Ali Nasr (1891-1961) was an

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

dramatist and playwright and one of the founders of

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

in Iran. He was born in Kashan. When he was a young man, he went to

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

and started to study the

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

and literature. Then he went to Europe and studied theatre. After coming back to Iran, he founded an intellectual group named “Iran comedy” in 1925. Many prominent Iranian theatrical figures were part of this group and it became a very important factor in the development of modern Iranian

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

. Nasr wrote many plays, and also founded an acting school in Tehran in 1939, where many important dramatists and actors studied.Khalaj, Mansoor. (1992). ''Iranian Playwrights''. Tehran: Akhtaran. . pp.113-117 Nasr has been described as one of the "fathers" of modern Iranian theater, and its "leading personality". Nasr became a prominent playwright during the reformist reign of

Rezā Shāh , , spouse = Maryam Savadkoohi Tadj ol-Molouk Ayromlu (queen consort)Turan AmirsoleimaniEsmat Dowlatshahi , issue = Princess Hamdamsaltaneh Princess ShamsMohammad Reza Shah Princess Ashraf Prince Ali Reza Prince Gholam Reza Prin ...

. His plays expressed

didactic Didacticism is a philosophy that emphasizes instructional and informative qualities in literature, art, and design. In art, design, architecture, and landscape, didacticism is an emerging conceptual approach that is driven by the urgent need to ...

, moralistic themes promoting modernization, including literacy, the emancipation of women and opposition to social backwardness. His best known play, and an example of the type, is "Wedding of Hosseyn Āqā", written in 1939.

Some of his other plays

* Norouz and Golnaz * Orphan * Three bashful sisters * The result of polygamy * Men are like this * Reconciliation of a husband and a wife * Faithful wife * Forced marriage

References

{{Authority control Iranian dramatists and playwrights