Sohrab and Rustum
When I was in high school, we read a poem by Matthew Arnold called Sohrab and Rustum (read the poem). At that time I related to the work because I knew fellow Parsis with those names. It was only a few decades later that I was able to understand the story and its complexity about war and family. That led me to the first full length solo piece that I created. I did a workshop presentation of it at Intermedia Arts in 1999, and then worked on creating it into a fuller production. The play went on to be presented at many theaters over several years, including at Asia Society in New York in 2003.
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Sohrab and Rustum
The story of the warrior Rustum and his son Sohrab is a beloved tale from the Iranian epic, Ferdowsi’s Shahnama. My solo work intertwines the ancient legend with a contemporary tragicomic story of a modern day Parsi family from Mumbai (Parsis are Zoroastrians who emigrated to India from Iran in the 10th century). In my play, I play a dozen different characters, and use a handful of objects to evoke multiple settings, to tell a story of family, war and migration.
The video clip was recorded at Dreamland Arts in 2013 for archival purposes.
Sohrab and Rustum
Written and performed by Zaraawar Mistry
Created in collaboration with Kathleen Sullivan
Music composed and performed live by Tim O’Keefe and Maryam Yusefzadeh
First workshop production at Intermedia Arts created with assistance from Andrew Kim
Past Performances
Dreamland Arts, St. Paul (2008, 2013)
Stages Repertory Theater, Houston (2005)
Augsburg College, Minneapolis (2005)
Stony Brook University, New York (2003)
Asia Society, New York, (2003)
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2003)
Southern Theater, Minneapolis (2002)
Center for Ind. Artists, Minneapolis (2002)
The original productions of Sohrab and Rustum at the Center for Independent Artists and at Asia Society were made possible by the generous support of The Jerome Foundation, the Oswald Family Foundation, and many individual donors. Thank you.