TEHRAN – A new theater opened on Tuesday at the Masudieh House, a Qajar era monument in Tehran, with a performance of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” by an Iranian troupe directed by Iman Afsharian.

A large number of thespians including veteran stage actor Akbar Zanjanpur and director of Tehran City Theater Complex Parisa Moqtadi attended the opening ceremony.Speaking at the ceremony, the director of the monument, Mehdi Tajrishi, said that they intended to renovate the monument and discover its hidden potential.Dating back 140 years, the house belonged to Zello Sultan, the son of Qajar king Nasser ad-Din Shah.“We intend for this edifice to become a house for art and cultural figures and watch it flourish every day. We have also tried to make only the slightest modifications and thus prevent any damage to the main structure of the monument. We actually want to attract art and cultural enthusiasts to this house,” he explained.Art advisor of the house Alireza Shojanuri said in his brief speech that he and his colleagues wanted to breathe a spirit of life into this building. “We began by opening a café in the house and later thought about converting its pond into a theater, and with the help of several friends and theater supporters we were able to open this hall”.“We hope to draw more people here and hold performances for audiences during the long summer nights in the large courtyard of this house,” Shojanuri added.Zohreh Azizian, another individual involved in establishing the hall, said, “We are honored to be adding 150 seats to the theater of Iran”.Photo: Members of a troupe led by director Iman Afsharian perform “Crime and Punishment” after the inauguration of the Masudieh Theater in Tehran on October 13, 2015. (Mehr/Khosro Parkhideh)RM/YAWEND