“Blood Dance” by Reza Saberi, “Returning” by Hossein Mosafer Astaneh, “The Vein” by Ayyub Aqakhani and “Zipper” by Kianush Ayazi will be the plays that will go on stage. 

“Darya Qoli” by Malek Absalan and “The Epic Assembly of the Sixth Person” by Hossein Barfinejad will be done as street theater performances.

“Returning” is about a businessman who launches a large shopping center project in Khorramshahr, the Iranian city that was almost totally destroyed during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. But in the aftermath of the war, people in the city need homes and jobs rather than a shopping center.

“The Vein” is about the resistance of three border guards in the Aras region in Iran’s northwestern province of East Azarbaijan against the Russian Army during World War II. 

In addition, twenty-five plays will be performed according to the official lineup of the festival. 

One of the highlights of the lineup is “The Memories of the House that No Longer Exists” that Amin Ashrafi will direct based on a play by Kamran Shahlai.

“We Had Come Here to Die” will be staged by Maryam Mansuri, and Manuchahr Akbarlu will direct “One Frame, One Thousand Memories”.

“The Song of the Sad Stone” by Pedram Rahmani, “Standing like a Cypress to Watch the Sun” written by Hashem Purmohammadi and “The Place Where the Wind Carries Us” by Mohammad-Sadeq Alipur will be staged.

Due to a spike in the number of coronavirus cases, the 17th Resistance Theater Festival will go online during December, the director of the festival, Hamid Nili, said earlier.

  The street theater performances will be held in open spaces with the audiences observing health protocols, he said.

The Association of the Revolution and Sacred Defense Theater organizes the festival every year in collaboration with several other institutions.      

The organizers have established an award named after Commander Qassem Soleimani.

Ten children’s plays have also been selected to be staged during the festival in a special program.

source: Tehran Times