“Mississippi Dies Seated” crowned best at Iran’s theatrical writers’ awards
TEHRAN – (Iranart)- “Mississippi Dies Seated” based on Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s play “The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi” was named best play of the year at the 16th Celebration of Iran Critic and Theatrical Writers Society on Thursday.
Director/writer Homayun Ghanizadeh received his award from the celebrated filmmaker Rakhshan Bani-Etemad during the celebration, which was held at the Abbas Kiarostami Hall of the Farabi Cinema Foundation.
In his acceptance speech, Ghanizadeh asked all those people active in theater to respect theatergoers, and afterwards, Bani-Etemad asked theatergoers to adhere to the principles of watching theater.
Ghanizadeh staged the play at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall last October.
The second top play award was shared by “The Names of All Mothers…” from director/writer Mohammad Rahmanian and English dramatist John Webster’s “The Duchess of Malfi” by Mohammad Rezai.
“Israfil’s Horn” by Amer Mosafer Astaneh won the third award.
The Iranian Theater Forum is the main organizer of the celebration, which also presented actor/director Esmaeil Shangaleh and communications scholar Ali-Akbar Farhani lifetime achievement awards.
The organizers also paid tribute to director Alireza Kushk-Jalali and actor Hossein Moheb Ahari for their persistence in theater despite their illnesses.
Moheb Ahari is in a battle with lymphoma and Kushk-Jalali suffers from multiple sclerosis.