancient and modern dramas, strengthening his creative imagination. Such an intensive reading assisted him in his playwriting and translation career in the coming years. He said once: "Reading and translation were like workshops I attended to learn how to create drama." Poetry is another branch of literature that the Iranian author and artist have pursued throughout his life. In addition to Iranian classic and modern poets, Shirmarz attempted to go meticulously through eastern and western poetry. In the coming years he wrote a book on modern English poets

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an List of poets from the United States, American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Ita ...

and

William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th century in literature, 20th-century literature. He was ...

Career overview

Reza Shirmarz wrote several plays of which two -''Cinnamon Stars'' and ''Crystal Vines''- were celebrated on a national scale in

Fajr International Theater Festival Fajr International Theater Festival (est. 1983) is Iran's most important stage festival which occurs annually in Iran, featuring local and international theatrical works and performers. Among the participants: el-Warsha (Egypt) and Teatro Potlatch ...

and Iran's National Playwriting Contest. He also translated tens of plays and books by famous world dramatists and authors, including

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

(11 plays), Menanderus (1 play),

Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus ( ; 254 – 184 BC) was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by Livius Andro ...

(20 plays), Terentius (2 plays),

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

(7 plays),

Edward Bond Thomas Edward Bond (18 July 1934 – 3 March 2024) was an English playwright, theatre director, poet, dramatic theorist and screenwriter. He was the author of some 50 plays, among them '' Saved'' (1965), the production of which was instrument ...

(1 play),

Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

(5 plays),

Terence Rattigan Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan (10 June 191130 November 1977) was a British dramatist and screenwriter. He was one of England's most popular mid-20th-century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background.Geoffrey Wan ...

(2 plays),

Clifford Odets Clifford Odets (July 18, 1906 – August 14, 1963) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor. In the mid-1930s, he was widely seen as the potential successor to Nobel Prize–winning playwright Eugene O'Neill, as O'Neill began to withd ...

(2 plays), Iakovos Kambanellis (6 plays),

John Mortimer Sir John Clifford Mortimer (21 April 1923 – 16 January 2009) was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author. He is best known for short stories about a barrister named Horace Rumpole, adapted from episodes of the TV series '' R ...

(5 plays), Arthur Watkyns & J.A. Ferguson,

Edward Albee Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), ''The Sandbox (play), The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), ''A Delicat ...

, Marjorie Bolton,

Jean Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th-century French phi ...

Jean Anouilh Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (; ; 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist and screenwriter whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play ...

, etc. He mostly specialized in theater and philosophy. His last book on Robert Wilson, a well-known American theater director, was published in 2015 by Ghatreh publishing company in Tehran. One of his recent translations from Greek into

was

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

's ''

Poetics Poetics is the study or theory of poetry, specifically the study or theory of device, structure, form, type, and effect with regards to poetry, though usage of the term can also refer to literature broadly. Poetics is distinguished from hermeneu ...

'' which was published in 2018 in Tehran by a major publishing company called Ghoghnoos. Although some of his works were already published at the time of President

Mohammad Khatami Mohammad Khatami (born 14 October 1943) is an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who served as the fifth president of Iran from 3 August 1997 to 3 August 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture from 1982 to 1992. Later, he was critic ...

, they have been constantly censored and banned by the Iranian official authorities since the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad, but he never gave up creating new pieces of art and translating drama and philosophy into Persian. More than six of his works, such as ''Cinnamon Stars'', ''Crystal Vines'', ''Deep Blue Sea'', ''Yellow Snow Falls'', etc. are officially announced as forbidden to be published and distributed. One of his translations is ''

The Big knife ''The Big Knife'' is a 1955 American melodrama film directed and produced by Robert Aldrich from a screenplay by James Poe based on the 1949 play by Clifford Odets. The film stars Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Jean Hagen, Rod S ...

'' by

, which has been prohibited for more than a decade.

