Zoroastrians Abroad
Shahnameh-inspired
The Asia Society presented the one-man theater piece Sohrab and Rustam by Asian American writer-performer Zaraawar Mistry at the Texas Stages Repertory Theatre, April 1-3. An e-mail posting by Behram Pastakia from www.stagestheatre.com speaks of the Shahnameh episode recast as a tragicomic story of a contemporary Parsi family in Bombay.
Reviewed as one of the 10 best plays of 2002 by City Pages, Minneapolis, Mistry’s rendition of the legend is set against the backdrop of the zenith, decline and now preservation of the Zoroastrians, highlighting the themes of loyalty, generational differences, war and migration, notes the posting. Deftly accompanied by musician Tim OKeefe and vocalist Maryam Yusefzadeh, members of the Persian music ensemble Robayat, Mistry tells the ancient story through a dozen different characters. One moment he is the young warrior Sohrab, the next a petty official, then the ancient warrior Rustam — interpreted as a crabby map seller in modern Bombay, states the website.
According to the website Mistry is the artistic producing director of the Center for Independent Artists. He has an MFA in theater from the University of California, San Diego and a BA from Bennington College. He has performed with Lynn Redgrave at the La Jolla Playhouse, as a company member at the Guthrie Theater and at the Mixed Blood Theater where he produced his original adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories.
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From the archive