'Meem Like Minab': A Teacher's Tribute to the Students Who Lost Their Lives

Tabriz – The director of the street play 'Meem Like Minab' said the performance pays tribute to the students who lost their lives in Minab and seeks to portray their legacy of hope and resistance through art.

Shayan Soltani, the director of the street show "Mime Like Minab" from Arak, in an interview with Mehr reporter, on the sidelines of the 7th National Festival of Tabrizim Street Theater, stated his motivation for choosing the theme of this show: I am a teacher myself and I have been working in this profession for 13 years; For this reason, I felt that I have a responsibility towards the students of Minab and I wanted to pay tribute to them by performing a play.

He added: In order to come up with the right idea, we discussed the issue many times with my wife, Negar Maddi, who is in charge of writing this show, until she suggested a story that I felt expressed my heart. For this reason, we decided to present this narrative to the audience in the form of a show.

Soltani continued by referring to the connection between his teaching career and the theme of the show: daily communication with students makes the issues and events that happen to children to be seen from a closer and more humane angle. The choice of this topic was also formed from this sense of responsibility and concern.

Minab's narration; Beyond recounting a tragic incident

The director of the "Mime Like Minab" show, referring to his goal of representing this event in the form of street theater, stated: This show deals with a tragic event, but our effort is not to make the audience leave the hall or performance venue only with sadness; In addition to remembering what happened, we want to pay attention to the lessons and messages that can be taken from this narrative.

Referring to his personal experiences in facing grief and loss, he added: I always tell my students if they are not feeling well, to go to Behesht Zahra and visit their dead. I don't mean that facing death and loss necessarily makes a person worse, but sometimes facing the realities of life can lead to a deeper understanding of it and learning new lessons.

Soltani continued: The show "Mime like Minab" also tries to invite the audience to reflect on life and the consequences of such events by recalling a tragic incident. I believe that if people get to know the story of the students who lost their lives and the legacy they left behind, this narrative can provide a basis for learning and looking at life differently in addition to causing sadness.

He emphasized: Our goal is for the audience to pay attention to deeper concepts such as hope and resistance in addition to facing the suffering and sadness caused by this incident, and not to see the story of these students only in the context of a bitter incident.

This theater director noted: Retelling tragic events through art can have a more lasting impact when it leads to reflection on the human consequences of those events and the values that can be gained from the experiences.

street theater; Linking the emotions of the audience with human narratives

Referring to the audience's feedback from the performance of the show "Mime Like Minab", Soltani said: "This story comes from the heart, and I think this is what made it able to connect with the hearts of the audience."

He added: When an artwork is formed based on a real concern, the artist can establish a closer relationship with the subject and convey it more honestly to the audience. I hope that this show, in addition to reminding the students of Minab, can provide a basis for paying more attention to the messages and lessons of this narrative.

Referring to the interactive atmosphere of the Tabrizm street theater festival, the director of the show "Mime Like Minab" appreciated the organizers of this event in the cultural, social and sports organization of the Tabriz municipality and the people of Tabriz and said: providing the possibility of performing works in public spaces creates the opportunity to communicate directly with the audience and allows artists to present their narratives among the people.

According to him, street theater has the capacity to raise human and social issues through performance and direct communication with the audience; A capacity that can be used in reflecting common human experiences and conveying the message of dramatic works.