Biography

Bijan Mofid was born on June 12, 1935 in Tehran. His mother, Qodsiyeh Farivar, was a principal of girls’ schools in Tehran during the era of Iranian modernization, and his father, Gholam Hossein Khan Mofid, a physical education graduate from Dar al-Fonoon, Iran’s first polytechnic school, and was one of the first generation of actors and theater directors who began theater in its European definition in Iran. With his deep understanding and knowledge of Iranian literature, poetry, and music, and given his mastery of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, Gholam Hossein Khan Mofid was the first theater director to stage the Shahnameh with a combination of traditional plays, such as Shahnameh recitation and Naqali, with a Western theater framework. As such he became known as the Rostam of Iranian theater.

Bijan received his primary education, which later had a profound impact on him and his view of theater and music, from his father. His childhood, like that of his siblings, was spent in such a cultural and artistic atmosphere. He also learned Iranian musical instruments from his father. In his youth, in addition to learning the setar, he also practiced violin with Professor Zahir al-Dini, and became familiar with the principles of Western music.

Music and poetry, both of which he learned from his father and later continued with other mentors, had a profound impact on what he created later.

Mofid, who was also studying at the Acting Academy while attending high school, entered the Faculty of Law at Tehran University in the early 1950s. However after a while, he changed his major and began studying English at the Faculty of Literature at Tehran University in 1956. In the same decade, some of his poems were published in Iranian literary and cultural magazines, including the magazine Nabard Zendigi (Life Struggle).

In 1953, with the presence of Frank C. Davidson and George H. Quinby at the Faculty of Literature at Tehran University, Mofid began working as a translator and their assistant while studying with them. Mofid won the third prize in the competition of the Fine Arts Department of the country with the play “the Dolls”.

In 1953, Mofid succeeded in receiving a theater scholarship from New York University, but after marrying Farideh Farjam, he abandoned the trip and the idea of studying in the US.

Bijan Mofid was one of the few modern Iranian artists whose works found a wide audience among the general public and beyond the intellectual circle. He worked as a playwright, director, actor and from experimental theater research to plays that broke the ticket sales record in the history of Iranian theater. His works included children’s theater, hours of radio productions, and songs that are known to many generations. In his creations, he mixed bitter allegorical humor and social criticism by adapting folk tales, traditional performance styles, with his own music.

Mofid, who had begun his collaboration with the National Art Theater Group and Abbas Javanmard since the early 1960s, established his own experimental theater workshop in 1966 called Atelier Theater in the Pishahangi House Hall. The result was Mofid’s first professional success, which also became one of the most enduring plays in Iranian history: “Shahreh Gheseh” (City of Tales).

Although The Atelier Theater was dissolved in 1968, at the invitation of Bijan Safari, Mofid joined his group and established the Kargah Namayesh (Theater Workshop).

Mofid’s most famous work, “City of Tales,” is an allegorical bitter satire that was recorded in 1967 at Studio Eleven of the Iranian National Television after two successful years of being on stage. This work, which was performed in the form of playback (playback of recorded sound), linked social criticism to deep themes of Iranian culture by adapting folk tales and songs composed by Mofid. It was recorded and broadcast under the supervision of Mofid as its writer and director, and became the reference version of this play. Since then almost every time this play has been performed, the same audio version has been used for performances by other directors. “City of Tales” was also performed at the Second Shiraz Art Festival in 1968 which brought the artist unprecedented success. This work was performed throughout Iran for nearly five years and, in this regard, holds the record for the most frequently performed and popular Iranian play among intellectuals and the Persian-speaking public in Iran and abroad. A film version of Shahr-e-Qaseh was also made and directed by Manouchehr Anvar in 1973.

