TEHRAN-Well-known Iranian theater director Pari Saberi passed away Tuesday night in Tehran at 92 after a long period of fighting cancer.

The funeral procession for the renowned artist was held on Friday morning, in front of Vahdat Hall in Tehran and her body was later laid to rest in Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery in south of Tehran, ILNA reported.

A theater director, playwright, actress, and novel writer, Saberi was born in Kerman in 1932. After finishing high school, she went to Paris to continue her studies in cinema and theater. During her student days, she made a short film about one of Khayyam’s quatrains, which was chosen as the best student film of 1954 in France. She then returned to Iran after a period of studying in Spain. Upon returning to Iran, Saberi created the Pasargad Theater Group and established Molavi Hall in Tehran. 

Most of Saberi’s works are adaptations of masterpieces of Persian classical literature. Over the years, she staged “Bijan and Manijeh” “Rustam and Sohrab”, “The Mourning of Siavash” and “The Seven Adventures of Rustam” based on Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh.

She has also directed “The Flying Shams” based on Rumi’s Masnavi and “Leyli and Majnun” based on the third poem in the pentology of Nezami.

She staged her plays in Iran as well as in other countries such as France, Italy, and Turkey. “Flying Shams” and “The Legend of Siavash” are two plays that Saberi staged at the UNESCO Hall in Paris, for which she was awarded a Légion d’honneur medal by French President Jacques Chirac in 2004.

SS/