Amir Reza Koohestani was born in 1978 in Shiraz, Iran. At the age of 16, he began publishing short stories in local newspapers. Attracted to cinema, he took courses in directing and cinematography and created two unfinished films. After a brief experience as a performer, he devoted his time to writing his first plays for the Mehr Theatre Group: And the Day Never Came (1999) and The Murmuring Tales (2000).
With his third play, Dance on Glasses (2001), Amir Reza Koohestani gained international notoriety and found the support of several European theatrical artistic directors and festivals. This was followed by the plays Recent Experiences (from the original text by Canadian writers Nadia Ross and Jacob Wren, 2003); Amid the Clouds (2005); Dry Blood & Fresh Vegetables (2007); Quartet: A Journey North (2008); Where Were You on January 8th? (2009); Ivanov (2011); The Fourth Wall (from the original play England by Tim Crouch, 2012) which was presented one hundred times in an art gallery in Tehran.
In 2012, the movie Modest Reception, which was co-written by Koohestani and Mani Haghighi – actor and film director – won the Netpac Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. In 2013, the Festival actoral in Marseille (France) commissioned Koohestani to write and stage a new play, Timeloss (based on his previous play Dance on Glasses). From October 2014 to March 2015, during a residency at the Akademie Schloss Solitude, in Stuttgart, Amir Reza Koohestani wrote the play Hearing, which premiered at the City Hall of Tehran on July 2015, and presented at the Festival d’Avignon, in 2016.
Since 2006, Koohestani has worked frequently in Germany where he has created more than 15 productions*, some of them in collaboration with Mahin Sadri.
In September 2018, he was invited along with other directors (Tiago Rodrigues, Pascal Rambert, tg Stan, Luk Perceval, Christiane Jatahy) – for the opening of La Comédie de Genève (Switzerland) – and he created a short play in French based on Miss Julie by August Strindberg.
Summerless, premiered in May 2018 at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels and presented at the Festival d’Avignon in 2018 – is the third part of a trilogy about time and memory (Timeloss, Hearing, Summerless), which was presented at the Festival TNB, in Rennes (France) in November 2018.
In 2020 and 2021, tours of the company were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In May 2023, after almost 2 years without touring, Koohestani created Blind Runner with his company, which premiered in Brussels as part of the Kunstenfestivaldesarts.
A new collaboration with Mani Haghighi resulted in the release of the film Substraction in July 2023.
* Productions outside the company:
Einzelzimmer
2006 – Schauspiel Köln (DE)
Written and directed by Amir Reza Koohestani
Assistant of director: Mahin Sadri
Des Utopies ? / The fishes of São Miguel
2009 – CDN de Besançon (FR)
Written and directed by Amir Reza Koohestani
Assistant of director: Mahin Sadri
Taxigeschichten
2015 – Theater Oberhausen (DE)
Written and directed by Amir Reza Koohestani
Der Fall Meursault, Eine Gegendarstellung
2016 – Münchner Kammerspiele (DE)
Based on Kamel Daoud’s novel
Directed by Amir Reza Koohestani
With Mahin Sadri, actress
Tannhaüser
2017 – Staatstheater Darmstadt (DE)
By Richard Wagner
Directed by Amir Reza Koohestani
Der Kirschgarten
2017 – Theater Freiburg (DE)
Based on Anton Chekhov’s play
Adapted and directed by Amir Reza Koohestani
Die Attentäterin
2018 – Münchner Kammerspiele (DE)
Based on Yasmina Khadra’s novel
Adapted and directed by Amir Reza Koohestani
With Mahin Sadri, actress
Miss Julie
2018 – Comédie de Genève (CH)
Based on August Strindberg’s play
Adapted and directed by Amir Reza Koohestani
X Shared Spaces: Route I – Neuaubing
2018 – Münchner Kammerspiele (DE)
Written and directed by Amir Reza Koohestani and Mahin Sadri
Macbeth
2018 – Münchner Kammerspiele (DE)
Based on Shakespeare’s play
Adapted and directed by Amir Reza Koohestani
With Mahin Sadri, actress
Die Küche
2019 – Theater Freiburg (DE)
Based on Arnold Wesker’s play
Adapted and directed by Amir Reza Koohestani
Philoktet
2020 – Deutsches Theater (DE)
Based on Heiner Müller’s play
Written and directed by Amir Reza Koohestani
Woyzcek Interrupted
2020 – Deutsches Theater (DE)
Based on Georg Büchner’s play
Adapted by Mahin Sadri and Amir Reza Koohestani
Directed by Amir Reza Koohestani
Transit
2021 – Thalia Theater (DE)
Based on Anna Seghers’ novel
Adapted by Amir Reza Koohestani and Keyvan Sarreshteh
Directed by Amir Reza Koohestani
Die Seuche
2021 – Theater Freiburg (DE)
Based on Albert Camus’ novel
Adapted by Amir Reza Koohestani and Mahin Sadri
Directed by Amir Reza Koohestani
En transit
2022 – La Comédie de Genève (CH)
Based on Anna Seghers’ novel
Adapted by Amir Reza Koohestani and Keyvan Sarreshteh
Directed by Amir Reza Koohestani
Professor Bernhardi
2022 – Theater Freiburg (DE)
Adapted by Amir Reza Koohestani and Mahin Sadri
Directed by Amir Reza Koohestani
Dantons Tod reloaded
2023 – Kunstfest Weimar (DE)
Based on Georg Buchner’s play
Adapted by Mahin Sadri and Amir Reza Koohestani
Directed by Amir Reza Koohestani
With Mahin Sadri, actress
Schöne neue Welt
2023 – Thalia Theater (DE)
Based on Aldous Huxlay’s novel
Adapted and directed by Amir Reza Koohestani
Pygmalion
2024 – Residenztheater (DE)
Based on George Bernard Shaw’s play
Adapted by Mahin Sadri and Amir Reza Koohestani
Directed by Amir Reza Koohestani
Maria Stuart
2024 – Tangente, St Pölten (AT)
Based on Friedrich Schiller’s play
Adapted by Mahin Sadri
Directed by Amir Reza Koohestani
The Documentary
2024 – Riksteatearn (SE)
Written and directed by Amir Reza Koohestani
With Mahin Sadri, actress