Biography

Amir Reza Koohestani was born in June 8th, 1978 in Shiraz, Iran. He was 16 when he began to publish short stories in local newspapers. Attracted to cinema, he took courses in directing and cinematography in 1995 and created two unfinished films.

After a brief experience as performer, he devoted his time to write his first plays: And the day never came (1999), which was never performed and The Murmuring Tales (2000) which received attracted critical acclaim in Tehran, during the 18th International Fadjr Theatre Festival.

With his third play, Dance On Glasses (2001), in tour for four years, Amir Reza Koohestani gained international notoriety and found the support of several European theatrical artistic directors and festivals.

Then follows the plays Recent Experiences (from the original text by Canadians writers Nadia Ross and Jacob Wren, 2003) ; Amid The Clouds (first European co-production with Kunstenfestivaldesarts and Wiener Festwochen, 2005) ; Dry Blood & Fresh Vegetables (a twenty minutes performance, 2007) and Quartet: A Journey North (European co-production, 2008), all of them successfully welcomed in Europe.

Amir Reza Koohestani was also commissioned by the Schauspielhaus in Koln, where he wrote and staged Einzelzimmer (2006), and by the Nouveau Theatre DE Besancon, with Japanese director Oriza Hirata and French director Sylvain Maurice, to create the play Des Utopies ? (2009) on tour in France and Japan.

After some years of study in Manchester, Amir Reza Koohestani has returned back to Tehran since July 2009 and created the play Where Were You On January 8th? recently performed in La Colline - national theatre, as part of Festival d'Automne à Paris, and after a European tour.

In October 2011, despite finishing his military service, Amir Reza Koohestani created the adaptation of Ivanov by Anton Chekhov, successfully staged in Tehran for more than one month.

- IMDb mini biography by: Mehr Theatre Group Website