Torange Yeghiazarian is the Founding Artistic Director of Golden Thread Productions, the San Francisco theatre company devoted to exploring Middle Eastern cultures and identities.
In this capacity, Torange has produced numerous world and American premieres by playwrights of Middle Eastern heritage, including such writers as Yussef el Guindi, Betty Shamieh, Denmo Ibrahim, and Mona Mansour, and launched the ReOrient Festival of Short Plays from and about the Middle East, now accompanied by the ReOrient Forum, a weekend of panel discussions, presentations, and workshops.
Torange has designed a number of groundbreaking programs at Golden Thread including Middle East America: A National New Plays Initiative (in partnership with the Lark Play Development Center and Silk Road Rising), which awards $10,000 to an American playwright of Middle Eastern heritage for the development and production of a new play;
Kimia, inspired by the process of alchemy, facilitates the creation of new plays through innovative collaborations and artistic exchange;
New Threads, a staged reading series to support the development of new works from and about the Middle East;
Islam 101, an initiative to create dynamic plays inspired by Islamic arts and philosophy;
Fairytale Players, a touring ensemble that performs children’s stories from the Middle East at schools, libraries, and festivals, which is the cornerstone of Golden Thread’s innovative and robust theatre education program.
To highlight women’s voices from the Middle East, Torange curates and produces What Do Women Say?, an annual performance event featuring poetry, performance, and polemic celebrating International Women’s Day.
Torange is a writer, director, and teacher. Her articles on contemporary theatre in Iran have been published in The Drama Review (2012), American Theatre Magazine (2010), and Theatre Bay Area Magazine (2010).
Her latest play 444 Days is slated to receive its world premiere at Golden Thread in 2013. Her short play Call Me Mehdi is included in the anthology “Salaam. Peace: An Anthology of Middle Eastern-American Drama” published by TCG in 2009.
Other plays include Waves, Dawn at Midnight, Behind Glass Windows, Abaga, and Publicly Resting, as well as a repertory of new plays for children based on fables and characters from the Middle East developed for Golden Thread’s Fairytale Players.
She also collaborated with playwright Hal Gelb and puppeteer Janaki Ranpura to create the musical comedy Love Missile (2003), and was one of the artists of Iranian, Israeli, and American origin behind Benedictus (2007).
Directing credits include I Sell Souls (which she adapted from the poetry of Simin Behbehani), A Girl’s War by Joyce Van Dyke, Nine Armenians by Leslie Ayvazian, Tamam by Betty Shamieh, and Three Stops and Scenic Routes by Yussef El Guindi.
As a teaching artist, Torange has taught playwriting to at-risk youth, incorporated theatre into social sciences classes, and led acting and play development workshops for youth and adults at Golden Thread and the Islamic Center of Northern California.
Torange has traveled extensively in the Middle East and is avidly engaged with international artistic exchange. She has attended the Fajr International Festival in Iran and the Cairo Experimental Theatre Festival (presented in 2004).
In partnership with the San Francisco International Arts Festival, Torange has presented theatre companies from Syria and Iran in the United States. In partnership with Theatre Without Borders, Torange has hosted artists from Iraq, Pakistan and Iran. Artists from across the Middle East have frequently participated in the ReOrient Festival, in person and via the internet.
Select Publications and Presentations
“Dramatic Defiance in Tehran,” The Drama Review, NYU Press, NY. Spring 2012
“Behind the Iranian Curtain,” American Theatre Magazine, TCG, NY. December 2010
"Call Me Mehdi, “Salaam.Peace: An Anthology of Middle Eastern-American Drama” Dina Amin & Holly Hill, ed. TCG, NY. 2009
“Women, Gender and Theatre: Iran” Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, Suad Joseph, editor. 2007.
“Report from the Cairo Festival of Experimental Theatre” Theatre Bay Area Magazine, San Francisco. 2004
“Middle of What?” Theatre Bay Area Magazine, San Francisco. 2002
“The Middle Eastern Playwright, A Growing Voice in the Performing Arts” Plenary Address, One World Many Voices Conference, Missouri State University, 2007
“Ta’ziyeh in Translation” in Theatre in Translation panel, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, San Francisco, 2006
“Ta’ziyeh, Historical Context and Contemporary Implications” University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2005
Born in Iran and of Armenian heritage, Torange holds a Master’s degree in Theatre Arts from San Francisco State University.