Theater of Diaspora:

Two Plays by Parviz Sayyad

Edited by Hamid Dabashi


Parviz Sayyad made his entrance onto the Iranian stage and into the Iranian film and television arena at a time when much of traditional Iranian entertainment and performing arts had ceased to exist or had undergone drastic transformation, moving from their natural urban environment into rural areas. In some cases, particular forms had even died out completely. Sayyad has nearly single-handedly rescued these traditional forms from oblivion. While he has demonstrated his versatility in all forms of Iranian entertainment, his main achievement has been in projecting the indigenous forms onto the imported ones and amalgamating them, be it in his many television serials, in feature films, or in theatrical productions.