Various actors, dancers and musicians from Doost | Photo by Lisa Wu
Neworld Theatre founder Camyar Chai will be returning to the stage this month to co-direct Doost (Friend). As part of its’ 20th anniversary celebration, Neworld Theatre will be showcasing three presentations at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre (The Cultch). Doost explores the mystical traditions of Sufism through music, poetry and dance.
Chai explains that Sufism is a spiritual path similar to Buddhism and it is an integral part of Persian Iranian culture. However, it is not an organized religion.
“The basic concept is oneness,” says Chai. “The idea is to adhere to the concept of being a loving person in the world and to honour every creature that exists.”
Early start
As a child, Chai, who was born in Iran and moved to Vancouver when he was 12, found refuge in theatre where he could express himself more. He had a high school teacher who supported his passion and he fell more in love with theatre. Chai’s first professional appearance was on the TV show The Beachcombers in 1987. Although he was initially a psychology student at UBC at the time, he eventually joined the theatre program instead. As he was graduating, Chai realized that there were few opportunities for him in professional theatre, especially since he did not have a mainstream look because he was Iranian.
“I went through a phase of trying to hide my identity, “says Chai, who is a professional actor, writer and director.
Ultimately, Chai was empowered to start his own theatre company in 1995 with some other students at UBC and Neworld Theatre came to be. Their mission is to build human intersections and find the human essence in everything.
“Sometimes that means challenging the status quo or celebrating the beauty that exists in the world,” says Chai.
Coming from a minority background, he feels that theatre should reflect the society and the people in it and he wanted Neworld to reflect all aspects and not just cling to one aesthetic or theme. In 2005, Chai left the company and he now works as the Arts Coordinator for the City of Richmond.
“I’ve always been interested in creating something that would outlive me and I can proudly say that it [Neworld Theatre] has,” says Chai.
Love – the ultimate friend
Camyar Chai, Iranian Canadian actor, writer and director | Photo courtesy of Camyar Chai
The inspiration behind Doost happened when Chai was going through a period of time when he had lost the meaning and passion behind theatre. That was when Chai met with a Sufi master who was visiting Vancouver at the time and he helped Chai rekindle his creativity.
“Part of mystic practices is to show spiritual devotion through music,” says Chai. For Chai, his “instrument” was theatre.
Chai explains that Doost is the Persian word for friend and God is essentially love and love is your friend. Therefore, love is the ultimate friend.
“The challenge for me was to translate an anti-intellectual spiritual plot within a very intellectual structured medium [theatre],” says Chai.
The story of Doost is loosely based on the youngest spiritual master of Chai’s Sufi order who became a master at the age of 26. The play documents his early years when he fell in love with the concepts of Sufism but did not understand what was happening to him. As a result, he went into a state of turmoil. Chai points out that the message of the play is about unity and love and does not aim to convert anyone to Sufism.
“Anybody will be able to connect with this play,” says Chai. “I want it to be an experience, the audience will enter a dream and even if they don’t totally get what happened, they can feel like ‘hey that was cool, glad I went for the ride’.”
The play is co-directed with Chelsea Haberlin and the cast consists of professional actors and dancers as well as individuals who adhere to Sufi beliefs.
Doost will be presented from March 22–26 at The Cultch. For more information, please visit www.thecultch.com.
