Dr Mehdi Forough [1911-2008]

Mehdi Forough, a renowned professor of Dramatic Literature in Iran and the founder of the College of Dramatic Arts, established in 1964 and dissolved in 1980. Forough was born on November 15, 1911 in Esfahan, Dalbeti, and died on September 27, 2008 in the US.

He lost his father at the age of five, and was raised under the guardianship of his mother. He completed his elementary education in traditional schools of the time and then in newly-established modern schools of Esfahan. From an early childhood, he showed a strong aptitude for music, especially singing, and by the time he was 13 he was educated in the levels of traditional Persian singing by two professors of traditional Persian singing in Esfahan, Seyed Rahim and Seyed Hassan Saatsaz. He completed his high school education in Esfahan and Shiraz. In 1932 he enrolled to
English Language at Tehran university of higher education. As soon as he was admitted, he became the head of the ‘Music and Drama’ association at the university of higher education. Upon graduating, he spent three years teaching English in Education centers. In 1938, he went to England and joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and
graduated in 1943, and subsequently returned to Iran in 1945 to work at the ministry of culture and religious education, and taught at the Music school of Arts. In 1950 he went to the United States to pursue his studies in Dramatic Literature and dramatic writing at the University of Colombia, and in 1955 he attained his doctorate degree.

In 1956, Dr Forough returned to Iran and established the office of Dramatic Arts and later the
College of Dramatic Arts as well as two important cultural libraries.
For years he was in charge of the office of Dramatic Arts and the
College of Dramatic Arts. He spent years teaching courses on the history and science of music, aesthetics in music, criticism of of Art and Dramatic Literature, dramatic writing, directing, and phonology and the history of world
theater among many others.

Dr Forough was also a prolific translator. Among his best-known translations one can refer to: Father, by August Strindberg; The Glass Menagerie,by Tennessee Williams; and ‘A Doll’s House’ and ‘Ghosts’, by Henrik Ibse.;
Among his well-known monographs are Comparative study of Abraham’s sacrifice in Persian passion plays and Western mystery plays (1954), Shahnameh and Dramatic Literature, and Poetry and Music (1957).