TEHRAN — Iranian theatre enters the autumn season with a crowded program of new productions, play readings, professional workshops and international exchange. 
Across Tehran, the current schedule reveals a theatre culture operating simultaneously through established institutions, independent venues, literary projects and international festivals.
At Tehran City Theatre, three productions have recently completed their runs after drawing more than 4,000 spectators. Zari Amad’s Komedi-e Aghaz (The Beginning of Comedy) closed at Qashqai Hall after 21 performances, with 1,091 spectators and reported sales of 272.86 million tomans. 
Ebrahim Rahgozar’s Homay (Homay) at Sayeh Hall ended after 27 performances with 1,840 spectators and reported sales of 431.07 million tomans, while Arash Ashadad’s Azhdahak (Azhdahak), staged for a second run at the Theatre Workshop, welcomed 1,212 spectators across 22 performances. Azhdahak is also the established English rendering of Bahram Beyzaie’s play in Stanford’s bibliography.
Qashqai Hall now turns to Bi Aman; Ashk (Tears Than Know No Surcease), written by Mehdi Torkaman and directed by Mohsen Bakhshi, opening on September 23. 
Selected for the 22nd International Ritual and Traditional Theater Festival, the production combines narrative performance with contemporary techniques while drawing on ritual and traditional forms. 
Bakhshi has described the work as an attempt to connect performance practices from different cultural traditions with contemporary theatrical theory.
Elsewhere, the second run of Shakh-e Bi-Sar (The Headless Antler), written by Mahmoud Khosroparast and directed by Muhammad Berahmani, begins at Kakh-e Honar. 
Loosely drawing on Hamlet and Oedipus Rex, the production places its characters between memory, death and return.  
At Hafez Hall, Anahita Dargahi directs Tamam-e Nakh (All Thread), based on Shel Silverstein’s work (The Missing Piece) and translated into Persian by Behrouz Rajabi. The production brings an ensemble cast to a literary adaptation whose theatrical identity is rooted in Silverstein’s work rather than conventional repertory.
The autumn program also includes Vahid Montazeri’s Eshq-haye Zoodgozar-e Mandegar (Fleeting Loves That Last) at Iranshahr Theatre and Hussein Kashfi Asl’s Backstage (Backstage) at Hilaj Theatre. The latter follows a theatre company attempting to stage Hamlet while relationships behind the scenes threaten to derail the production.
Alongside new work, Tehran continues to invest in readings and the recovery of dramatic literature. Keyvan Kasirian’s Beyzaie Reading Project presents Chahar Sanduq (The Four Boxes), followed by a discussion with director and researcher Hamid Pourazari.  
Sanglaj Theatre is meanwhile presenting a reading of Sediqeh Dowlatabadi’s Hess-e Madari (Maternal Feeling), directed by Ghazal Mehranfar. Dowlatabadi, a journalist and prominent figure in Iran’s early women’s movement, wrote the play during a formative period in modern Iranian drama.
The educational infrastructure around Iranian theatre is expanding as well. The 21st Tehran–Mubarak International Puppet Theatre Festival recently hosted American experimental theatre artist Paul Zaloom in an online session devoted to Janbakhshi be Ashya (Bringing Objects to Life).
Zaloom, internationally recognized for Beakman’s World, explored how ordinary objects can acquire theatrical identities through movement, sound, improvisation, light and projection.
Photography is receiving similar attention through three specialist sessions organized by the Iranian Youth Cinema Society in cooperation with the General Office of Dramatic Arts. The program addresses theatre photography, the relationship between drama and the photographic image, and critical approaches to the field.
The international dimension is visible in Beirut, where Iranian director and producer Amirhussein Shafiei has joined the international jury of the 13th Lebanon International Theater Festival, held from September 19–22. The festival brings together productions and theatre practitioners from several countries, creating another point of contact between Iranian theatre and the wider regional and international scene.