He was a teacher of several generations of Iranian directors, thespians, and dramatists who are currently among the big names in Iranian theater and cinema.

 

All schedules at the City Theater Complex and the Iranshahr Theater Complex, two of Tehran’s major centers for theatrical performance, were cancelled for one day after Samandarian’s death was announced by the media.

 

A large number of his fans and students gathered at the City Theater Complex Thursday afternoon and held lit candles during a memorial.

 

Homa Rusta, his widow, who was also one of his students, Reza Kianian, and Payam Dehkordi were scheduled to stage Friedrich Durrenmatt’s “Play Strindberg” this coming fall in order to keep his spirits up in his fight against cancer. Samandarian had previously directed the play in 1972 and 1999.

 

Samandarian began his theater studies in his adolescence with Iranian stage director and playwright Abdolhossein Nushin.

 

He called Nushin one of his masters during a ceremony in 2009 at the Iranian Artists Forum, which was held to name one of its halls after Samandarian. 

 

“I got started in theater during my adolescence… I met Nushin. He put thought into Iranian theater… He had a great influence on me through his works. After seeing his plays, I decided to enter the world of theater. He taught that it is simple to cry and laugh in a theater, but we should have a stake in our plays. We should take thought to the stage,” he said during the ceremony.

 

He also pursued a career in music. He began learning violin in classes held by Mahmud Zolfonun. 

 

When he was still a young man, he left Iran for Germany to pursue his studies in the fields of theater and music. However, he had to choose one field.

 

“I had several teachers in my life. The first of them was Edward Max in Germany… He taught me the meaning of theater,” he once said.

 

He returned home after several years and staged Jean-Paul Sartre’s “No Exit”. He began to hold many courses, during which a generation of the best Iranian actors, including Ezzatollah Entezami, Parviz Purhosseini, Mehdi Hashemi, Reza Kianian, and Golab Adineh, were trained.  

 

He founded the Pasargad Theater Troupe with his pupils Purhosseini, Pari Saberi, Saeid Pursamimi, Jamshid Mashayekhi, Sorayya Qasemi, Esmaeil Shangaleh, Mehdi Fakhimzadeh, and several other actors.

 

The troupe performed Durrenmatt’s “The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi” and “The Visit”, Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull”, Bertolt Brecht’s “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” and many other plays.

 

In 1992, he also established the Samandarian Center for Artistic Education. Many Iranian stage and screen stars have been trained at the center.

 

Unfortunately, due to the massive bureaucracy in Iran, he was only able to stage four plays over the past three decades.

 

Once he expressed a desire to stage Bertolt Brecht’s “The Life of Galileo” as his artistic will and testament, but his wish was never realized.

 

“If he had been able to stage the play, we would have seen the power of his directing,” Mohammad-Ali Keshavarz told the Persian service of the Fars News Agency on Friday.

 

He is survived by his widow Homa Rusta and his son Kaveh.

 

Iranian stage actors, directors, and cineastes attended memorials held for Samandarian at several centers in Tehran and made comments about him.

 

“Love of life and theater was the greatest lesson I learned from my husband,” Rusta told IRNA.

 

“Iranian theater lost its most precious gem,” 86-year-old actor Ezzatollah Entezami told the Iranian Students News Agency.

 

“We shall never forget what Samandarian did for theater,” Esmaeil Shangaleh said during the memorial at the City Theater Complex.

 

The funeral procession for Samandarian will begin at the Iranshahr Theater Complex this morning.

 

MMS/YAW/HG

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