The collection was unveiled during a ceremony attended by Deputy Culture Minister for Artistic Affairs Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini, Iran’s Dramatic Arts Center director Qader Ashena and some of the writers.

Speaking at the ceremony, Hosseini said, “The project ‘Bright Pen’ is one of the good events in the field of playwriting. In each land where literature is taken seriously, the grounds for the appearance of other arts are also provided. I hope this project continues and we witness more of the dramatic literature,” he said.

“We need to consider art as a necessity, and an influential element in order to remove the problems,” he added. 

Hosseini added that Ashena has read the books, and, calling them very satisfactory, encouraged me to read them during the Noruz holiday. 

For his part, Ashena said that the rich Iranian culture and civilization form a good foundation for creating and writing plays.

He added that the writers tried to select a good variety of stories that most clearly reflect social concerns.

“I have read every single word of the plays in this collection and I have enjoyed them all. And I believe all of them are good for performances,” he added. 

He hoped to witness more plays and more performances in the coming year. 

Theatrical figure Saeid Asadi, who is also the director of publication of Iran’s Dramatic Arts Center, said that the central theme of last year’s collection of Bright Pen was Sacred Defense (1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war), but this year the theme was open in order to collect a variety of plays with different themes. 

“The collection contains plays by both veterans and young writers, something that helps to introduce new playwrights,” he added.

Theatrical figure Mehrdad Rayani-Makhsus, who had collaborated as the director of the project in the first edition, also said that he is happy that the center has seriously followed the process for the publications of the collection.

“I am well aware of all the plays published in this collection, and express thanks to all the friends and colleagues who sympathetically contributed to the formation and implementation of this project,” he concluded.

“Depressed Penguins” by Mohammad Mir Aliakbari, “Gisoo” by Bahram Sadeqi Mazidi, “We Are Dreaming” by Arash Abbasi, “Hand” by Mehdi Zia Chamani, “Nader Shah” by Hamidreza Naeimi, “Thirty-Three Years Later” by Mahdieh Hosseini and “Desire” by Payam Larian are among the published plays.

Source: Tehran Times