Writing

The Tutor

“Delivers a masterclass in palpable psychological storytelling…provocative, fiercely entertaining world premiere” – Bay Area Reporter

World Premiere Commission by the New Conservatory Theater (May 2024, San Francisco) Things are looking up for Kayvon. He’s just married Baran, a beautiful young Iranian woman, and brought her back to his Bay Area home. But when he asks his lifelong friend Azar to tutor Baran, all three lives begin to unravel as the two women fall into a passionate love affair. A study of preconceived notions and the hypocrisies that drive them, The Tutor is a provocative look at the cost of owning one’s truth. Directed by Sahar Assaf, featuring Deborah Eliezer, Maya Nazal, and Lawrence Radecker

ISFAHAN BLUES is included in NEW IRANIAN PLAYS (2022). Inspired by Duke Ellington Orchestra’s 1963 tour to Iran, ISFAHAN BLUES imagines an unlikely friendship between an American jazz musician and an Iranian actress. As they travel together to Isfahan, “the most beautiful city in the world,” Jazz inspires them to test the limits of freedom, creativity, and experimentation. Contrary to today’s political stalemate between the US and Iran, this production aims to shed light on a little-known historical moment when a uniquely American art form inspired generations of young Iranian musicians. Written by Torange Yeghiazarian in collaboration with Vida Ghahremani, L. Peter Callender, Nakissa Etemad, Laura Hope, and Marcus Shelby. Premiered by Golden Thread Productions in 2016, directed by Laura Hope.

THE FIFTH STRING, ZIRYAB'S PASSAGE TO CORDOBA written and directed by Torange Yeghiazarian (World Premiere 2014) with music composed by Faraz Minooei, production design and painting by Mokhtar Paki, featuring an ensemble of actors, acrobats, and musicians... Meet Ziryab, the 9th-century musician and cultural icon, in this family-friendly new play with live music: a musical genius, a star of the Baghdad court, and a fashion innovator. The Fifth String playfully tells the story of his beginnings in Iraq, his life as an immigrant to Cordoba, and his lasting contributions in music, fashion, and culture that continue to reverberate today. Widely credited with adding a fifth string to the oud and with introducing Persian and Arabic influences to Spanish music, his life becomes an inspiration for this modern retelling as a story-within-a-story in the tradition of 1001 Nights.

444 DAYS is featured in PERFORMING IRAN (2021) edited by Babak Rahimi, and MIDDLE EASTERN AMERICAN THEATRE (2021) edited by Michael Malek Najjar. Laleh, an Iranian revolutionary, and Harry, a diplomatic attaché, meet for the first time in 25 years as Laleh’s daughter lies in a coma. The last time they spoke was when she held him hostage for 444 days at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran along with 52 other Americans. International espionage and family secrets mesh in unexpected ways in this love story thriller. Premiered by Golden Thread Productions IN 2012, directed by Bella Warda.

“The complex mixture of attractions of convenience and of love along with their intertwined connections to a faraway world of arrests and torture makes THE TUTOR a hold-your-breath must-see.”
Eddie Reynolds, Theatre Eddys

“Yeghiazarian's hardly mellow drama [THE TUTOR] plays with a love triangle as sharp and spiky as the dagger-like points on a backgammon board....devilish interweaving of male fragility and cultural heritage is just one of many stratagems Yeghiazarian employs in engaging the audience. She encourages the shifting of our allegiances among the characters as their own loyalties slalom in a switchback course. The betrayals and reversals are multifold and emotionally perilous. ”
Jim Gladstone, Bay Area Reporter

“In Golden Thread artistic director Torange Yeghiazarian's CALL ME MEHDI, meanwhile, a young Iranian American woman (Ahou Tabibzadeh) faces a nocturnal interrogation in bed by her culturally insecure Anglo American husband (Butler) who'd like certain Persian jokes explained to him, please. Despite a faint ending, this 10-minute comic exercise in culturally thick description and latent stereotypes has a smart and generous deadpan humor that recalls Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis series (with maybe a touch of Doonesbury). ”
Robert Avila

“THE MOST POLITICAL PLAY OF THE festival, Torange Yeghiazarian’s ABAGA, tells a cross-generational story of inter—religious love. The action shifts between Turkey in 1915, during the massacre of Armenian intellectuals, and Jerusalem in 1935, when Jewish migration to Palestine from Russia was underway. Constructed as a simple love story, Abaga gives us a historical insight into the effects of conflict on human relations... Zarin is the voice of reason among the characters caught up in religious difference. She gives voice to the idea that was, for me, the strongest message that came through in the festival: “From the time I remember, I’ve been asked, ‘What are you, Muslim or Christian? Turk or Armenian?’ Look at me: I am human. Why is that not enough?””
Shazia Ahmad

Torange Yeghiazarian

The Tutor

Plays, Translations, Essays

Featured Writing

The Tutor

Theatre Heaven: A Place a Lot Like Festival d’Avignon

Isfahan Blues (play)

Leyla & Majnun, adapted from Nizami's poetry in Persian

Dramatic Defiance in Tehran (essay)