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Abstract
How does one write cultural history without erasure? The popularity of lowbrow theatre, or what came to be known as “Lalezari,” weighed heavily on various historians of art in 20th-century Iran. In this talk I demonstrate differences amongst various historical accounts and how these accounts shaped the Iranian theatrical landscape and the preservation process of theatres in Tehran’s Lalehzar Entertainment District.
Bio
Q-mars Haeri received his Ph.D. in May 2024 in Theatre and Performance Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park. He is a theatre historian and practitioner, whose research interest is on cultural production in Iran. From 2022 to 2024, Haeri served as a faculty member and director of the theatre program at the American University of Kuwait.

At the Center, Haeri will work on developing his dissertation project, Popular Theatre in Iran: A Social History of Lalehzari Performances, into a manuscript. The project focuses on Lalehzar, one of the most important theatre districts in Tehran. He hopes to write a social history of this district’s mid-20th century that questions how we categorize cultural products either with dignity and as sublime, or as degenerate and vulgar, and to what extent these categorizations are influenced by notions of class, religion, and the urban/rural divide. Haeri hopes to organize reading events and dramatic performances, as well as create an interactive, digital map depicting sites of Lalehzar theatres and performances. Haeri’s interest is comprehensive and interdisciplinary, building upon the already historical and anthropological projects currently underway at the Center.