Performing Chekhov’s Plays: My Unfinished Dream in Theater / Theater Does Not Endure Without Study

Art Service of Iran Book News Agency (IBNA) – Ahmad Mohammadtabrizi; Kourosh Soleimani, an actor and theater director, spoke in a candid interview with IBNA about the state of study in the theater community, the gap between research and the stage, and the challenges facing the new generation of artists. He believes that theater only gains meaning through awareness, study, and lived experience, warning that when the path of art moves towards goal-orientation and profit-seeking, creativity and the true value of theater are lost.

How do you see the state of reading in the theater community?

Overall, I can say that the conditions are not very good, and this is due to various factors. We have become somewhat “goal-oriented” rather than “path-oriented.” From the moment we enter university or an art institute, we constantly want to know when we will reach the peak, while we should enjoy the journey. In theater, the journey means learning. When you only think about the peak, you stop learning, and your attention shifts to something else. To reach your goal sooner, you try wrong paths, without thinking that by cultivating thought, awareness, and experience, you are following the real path. Can a fixed peak be imagined for art? This is a very serious issue.

On the other hand, we are faced with a large number of theater graduates who naturally want to work. Many aim for “working,” whether in acting, design, or directing. Working itself is not bad, but when you enter the professional level, the issue of capital-centricity arises. Money becomes the axis of work.

Today, 80-90 percent of performances are staged in private theaters, and those complexes also need to cover their costs; this is understandable. But ultimately, this perspective has made “working at any cost” the goal, and minds are so preoccupied with this issue that sometimes we forget theater is a creative art; an art that requires awareness, effort, and patience. These very things have also harmed the discussion of study.

Furthermore, a very large gap has emerged between theater research and the theater stage. An actor or theater activist no longer feels the obligation or need to study. On the other hand, our researchers usually produce research that remains within their own circle; their language is not comprehensible to a first-year student who is not yet familiar with theoretical and conceptual notions.

It is as if articles are written only for scientific rank promotion, without concern for these efforts bearing fruit in practice. In addition to all this, there are disasters such as buying and selling theses or producing articles using artificial intelligence and similar methods; events that are truly sad.

Older generations were not like this, and as you mentioned, they liked to learn and strengthen themselves on their artistic journey. I think it was somewhat the same in your generation. What factors have led to us not seeing that perspective and path of experience accumulation in the new generation?

Look, if a change has occurred in the new generation, and it probably has, it’s not entirely their fault. We too can have a share in any good or bad event. How much did we try to teach the next generation, art and theater students, and art learners, that books and study are important? How much did we encourage ourselves for no reason and exaggerate our importance? Many things we learned from the previous generation and our great masters, we either didn’t want to or couldn’t properly transmit.

Of course, temporal conditions have also changed. Today’s virtual space needlessly magnifies many individuals and events; things that truly do not deserve that much attention. But for a young person who is just at the beginning of their journey of experience accumulation, these very things become a peak, and they set their goals based on them. These virtual and false peaks that are placed before the new generation today are problematic; because other ways are needed to reach those positions, but nowhere is it written “be a reader to be seen,” and unfortunately, how much are readers seen in this country? Are they even seen at all?