Soheil Parsa

Soheil Parsa is an award-winning director, actor, writer, dramaturg, choreographer and teacher, whose professional theatre career spans thirty years and two continents. In his native Iran, Soheil completed studies in Theatre Performance at the University of Tehran and began a promising career as an actor and director. Arriving in Canada with his family in 1984, Soheil completed a second Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies at York University and then went on to establish Modern Times Stage Company as one of the most exciting culturally-diverse theatre companies in Canada.

In 1995 Soheil received a New Pioneers Award by Skills for Change for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts by a recent immigrant to Canada. Soheil's own work at Modern Times has been recognized with four Dora Mavor Moore Awards, a Chalmers Fellowship in 2002, and a senior artist creation grant from the Canada Council, as well as a number of international prizes and master class requests. In 2007 he was short-listed for the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre Celebrating Directors, the largest Canadian theatre award.

In 2008, Playwrights Canada Press published Stories from the Rains of Love and Death – Four Plays from Iran, a collection of original translations and adaptations Soheil Parsa has co-written and directed for Modern Times. This was the first major publication of its kind in Canada.

Most recently, Soheil directed the world premiere of Hallaj, a script co-written with his Modern Times’ co-founder Peter Farbridge. He also continues to work internationally, representing both Canadian and Iranian culture abroad, while collaborating with artists on his award-winning production Aurash.

As a director, set and stage designer, translator, adaptor, choreographer and actor, Soheil’s work is based on his experience in Iran and focuses on oppression and loss of freedom (especially loss of speech). His art is created to empower those who are often marginalized and under-represented.