Shakespeare in Tehran

Mahmood Karimi Hakak is an award-winning theater director, poet, author, and translator whose works center on intercultural dialogue and peacebuilding. He has created dozens of world-premiere plays including Passion of Ashura (1979), Gilgamesh Con/Quest (1990), and Is the One I Love Everywhere (2020). His literary credits include three books of poetry, four translations, six plays, and many articles and interviews. Shakespeare in Tehran recounts seven years of living in Iran during the 1990s when his production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was raided and closed down by the Islamic Republic. Karimi Hakak is a professor of creative arts at Siena College in New York.

Prologue: The Miracle of Meeting in Tehran x

Acknowledgments xvi

1 The Plane Ride 1

2 At the Airport 7

3 At Madar Jaan’s 12

4 The University Gates 22

5 The Return Home 27

6 The School of Fine Arts 30

7 Inside the Studio 49

8 Ascetic Theater 61

9 Seven Stages 73

10 The Words of Truth 87