Migration

Reza Shirmarz moved to Greece in 2010 to carry out research on ancient

Greek culture The culture of Greece has evolved over thousands of years, beginning in Minoan and later in Mycenaean Greece, continuing most notably into Classical Greece, while influencing the Roman Empire and its successor the Byzantine Empire. Other cultu ...

and civilization, learn

Greek language Greek (, ; , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic languages, Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece, Cyprus, Italy (in Calabria and Salento), south ...

while studying at the

university of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...

and translate Greek theatrical and philosophical works into

directly from Greek. Six plays of Iakovos Kambanellis were the first series of theatrical works he translated directly from the Greek language into Persian. He has been translating the complete works of

into

Persian language Persian ( ), also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Farsi (, Fārsī ), is a Western Iranian languages, Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian subdivision ...

of which the first volume (''The

'') was published in 2017. The book was sold out in a short time and was republished in 2020. Reza Shirmarz announced in one of his recent interviews that he is translating the eight books of

into

at the moment, along with other projects he is carrying out. He said that

Rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

is going to be published soon by a major Iranian publishing company called Ghoghnoos. In addition to his research and translation activities, Shirmarz wrote several plays, such as ''Immigrants'', ''The Corners of Death'', ''The Pipe'', ''Tsunami'', etc., in English while living in Greece. His play ''Immigrants'' was translated into Greece two years ago.

Plays

* ''Cinnamon Stars'' (celebrated play in

and National Playwriting Competition, published by Namayesh Publication Center, 2007). This play was given a reading in the National Theater located in Tehran. Next year the playwright attempted to direct it with a professional crew. Still, the performance was banned by official authorities after long

rehearsal A rehearsal is an activity in the performing arts that occurs as preparation for a performance in music, theatre, dance and related arts, such as opera, musical theatre and film production. It is undertaken as a form of Practice (learning metho ...

s. * ''Crystal Vines'' (celebrated play in

and published by Namayesh Publication Center, 2008). This play was read in National Theater as well, but banned at the time of performance as well in 2009. *''My Hands'' (published in Theater Magazine, 2009) * ''Deep Blue Sea'' (published in a literary magazine called Payab, 2010) * ''Meeting'' (2011) * ''Yellow'' ''Snow Falls'' (2012) (published in a literary magazine called Payab, 2011) * ''The Corners of Death'' (2013), a modern four-part play * ''Acharnon'' ''Street'' ''Vulture'' (2014) * ''Lanterns Are Weeping'' (2014), the third part of the trilogy called ''Cinnamon Stars'' * ''Immigrants'' (2015, English); this one-act play was translated into Greek by Nikos Anastasopoulos in 2016. * ''Tsunami'' (2016) * ''The Pipe'' (2019) *
Muzzled
' (2022): This play is a response to

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...

's ''

Catastrophe Catastrophe or catastrophic comes from the Greek κατά (''kata'') = down; στροφή (''strophē'') = turning (). It may refer to the following: A general or specific event * Disaster, a devastating event * The Asia Minor Catastrophe, a Greek ...

'', a short play which was written in support of dissident

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

Vaclav Havel. ''Muzzled'' was published by ''

Index on Censorship Index on Censorship is an organisation campaigning for freedom of expression. It produces a quarterly magazine of the same name from London. It is directed by the non-profit-making Writers and Scholars International, Ltd (WSI) in association wit ...

'' on January 12, 2022. ''Catastrophe'' by Beckett and ''Mistake'' by Havel were published together by ''Index'' in 1984. ''Muzzled'' was also published by ''Index'' in the 50th

anniversary An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded. Most countries celebrate national anniversaries, typically called national days. These could be the List of national independence days, date of independen ...

birthday of the Sage journal in January 2022.

Books

* ''Stage Speech: Practical Exercises'', published by Ghatreh Publication Company, 1st edition in 2012 and 12th edition in 2020. * ''I think through my eyes, on Robert Wilson’s Visual Theater'', Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2015. * ''Comedy'' (forthcoming) * ''The Philosophy of Theater'' (forthcoming)

Translations

*''The Bad-Tempered'',

Menander Menander (; ; c. 342/341 – c. 290 BC) was a Greek scriptwriter and the best-known representative of Athenian Ancient Greek comedy, New Comedy. He wrote 108 comedies and took the prize at the Lenaia festival eight times. His record at the Cit ...

