Reza Abdoh was an Iranian-born director and playwright known for large-scale, experimental theatrical productions, often staged in unusual spaces like warehouses and abandoned buildings.
13 Facts About Reza Abdoh
2.
Reza Abdoh had one half-sister, Regina, from his father's previous marriage to an American woman.
3.
In 1977 Reza Abdoh was sent to England where he attended day school in London while living with his grandmother.
4.
In January 1980, Ali Reza Abdoh died of a heart attack on a squash court at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
5.
In 1983 Reza Abdoh began directing plays, often adapting classics like King Lear, King Oedipus, and Medea in Los Angeles theaters.
6.
In 1990, Reza Abdoh directed Father Was a Peculiar Man, a multimedia performance produced by En Garde Arts featuring more than 50 performers that occurred across four blocks of New York City's Meatpacking District.
7.
Reza Abdoh called it a "gut reaction to systemic repression and erosion of freedom" in an interview with Thomas Leabhart published in Mime Journal.
8.
Reza Abdoh worked on several productions with the New York City and Los Angeles theater ensemble Dar a Luz, which he formed in 1991.
9.
Reza Abdoh was known for his use of video in his sets, and he created several videos between 1986 and 1991.
10.
In 1992 Reza Abdoh wrote and directed the feature-length film The Blind Owl.
11.
Reza Abdoh died due to causes related to AIDS on May 11,1995.
12.
Reza Abdoh is the subject of the book Reza Abdoh, edited by Daniel Mufson; his papers and videotapes of some performances are kept at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
13.
In 2018, MoMA PS1 hosted a retrospective exhibition titled Reza Abdoh curated by Negar Azimi, Tiffany Malakooti, and Babak Radboy of Bidoun with Klaus Biesenbach.