Modern Times theatre loses AD

Soheil Parsa is leaving the Toronto theatre organization he co-founded, Modern Times Stage Co., after 31 years as artistic director.

Parsa leaves June 30 with the board of directors launching a search for a new leader to take over July 1, 2022.

Theatre co-founder Peter Farbridge will remain as artistic producer before he leaves on June 30, 2022.

Board chair Charles C. Smith described Parsa in a news release as “a treasure in Canadian theatre. His deep commitment to contemporary theatre, one that reflects local and global perspectives, and his consistent and remarkable talents as a director have had a profound impact on our theatre scene.”

“Without the company, there would have been hardly any opportunities for me as a racialized, immigrant artist 30 years ago,” Parsa said in the release. Through Modern Times, “I have been able to create opportunities both for myself as well as for many other Canadian theatre professionals, and it has always been a welcoming and creative environment for actors of all racial and ethnic backgrounds.”

Parsa and Farbridge founded Modern Times in 1989 with a focus on original plays and reimagining classical works, as well as introducing Iranian plays to Canadian audiences.

Parsa was an actor and director in his native Iran, coming to Canada with his family in 1984 and earning a second bachelor's degree in theatre studies at

York University.

He is a five-time Dora Award winner, a Chalmers Fellow, a Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Award recipient and he was shortlisted for the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre in directing.