Theater, Morality and Enlightenment - Vol. 1

Ali Nasr is known by many as 'The Father of Iranian Theatre'. "Theater, Morality and Enlightenment" contains an extensive introduction based on his original memoir, as well as 24 plays he either wrote or adapted.

Based on Sayyid Ali Nasr's (1895- 1961) memoirs and plays, the author has written an extensive introduction to this two-volume collection of Nasr's original and adapted plays. Ali Nasr was, and still is, known by many as "The Father of Iranian Theatre" (Perdar e Teatr e Iran). He was the founder of the first Drama School in Iran (Honarestan e Honarpishegi). Nasr believed that drama was the best tool for advancement and enlightenment of the society. He was particularly fond of the French classic playwrights such as Moliere. During Reza Shah period he held many official responsibilities including the head of theatre section of the Organization for Intellectual Development (Sazman e Parvaresh e Afkar) established by Reza Shah. These two volumes (Vol. 1 in 482 pages and Vol. 2 in 477 pages) contain 24 of his plays which represent his ideology as well as his style of writing, translating and adaptation of foreign plays as well as some documents and personal and professional pictures.

Fereshteh Kowssar, an author and educator, taught Persian at Yale before her retirement. She has published three books both in the US and Iran, one of which, Bidad e Sokoot (Outrage of Silence), received an award from Isfahan Literary Competition in 2005. She is a grandchild of Sayyid Ali Nasr.