Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings at Touch Art Gallery

By Vahdat Yeganeh, artistic director

Boston Experimental Theatre (B.E.T.) is very proud to continue its collaboration with Touch Art Gallery and Mr. Pezhman Tahavori to create an environment to study and practice “Dialogue Among Civilizations: Creating a Cultural Dialogue.”

Living in an era when misunderstanding and intolerance has created increased violence, I feel a responsibility to share my experiences of Dr. Dariush Shayegan’s philosophy of “Dialogue Among Civilizations” and its influence on I to recognize how important it is for 21st century citizens to understand and feel the desire of intimate dialogue. Art or War, the intimate dialogue is inevitable.

Our new production, “Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings (977-1010 CE),” is a work-in-progress in a rehearsal room, inspired by the theatre of Mr. Antonin Artaud and Mr. Jerzy Grotowski, where our artists will connect to their body and deepest dreams in relationships with the text to share our own stories, dreams and fantasia with YOU. The desire for communication and sharing has been the fundamental impulse for men to create art and language.

Theatre, from the beginning, has been the most intimate form of art that requires the participation of artists and spectators alike. In our second presentation, on October 11 and 12, we will be sharing our experiences with you, and inviting you to bring your own imaginations and dreams to our work and join our discussions so that we may continue forward.

As Artaud said: “It is not to the minds or the senses of the spectators that we address ourselves but to their whole existence. Their existence and ours. We stake our own lives on the spectacle that unfolds on the stage.”

Such productions require artists who are committed to go through a serious journey with their body, dreams and feelings. I am very honor to welcome our two new members Deniz Khateri and Bahar Royaee, and very grateful to the generosity, love and support of my co-producer Pezhman Tahavori, with out whom this project would never exist.

(“Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings” will be presented this Saturday and Sunday, October 11 and 12, at 6 p.m. at the Touch Art Gallery, 281 Concord Ave., Cambridge, Mass.; tickets are $20, $12 for students and are available online at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/shahnameh-the-persian-book-of-kings-tickets-13206630387. For more information, please call (617) 547-0017.)