TEHRAN -- Award-winning British screenwriter Christian Taylor and a team of Iranian students wrote a play based on the main story of “Pinocchio” last week.

Taylor explained the process of writing in a three-day workshop held at the student’s club of the University of Tehran last week, saying, “First of all, the keywords of the main story of ‘Pinocchio’ were written on several pieces of papers. Each participant then took one or two sheets and began to write part of the play based on the key words.
“Each part was later discussed and reviewed at the workshop and everybody presented his own view on each piece. The pieces were then merged to make a complete story,” he added.
He went on to say that in this mode of writing, the main ideas of the story are extracted and the story is developed using the ideas of students which come from various sources of inspiration.
“Pinocchio” is a fictional character that first appeared in “The Adventures of Pinocchio” (1883) by Carlo Collodi, and has since been presented in many adaptations.
Taylor expressed hope that they would someday publish or even perform their work, but said, “the main goal of this workshop was to experience the process of consulting and to produce a joint work; therefore publishing or performing the play is only secondary to our purpose. “
The Eleventh International Students Theater Festival opened in Tehran on April 26 and lasted for one week.
Christian Taylor is an award-winning screenwriter known for his work on the American television drama “Six Feet Under”.
He also wrote, directed and starred in the film “Showboy” which won Best Directorial Debut at the “British Independent Film Awards” and “Best Picture at the Milan International Film Festival”.
His other credits include the Television dramas “Miracles” and “Lost”. He won a Writers Guild Award for Outstanding Drama Series on “Lost”.