TNB host public theatre discussion with award-winning director Soheil Parsa.

As part of its new season programming, Theatre New Brunswick have introduced a monthly event called Studio Fridays, designed to give the community greater insight into the inner workings of the theatre. This month the company will host a public talk with award-winning director and head of Toronto’s Modern Times Stage Company, Soheil Parsa.

In his native Iran, Soheil completed studies in Theatre Performance at the University of Tehran and began a promising career as an actor and director. Arriving in Canada with his family in 1984, Soheil completed a second Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies at York University and then went on to establish Modern Times Stage Company, one of the most innovating theatre companies in Canada. Soheil’s own work at Modern Times has been recognized with five Dora Mavor Moore Awards, a Chalmers Fellowship in 2002, a senior artist creation grant from the Canada Council, as well as a number of international prizes and master class requests. In 2007 and 2010 he was short-listed for the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre Celebrating Directors, the highest honour in Canadian theatre. Most recently, Soheil has been awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his contribution as a theatre artist to Canadian society.

“Soheil is the director of TNB’s next production, Vigil,” said TNB artistic director Thomas Morgan Jones. “He will share with the audience his history as an artist, will give insight into how and why he directs, and will then direct scenes through improvisation and scenes from famous plays to give the audience insight into his process. Soheil is known equally for his collaborative nature as well as the arresting pictures he makes on stage with the actors bodies in relationship to and with lighting and set. The audience will see first hand how this magic is made.

“Open to any and all theatre goers with an interest in how plays are made and the artists who make them, this Studio Fridays event is an opportunity to be in conversation with this year’s guest director.”