, Sooreh University Press, 2000. * ''The complete plays of

'': ''

Acharnians ''The Acharnians'' or ''Acharnians'' (Ancient Greek: ''Akharneîs''; Attic: ) is the third play — and the earliest of the eleven surviving plays — by the Athenian playwright Aristophanes. It was produced in 425 BC on behalf of the young dram ...

The Knights ''The Knights'' ( ''Hippeîs''; Attic: ) was the fourth play written by Aristophanes, who is considered the master of Old Comedy. The play is a satire on the social and political life of classical Athens during the Peloponnesian War, and in thi ...

The Clouds ''The Clouds'' (, ''Nephelai'') is a Greek comedy play written by the playwright Aristophanes. A lampooning of intellectual fashions in classical Athens, it was originally produced at the City Dionysia in 423BC and was not as well received as th ...

The Wasps ''The Wasps'' () is the fourth in chronological order of the eleven surviving plays by Aristophanes. It was produced at the Lenaia festival in 422 BC, during Athens' short-lived respite from the Peloponnesian War and shortly before the death o ...

Peace Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (suc ...

Lysistrata ''Lysistrata'' ( or ; Attic Greek: , ''Lysistrátē'', ) is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC. It is a comic account of a woman's mission to end the Peloponnesian War between Greek city ...

, The Birds,

The Frogs ''The Frogs'' (; , often abbreviated ''Ran.'' or ''Ra.'') is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was performed at the Lenaia, one of the Festivals of Dionysus in Athens, in 405 BC and received first place. The pla ...

, Thesmophoriazuse, Ecclesiazuse, and

Plutus In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Plutus (; ) is the god and the personification of wealth, and the son of the goddess of agriculture Demeter and the mortal Iasion. Family Plutus is most commonly the son of Demeter and Iasion, with who ...

'', in Seven volumes, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2015. * ''The complete plays of

'': ''

Amphitryon Amphitryon (; Ancient Greek: Ἀμφιτρύων, ''gen''.: Ἀμφιτρύωνος; usually interpreted as "harassing either side", Latin: Amphitruo), in Greek mythology, was a son of Alcaeus, king of Tiryns in Argolis. His mother was named ...

, The Comedy of Asses, The Pot of Gold, Two Bacchides, Casket,

Curculio ''Curculio'' is a genus of weevils belonging the family Curculionidae The Curculionidae are a family of weevils, commonly called snout beetles or true weevils. They are one of the largest animal families with 6,800 genera and 83,000 specie ...

Epidicus ''Epidicus'' is an ancient Roman comedy written by Plautus in the 3rd or 2nd century BC. It is said to have been one of Plautus's favorite works. Epidicus is the name of the main character, who is a slave. The plot takes many turns as Epidicus trie ...

, Menaachi,

Merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

, Braggart Soldier,

Haunted House A haunted house, spook house or ghost house in ghostlore is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were otherwise connected with the property ...

, The Girl From Persia,

Carthaginians The Punic people, usually known as the Carthaginians (and sometimes as Western Phoenicians), were a Semitic people, Semitic people who Phoenician settlement of North Africa, migrated from Phoenicia to the Western Mediterranean during the Iron ...

, Psudolous, The Rope, Stichus, Trinummus, Triculentus,

Casina Casina ( ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Emilia, in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about west of Bologna and about southwest of Reggio Emilia. The municipality of Casina contains the ''frazioni'' (su ...

& The Captives'', in three volumes, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2002. * ''The Anatomy of Drama'', Marjourie Boulton, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 1st edition in 2003 & 4th edition in 2013. * ''Stage for Speech'', by Evangeline Machlin, Ghatreh Publishing Company, First edition 2003 & 10th 2013. * ''Seven

One-act play A one-act play is a play that has only one act, as distinct from plays that occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more scenes. The 20-40 minute play has emerged as a popular subgenre of the one-act play, especially in writi ...

s'' by

: ''

How He Lied to Her Husband ''How He Lied to Her Husband'' is a one-act comedy play by George Bernard Shaw, who wrote it, at the request of actor Arnold Daly, over a period of four days while he was vacationing in Scotland in 1904. In its preface he described it as "a s ...

