Parjad Sharifi

Directed by Raïna von Waldenburg. Scenography by Parjad Sharifi. Play by Ann Carson.

Scenography by Parjad Sharifi Costume Design by Heather Robertson

To Wear a Heart so White was the last work devised by Leaky Heaven, under the direction of Steven Hill, before the company became Fight With a Stick. In this work the company explores the colonial narrative of South Western British Columbia from the settler colonist perspective. Historical fact and fiction are blended as Shakespeare's Macbeth is treated as the main cultural export of the British Empire. The artists created an immersive experience in which the audience is situated inside the performance "machine." A number of what the company calls "spatial genres" are constructed around the spectators - a church space, a 19th century tableau vivant, a Canadian campfire inhabited by talking taxidermy, a hypnosis session, a Shakespearean banquet, and so on.

An upside-down world. A betrayed love. An unwanted child. Animals learning to walk and talk. A revolt by the subjugated masses. A kingdom come undone. This isn’t the King Arthur you know. King Arthur’s Night is epic in scale and radically inclusive. It features a fully integrated professional cast which includes actors from Burnaby, BC’s Down Syndrome Research Foundation plus a live band and a 16-person choir. Refined, brutal, crude and tender, King Arthur’s Night tests what we know about the limits of theatre, language and our collective understanding of the narratives that are permitted to shape our world. It invites audiences to reject the idea that some experiences are inherently marginal, and instead witness those stories front and centre on stage.

Directed by: Saeed Vahidi Director of photography: Parjad Sharifi Lyrics: Dear Dmitry Isakov Shrug their sticks and stones off Lug your sign of life into the street Hold it up like neon words Hold it up like bible verse It's truer than the stories we believe We are all going to heaven, at the end of the day We're all going to heaven either way People love to celebrate Their life, their love, the laws of state They paint it on the billboard of their heart They rule your body in its name They leave your loves to call from caves They drop you like anchor in the dark But we are all going to heaven, at the end of the day We are all going to heaven either way (X2) When the midnight chimes On the Kremlin And the fireworks ride Put a wish in your body For a million eyes For the whole world watching For the night alive for the new year coming For each baton that tells you no We'll bring a plane to fire a rose Love bows down Not to beg, not to obey But to rise Available to download: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/new-years-in-sochi/id759013369?i=759013407 Also as a free download within the limited edition CD version of: The Fugitives - Everything Will Happen http://lightorganrecords.com/store/music/the-fugitives-everything-will-happen/

Full length version of Steppenwolf, created and performed by Fight With a Stick at the PuSh International Performance Festival 2015. Fight With a Stick is a theatre-based contemporary performance company that works across artistic disciplines. Steppenwolf was led by co-artistic directors Steven Hill and Alex Lazaridis Ferguson and devised with Nancy Tam (sound design and composition), Josh Hite (video construction), Natalie Purschwitz (set and costume), Parjad Sharifi (lights and projection design), Alba Calvo (stage management), and performers Nneka Croal, Sean Marshall Jr., Brette Little, and Nazli Akhtari. The audience sits before a bank of mirrors as a world unfolds behind them. They see themselves in the performance through the reflection in the mirror.