September 25, 2024 | 4 PM
Helen C. White 6110
Report from the Underground: A New Iranian Theatre
In the years following the 1979 revolution and the establishment of the Islamic religious regime in Iran, Iranian artists encountered numerous restrictions. However, censorship and state supervision did not cause artists to withdraw from official arenas; instead, they continued their activities by using different tactics, from indirect and poetic expression to conforming to the official frameworks approved by the state. In the meantime, some artists who did not accept the defined norms in any way turned to alternative spaces to create and present their works. Although theater artists have utilized this tactic for decades, they began to appeal to underground stages more widely following the massive protests in September 2022. Since then, many artists have refused to stage performances in official spaces and under the rules accepted by the government. Instead, they have turned to underground performances, exploring new possibilities in the absence of censorship.
In this presentation, I will discuss the experiences I observed during my recent trip to Iran and talk about the strategies used by Iranian underground theater artists for activism and creating their works.