'', '' The Glimpse of Reality'', ''

Augustus Does His Bit ''Augustus Does His Bit: A True-to-Life Farce'' (1916) is a comic one-act play by George Bernard Shaw about a dim-witted aristocrat who is outwitted by a female spy during World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – ...

'', '' Passion Poison & Petrifaction'', ''

The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet ''The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet: A Sermon in Crude Melodrama'' is a one-act play by George Bernard Shaw, first produced in 1909. Shaw describes the play as a religious tract in dramatic form.Violet M. Broad & C. Lewis Broad ''Dictionary to t ...

'', ''

The Dark Lady of the Sonnets ''The Dark Lady of the Sonnets'' is a 1910 short comedy by George Bernard Shaw in which William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the g ...

'', '' Annajanska The Bolshevik Empress'', Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2007. * ''Great Peace'' by

, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2009. * '' Golden boy,'' Clifford Odets, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2009. * ''Essays on

Aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

'', by

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary criticism, literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th ...

, 1st edition in 2001 & 6th edition in 2005, Ahange Digar Publication, 2009. * ''Evoking

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

'' by

Peter Brook Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Shak ...

, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2009. * ''Orchestra'' & The Dye-Hard, two one-act plays by Jean Anhoui and

Harold Brighouse Harold Brighouse (26 July 1882 – 25 July 1958) was an English playwright and author whose best known play is '' Hobson's Choice''. He was a prominent member, together with Allan Monkhouse and Stanley Houghton, of a group known as the Manche ...

, Ghatreh Publishing Company. 2009. * ''The Boy Comes Home'' & ''The Londonderry air'', two plays by

A. A. Milne Alan Alexander Milne (; 18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as children's poetry. Milne was primarily a playwright before the huge success of Winnie-th ...

Rachel Field Rachel Lyman Field (September 19, 1894 – March 15, 1942) was an American novelist, poet, and children's literature, children's fiction writer. She is best known for her work ''Hitty, Her First Hundred Years''. Field also won a National Book Awa ...

, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2010. * ''He & His Trousers'' & ''The Wrong Man & Woman'' by Iakovos Kambanellis, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2010. * ''Sheppy'' by

, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2010. * ''The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theater'', Volume 5: Asia/Pacific, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2010, celebrated as the best educational book of the year in Roshd Book Festival. * Ancient Roman Comedies: ''

Andria Andria (; Barese: ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Apulia region of Southern Italy. It is an agricultural and service center, producing wine, olives and almonds. It is the fourth-largest municipality in the Apulia region (behind ...

Phormio Phormio ( ''Phormion'', ''gen''.: Φορμίωνος), the son of Asopius, was an Athenian general and admiral before and during the Peloponnesian War. A talented naval commander, Phormio commanded at several famous Athenian victories in 428 BC ...

'' by

Terence Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a playwright during the Roman Republic. He was the author of six Roman comedy, comedies based on Greek comedy, Greek originals by Menander or Apollodorus of Carystus. A ...

, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2010. * ''

The Dock Brief ''The Dock Brief'' (US title ''Trial and Error''; also known as ''A Case for the Jury'') is a 1962 black-and-white UK, British legal satire directed by James Hill (British director), James Hill, starring Peter Sellers and Richard Attenborough, a ...

'' & ''Women at War'', two plays by

and

Edward Percy Edward Percy Smith (5 January 1891 – 25 May 1968) was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom and a playwright under the name Edward Percy. Biography Born in Wandsworth, London, he was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) f ...

, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2010. * '' Browning Version'' & ''

Adventure Story Adventure fiction is a type of fiction that usually presents danger, or gives the reader a sense of excitement. Some adventure fiction also satisfies the literary definition of romance fiction. History In the introduction to the ''Encyclopedi ...

