Reza Abdoh

Over a brief, twelve-year career, the Iranian director and playwright Reza Abdoh broke  all of the  conventions  of  American  th eater,  pushing  actors and audience s   past   their limits  to create  hallucinatory , at times nightmarish ,  dreamscapes   shot  through with  humor ,  song,  and  an unlikely spirituality . His productions addressed the bitter political realities of his time— the systemic devaluation of Black life ,  governmental indifference to  the  AID S  crisis ,  sexual repression,  genocide in Europe and war in the Middle East— with  harrowing  eloquence.   Just before his death he  ordered that his plays should never be performed again .  Profusely  illustra t ed , the catalogue contains new essays  on   the influence and reception of  Abdoh ’s   work s  in theater, film, and video,  published and unpublished interviews with  the director,  and conversations with his friends and colleagues, as well as  scripts  of his plays and  contemporary reviews . The Iranian director REZA ABDOH (1963–1995) was known for his  wildly ambitious,  experimental,  and often  confrontational,   theatrical productions. When he died of AIDS at the age of just thirty-two, he was already regarded as  a crucial  figure  on the American avant-garde  scene.