Bashardoust's Family Receives Medallion

The ceremony was organized by c, Tehran Culture and Islamic Guidance Department, Dramatic Arts Center and Theater Forum.

The ceremony started with reading of "Garden of Wishes", a play read by Parviz Bashardoust and Mohammad Saleh Ala' in 1974. The play was directed in 1977 after Mr Bashardoust and Fakhroddin Seddigh-Sharif revised it, irantheater.ir reported.

Qotbeddin Sadeghi, theater director, regretted that theater community got together nowadays for the death of one of their members one by one.

He (Mr Bashardoust) was once a talented and creative young individual whose works reflected the pains of the poor urban dwellers, Mr Sadeghi said, adding that his theater was direct, candida and dramatic and had protest in it.  

"I left Iran for education after my first encounter with him (Mr Bashardoust). When I get back I did not see him until I…saw him in Mellat Bank and I regretted that such a shining theater talent had to work in banking system," the director explained.

Parviz deserved more than what he had but the economic woes robbed him of the chance to show his creativity, Mr Sadeghi said.

At the end of the ceremony, Iraj Rad, Nahid Moslemi, Asghar Hemmat paid tribute to theater artists including late Mohsen Zare', Davoud Sarlak from Qarchak, Hassan Sanginian from Varamin, Nasroddin Khatami from Qods town and Amin Gholami, director and actor, from Qods town.

A gift was given to the family of Mr Bashardoust by Theater Forum. Asghar Hemmat awarded a medallion of Theater Forum to the wife of Mr Bashardoust.

Born in 1950 in Tabriz, Parviz Bashardoust started his career by writing plays. "The Garden of Wishes" and "Amou Zanjrbaf (Uncle Chain-Weaver)" had been his first plays written in 1970s. In 1974, Mr Bashardoust's "The Garden of Wishes" was directed by Mohammad Saleh-Ala. Mr Bashardoust acted in the play. He founded Ajideh Theatre Troupe in 1975 and began teaching theater. "Amou Zanjrbaf" was the first play performed by the group in Iran-US Cultural Society.

In 1976, he was invited by noted actor Ali Nasirian to Theater Office and wrote "Heart Attack", which was performed in Theater House for six months.

His other works include Explosion, Cashier, Mashallah Khan Myth and Daily News. His cinema debut was in 1993 in "All My Daughters", which was directed by Esmail Soltanian. His last presence on stage was in 1987 when he rewrote "The Garden of Wishes".

Mr Bashardoust lived in Shahriar, a small town near the capital Tehran, during his last years where he launched educational workshops to train young talents.

Mr Bashardoust died on March 19 and was buried on March 22.