Mohammad Karambeigi

Mohammad Karambeigi (he/him) is an Iranian scholar, theater/performance maker, playwright, dramaturg, and first-year MA/PhD student at the University of Pittsburgh. He holds a BA in acting and directing from the University of Tehran. Mohammad also serves as a researcher at Iran Saye Theater, a prestigious alternative theater group in Iran. Saye Theater’s works have been performed at Off-Off Broadway, Off-Avignon, and the Adelaide Theater Festival.

As a theater/performance maker, Mohammad has directed and devised several theatrical productions, including “Ants,” “Re-Zoo/Recollection,” “Observation of Sounds,” and many others in his home country, Iran. His play "Ants" was performed at the 23rd Iran International Universities Theater Festival. His artworks explore concepts of power and freedom, as well as the processes of embodiment and memory. The digital performance “Observation of Sounds” was part of his collaboration with the eminent German company Rimini Protokoll.

Beyond his artworks, Mohammad's research mainly focuses on post-hegemonic, underground, and alternative theater and performance art movements in the MENA region. He views theater and performance as forms of everyday life practice that can disrupt hegemonic politics and the status quo. His academic pursuits bridge the fields of Performance Studies, Political Philosophy, Sociology, and Middle Eastern Studies. He has participated in various conferences and seminars, such as “Iran’s Today Theater, Walking Through the Darkness,” where he gave a speech on alternative art—specifically alternative theater—and its role in hegemonic struggles. Additionally, his paper “Iranian Women’s Theater in the Early Twentieth Century: The Sphere of Appearance” was published in the Middle East Theater Journal (ME-T).