Reza Abdoh | |
|---|---|
رضا عبده | |
 Reza Abdoh in the early '90s | |
| Born | (1963-02-23)February 23, 1963 Tehran, Iran |
| Died | May 11, 1995(1995-05-11) (aged 32) New York City, US |
| Alma mater | University of Southern California |
| Occupations | theatre director and playwright |
| Years active | 1983-1995 |
| Parent(s) | Ali Abdoh (father) Homa Mohajerin (mother) |
| Relatives | Salar Abdoh (brother) |
Reza Abdoh (Persian:رضا عبده; alsoRomanized as "Rezā Abdoh",Persian pronunciation:[ɾeˈzɒːæbˈdoh]) (February 23, 1963 – May 11, 1995) was an Iranian-born director and playwright known for large-scale, experimental theatrical productions, often staged in unusual spaces like warehouses and abandoned buildings.[1]
Abdoh was born inTehran in 1963, the first child ofAli Abdoh, a prominent athlete, businessman and founder of thePersepolis Football Club, and Homa Oboodi (née Mohajerin).[2] His paternal grandfather was Mohammad Abdoh Boroujerdi, a chief justice and expert in Islamic law in theReza Shah era.[citation needed]
Abdoh had two brothers, Sardar "Sid" Abdoh andSalar Abdoh, and one sister, Negar. He had one half-sister, Regina, from his father's previous marriage to an American woman. On his father's side, he was first cousins once removed withDara Khosrowshahi. In 1977, Reza was sent to England where he attended day school in London while living with his grandmother. In 1978, he was sent toWellington, an exclusive boarding school inSomerset, England.[2]
In the wake of theIranian Revolution, Ali Abdoh traveled to California with his four children and settled inWest Covina, California. Reza's father, who had plans to open a hotel in Iran on the eve of the revolution, faced financial ruin.[3] He began classes atUniversity of Southern California where he completed one semester. In January 1980, Ali Abdoh died of a heart attack on a squash court at theLos Angeles Athletic Club. It is said that he died not long after discovering that Reza was gay.[1][4]
In 1983 Abdoh began directing plays, often adapting classics likeKing Lear,King Oedipus, andMedea in Los Angeles theaters.
In 1990, Abdoh directedFather Was a Peculiar Man, a multimedia performance produced byEn Garde Arts featuring more than 50 performers that occurred across four blocks of New York City'sMeatpacking District. That year he also wrote and directedThe Hip-Hop Waltz of Eurydice, staged at theLos Angeles Theatre Center. Abdoh called it a "gut reaction to systemic repression and erosion of freedom" in an interview with Thomas Leabhart published inMime Journal. His work often confronted such issues as race, class and, the AIDS crisis.
Abdoh worked on several productions with theNew York City andLos Angeles theater ensemble Dar a Luz, which he formed in 1991. Productions with the company includedThe Law of Remains (1992),Tight Right White (1993) andQuotations From a Ruined City (1994), co-written with his brother,Salar Abdoh. His later work was called "nightmarish" and used multimedia elements with downtown theater conventions to "bombard" audiences.New York Times criticStephen Holden called Abdoh "a theatrical visionary" in his obituary.[5]
Abdoh was known for his use of video in his sets, and he also created several videos between 1986 and 1991. In 1992 Abdoh wrote and directed the feature-length filmThe Blind Owl.[6]
Abdoh died due to causes related toAIDS on May 11, 1995.[5][7]
He is the subject of the bookReza Abdoh, edited by Daniel Mufson; his papers and videotapes of some performances are kept at theNew York Public Library for the Performing Arts.[8]
Reza Abdoh: Theatre Visionary, a documentary film about Abdoh and his work, was completed by director Adam Soch in 2016.[9]
In 2018,MoMA PS1 hosted a retrospective exhibition titledReza Abdoh curated by Negar Azimi, Tiffany Malakooti, and Babak Radboy ofBidoun withKlaus Biesenbach.[10][11] In 2025, some of his video works were screened in Brooklyn, at KAJE and Spectacle Theatre.[12][13]
A chapter on Reza Abdoh, written by Joseph Cermatori, is included in50 Key Figures in Queer US Theatre (2022).[14]
Source:[2]
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