Mofid’s other stage works included “Mah o Palang” (The Moon and the Leopard 1969, Shiraz Art Festival), “Jan Nesar” (At Your Service 1972-1975), and “Sohrab, the Horse and the Dragonfly,” with a few limited performances in the workshop, was ultimately canceled after the 1979 revolution. Bijan also acted in the play “Nagahan…” (Suddenly…) written by Abbas Nalbandian and directed by Arbi Avanesian at the Shiraz Festival in 1977, and at the Nancy Festival in France in 1972, as well he directed Bertolt Brecht’s play “Fear and Calamity of the Third Reich” in 1974.

In 1971, Mofid received an offer to write a play for children from the Center for the Intellectual Development of Children and Adolescents. His first play for a young audience was the play “Torob” (Radish), which was part of the main repertoire of the Center’s theater center for six years. Other plays for children and adolescents included “Kooti & Mooti”, “Shaparak Khanum”(The Butterfly), and “Oghab va Roobah” (the Eagle and the Fox).

In addition to being well-received and performed numerous times in Iran, Bijan Mofid’s children and adolescent works were also staged at festivals in Germany, England, Japan, Australia, and Jordan. The most famous of these plays is “Shaparak Khanum”, which was on stage for many years under the direction of American director Don Laffon as well as Ardavan Mofid.

Mofid lived through the turbulent era of Mossadegh’s leadership, the nationalization of the oil industry, the CIA Coup, and the return of the Shah to Iran. Political concerns and the tragedy of Mossadegh’s defeat, were often reflected allegorically in his works. “The Moon and the Leopard” referred to the lost hopes of the Mossadegh era, “Jan Nesar” satirized corrupt power, and “Sohrab, the Horse, and the Dragonfly” used tragic themes from the Shahnameh to show the dark aspects of war and oppression. Even his plays for children and teenagers are rich in social and political themes. Themes such as solidarity in the play “Torob” and the fall of conscience and morality in “Shaparak Khanum” are very prominent.

Bijan Mofid’s fame and popularity with the intellectual community and his wide audience gave him relative immunity from the censorship apparatus, but some of his works, such as “Jan Nesar,” were only allowed to be performed for a limited audience in the workshop.

During the 1979 revolution, various political groups attempted to present Mofid’s works as representative of their own ideals. After the revolution, groups opposed to the established regime, used songs, and especially performances of parts of Shahr-e-Qaseh, to try expropriate Bijan Mofid’s name and distort his non-partisan view of Iranian issues. Due to the dangers that threatened him and after living in hiding for several months, he left Iran in 1982 and emigrated to the United States.

Before emigrating, he recorded and published several of his works in audio form to preserve them for posterity. These works were published in 1980.

In Los Angeles, Mofid rewrote parts of “The Moon and the Leopard” and replaced the allegorical animals with human characters that directly referred to the 1953 Coup. He staged performances of “City of Tales,” “Jan Nesar,” and a rewritten version of “The Moon and the Leopard” for the Los Angeles Iranian community. “City of Tales” also traveled to New York, and programs were prepared for a tour of “The Moon and the Leopard”, but it did not materialize. He also presented these works to non-Persian audiences by working in English and with American actors, including a production of “Shahparak Khanum” directed by Don Laffon and a translation and performance of “Sanjaqak” (an adaptation of “Sohrab, the Horse, and the Dragonfly”) at the N.O.T.E. Theater in 1984.

In 1955, Mofid married Farideh Farjam, a writer and researcher of children’s literature which ended in divorce. They had 3 children: first Ramin, (died at the age of one), then Afshin and later Shima. His second marriage was to Jamileh Nedai, his actress and coworker which also ended in divorce. Their children are Nima and Mazda. His third marriage was to Azam Kosari (Gorgin), who accompanied him in exile and played in the last performance of “The Moon and the Leopard.”

On November 12, 1984, Bijan Mofid died in Los Angeles after several surgeries and suffering from liver and lung problems. He was cremated at Westwood Memorial Cemetery, and his memorial service was attended by over 3,000 people. His ashes remain with his son Afshin.

At the time of his death Bijan Mofid was survived by his younger siblings: Manijeh, Bahman, Gordafarid, Ardavan, Hooman and Hengameh.