Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Organizers behind Tirgan Festival, the world’s largest celebration of Iranian arts and culture, present the critically-acclaimed Feathers of Fire: A Persian Epic, the most elaborate shadow puppet play ever performed and based on the 10th-century Persian epic Shahnameh (The Book of Kings).
Tickets for Feathers of Fire are on sale today and can be purchased at http://www.tocentre.com/events/feathers-fire.
Four performances of Feathers of Fire take place during Tirgan organizers’ brand-new three-day festival Nowruzgan at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, celebrating Nowruz, the Persian New Year, and the Canadian sesquicentennial. The festival takes place from March 10 to 12, 2017, in partnership with North York Arts, Toronto Centre for the Arts and Jik Jik Mastoon.
Feathers of Fire is a visually breathtaking, action-packed, cinematic production, created by Hamid Rahmanian, a 2014 Guggenheim fellowship-winning filmmaker/visual artist and in collaboration with shadow master Larry Reed. This family-friendly play tells the magical tale of star-crossed lovers Zaul (an outcast raised by a mythical bird) and Rudabeh. Zaul’s deep love for Rudabeh enables them to triumph over inconceivable odds, and give birth to a beloved son, Rostam — the most important mythological hero of Shahnameh.
Rahmanian utilized the graphics from his own 600-page illustrated book, Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings (2013) — which took him four years to create — in order to develop more than 160 shadow puppets for the production. Performers wear elaborate, handmade masks and costumes behind 100 digitally animated backgrounds lending an authentic texture to the performance, all seamlessly choreographed and projected on a cinema-size screen to create the feeling of live animation. The play also features an original score by the acclaimed musical team, Loga Ramin Torkian and Azam Ali.
Feathers of Fire comes to Toronto after a sold-out premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in February 2016, followed by sold-out performances in San Francisco, New York, Cambridge and Los Angeles.
“We’re thrilled to present Rahmanian’s Feathers of Fire as part of the first-ever Nowruzgan,” said Tirgan Festival’s Chief Executive Officer Mehrdad Ariannejad. “Shahnameh is one of the most important literary works of Iran and we’re thrilled to be able to have such a significant element of Iranian culture brought to life for Toronto audiences.”
Nowruz, the Persian New Year, celebrates the vernal equinox marking the beginning of spring and the sowing of seeds in the Northern Hemisphere. The celebration of spring heralds renewal and growth, beauty and change for people of all backgrounds. The three-day celebration of Nowruzgan, which takes place entirely at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, pays particular attention to participation of youth of all cultures with activities including over 40 hands-on workshops, music, dance, cinema, and theatre performances.
“Iranians, like many of the new immigrants to Canada over the past four decades, not only commit with passion to the Canadian values but also cherish the opportunity to maintain the scaffolding that further shapes and enriches the Canadian dream of a promising future of peace, prosperity and equality for all,” said Ariannejad. “It is with Nowruz, that the ancient quilt of Iranian culture fits flush within the Canadian cultural mosaic to celebrate the Canadian sesquicentennial.”
Conceived, designed and directed by award-winning artist Hamid Rahmanian
In collaboration with Larry Reed and ShadowLight Productions
Produced by Fictionville Studio and Banu Productions
Duration: 70 minutes + talk back, in English
About Tirgan
Tirgan refers to an ancient festival traditionally held in the month of July (the month of ‘Tir’ in Persian Calendar), inspiring what is currently world’s largest celebration of Iranian arts and culture, taking place biennially at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto. The 2015 festival attracted over 150,000 visitors.
Photo: Scene from Feathers of Fire.
2016-12-01
Toronto: Tirgan Festival presents "Feathers of Fire: A Persian Epic" March 10-12