by Bahram Beyzaie translated by Zara Houshmand & Bella Warda directed by Jim Cave

The Eighth Voyage of Sinbad is one of the earliest works of Bahram Beyzaie, Iran's premiere playwright and theatre scholar. For more than thirty-five years, Mr. Beyzaei's plays have shaped, invented and expanded Iran's modern drama and its language. Mr. Beyzaie has been a very prolific playwright and, amazingly, the large body of his work shows a consistent artistic vision with recurrent themes and preoccupations that unify and define a "Beyzaiean Project". One of his more prominent themes is his treatment of Iranian cultural myths and the reinterpretations of them for a modern era. His The Eighth Voyage of Sinbad has roots in the ancient Persian story, 1001 Nights. Sinbad has set out on a hero's journey to find happiness and understand the secrets of life and death, yet he is unconscious of how his actions determine and corrupt the final outcome of his noble quest until it is too late. Indeed, you cannot obtain bliss for yourself by creating misery and unhappiness for others. The truths discovered on Sinbad's seven voyages are valuable lessons for any culture, at any time.

This co-production with Darvag was a dark retelling of the Sinbad myth. No pointy shoes or genies in a bottle to save the day here. It also redefined for me what it meant to "pack 'em in a theatre." Our audiences were nearly sitting in the rafters. The play was a visual wonder with enchanting live music and sexy shirtless actors.

Momo Casablanca as Crowd, Sailor & Nofal the Merchant
Ali Dadgar as Sailor & Ghayur
Keith Davis as Town Crier, Scribe, Interpreter, Mehrak the Merchant & Brahman
Behzad Golemohammadi as Sailor & Abdullah
Tori Hinkle as Sailor
Gwen Larsen as Crowd, Sailor & Jafar
Roham Shaikhani as Blind Man & Jester
Richard Silberg as Vahab
Mansour Taeed as Sinbad
Bella Warda as Magician
Torange Yeghiazarian as Crowd, Sailor & Rajab


Jim Cave, director
Kurosh Taghavi, setar and various instruments
Nina Sharif, daf and various instruments
Jamshid Agahi, tonbak, daf and various instruments
Zara Houshmand, production design, costume design & associate translator
Bella Warda, associate translator
Woody Woodman, performance provocateur
Michael Frassinelli, set construction
Alex Lopez, lighting design
Benjamin Lovejoy, graphic design
Zahra Mahloudji, stage manager
Patrick Dooley, artistic director

Opened: Saturday, June 12, 1999
Performed: Thursday & Friday & Saturday at 8:00 pm & Sunday at 7:00 pm
Performed At: South Berkeley Community Congregational Church, 1802 Fairview Street, Berkeley
Closed: June 27, 1999

Paul Sterman for The Oakland Tribune
Kerry Reid for The East Bay Express