'' by

, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2010. * ''Letter to Orestes'' & ''Thebes Sidestreets'' by Iakovos Kambanellis, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2011. * ''Characters for Violin and Orchestra'' by Iakovos Kambanellis, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2011. * ''Such Stuff As Dreams'' & ''Wanted, Mr Stuart!'', two plays by J.A. Ferguson and Arthur Watkyn, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2012. * ''

'' by

s, from

, Ghoghnoos Publishing Company,1st edition 2017, 2nd edition 2020. * ''

'' by

s, from

(forthcoming)

Articles and essays

*''The Post-modern Literature of

'', in Kelk Literary Magazine, Tehran, 2004. * ''An Analytical View on "

", A Comedy by

'', in

Hamshahri ''Hamshahri'' (; ) is a major Iranian national Persian-language newspaper in Tehran (whose municipal government owns the newspaper). History and profile ''Hamshahri'' is published by the municipality of Tehran, and founded by Gholamhossein ...

Philosophical Magazine, Tehran, 2007. * ''Structural Analysis of

’ Comedy-writing'', in

Tehran University The University of Tehran (UT) or Tehran University (, ) is a public collegiate university in Iran, and the oldest and most prominent Iranian university located in Tehran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as ...

, Tehran, 2008. * '' Iakovos Kambanellis, A Contemporary Greek playwright'', in Directors’ Center Book, 1st volume, 2012. * ''Theater and

Phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (Peirce), a branch of philosophy according to Charles Sanders Peirce (1839� ...

'', in Directors’ Center Book, 2nd volume, 2013. * ''Dramatic Interaction'',

The Linguist ''The Linguist'' (formerly ''The Incorporated Linguist'') is the quarterly journal and magazine of the UK's Chartered Institute of Linguists, whose headquarters is in London. History and profile The journal was established in 1962. ''The Lingui ...

, Vol 54/N 1,

, 2015. * ''Dancing in Chain'',

, Vol 54/N 5,

, 2015. *''A Short Review of Children Theater in Greece'', Theater Magazine, 2015. * ''Stage Design in Greek Theater'', Theater Magazine, 2015. * ''An Introduction to Contemporary Greek Theater,'' Theater Magazine, 2015. * ''Desperate Liaisons,''

, Vol 55/N 2,

, 2016. * ''Theater Architecture in Modern Greece,'' Theater Magazine, 2016. * ''Playwriting in Modern Greece'', Theater Magazine, 2016. * ''What Does Theater Mean'', Theater Magazine, 2017. *''An Introduction to Contemporary Theater of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

'', Theater Magazine, 2017.

Collaborations

Reza Shirmarz translated two essays on African

ritual A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...

s and their theatrical aspects, which were published as parts of a book called ''Drama and Religion'' published in

by Iran's

Performing arts center Performing arts center/centre (see spelling differences), often abbreviated as PAC, is usually a complex housing performance spaces for various performing arts, including dance, music, and theatre. In some cases it refers to a single multi-use s ...

in 2007. He has also been active in various Iranian radio channels as writer, translator and narrator for more than a decade. Shirmarz has adapted and translated more than 100 dramatic works to be performed in radio and has been active as a theater critic for several years. Despite all his artistic efforts in Iranian mainstream theater and media, he and his colleagues were deprived of their activities at the time of Mahmood Ahmadinezhad, the extremely fundamentalist Iranian president who was elected in year 2009. Shirmarz was also active in the administrative part of

for three years at the time of reformist Iranian president

from 2001 to 2004. He has worked with several literary or theatrical magazines (''Kelk'', ''Theater'', ''Payab'', etc.), journals (''

'' in London), newspapers (''

'', ''Farhikhtegan'', ''Shargh'', ''Jame'e'', etc.), news agencies (IBNA, ISNA, etc.) for almost two decades since the outset of his career. He has also been giving speeches and lectures as a playwright,

theater director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

, researcher,

theorist A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...

and critic in different performing arts centers in Iran, mostly in Tehran. Reza Shirmarz became an honorary member of Vanagahan Theater Group in Iran and conducted a number of voice and speech workshops for the actors of the group. He also performed some vocal parts of some of the performances of the group in three languages a couple of years ago.

Memberships

* A full member of

(CIOL) in London * A full member of Iran's Playwrights Guild * A full member of

* A professional member of

* A board member of Iran's Playwrights Guild

References

External links

rezashirmarz.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shirmarz, Reza Living people Iranian translators Iranian dramatists and playwrights Iranian essayists Iranian theatre directors Vocal coaches Speech coaches 1974 births Persian-language poets