Abolfazl Hasan Khanpour, the teenage producer of the theater for children and teenagers, told Saba: Families’ support for children’s and teenagers’ shows and the attention of cultural managers to young groups can help to boost production in this area.
Nasser Arbab/Saba, Child and adolescent theater is one of the important parts of performing arts that, in addition to creating a space for entertainment, can play a role in fostering creativity, strengthening social skills, and transferring educational concepts to the new generation. However, the increase in the cost of living, ticket prices, and changing the pattern of children’s entertainment in the era of the expansion of cyber space, has faced this field with many challenges. In such a situation, the presence of teenagers in the field of production and supporting young talents can be the basis for the formation of new experiences in children’s and teenagers’ theater.
For this purpose; Abolfazl Hasan Khanpour, the 17-year-old producer of the show “Shengul Mongol and the third child”, in an interview with Saba, while pointing out his motivation to enter the field of theater production early, spoke about the challenges of producing works for children and teenagers, the need to pay attention to the taste of young audiences, the effect of families’ economic conditions on the reception of theater and the problems of young groups in the way of producing and performing theatrical works.
Referring to his decision to enter the field of production at the age of 17, Abulfazl Hassan Khanpour said: I decided to start my professional activity from this age and advance my work process step by step. That’s why I chose to enter this path right now.
He went on to compare the audience’s relationship with cinema and television works and the experience of watching theater and stated: In cinema and television, because the works are pre-recorded and the sequences have been taken earlier, the communication cannot be as direct; But the theater does not give us a chance to make mistakes and the audience witnesses our performance live. For this reason, we can have a greater impact on the audience; Especially when our audience is a child or teenager.
Referring to the difficulties of working in the field of children’s and teenagers’ theater, this teenage producer noted: Working with children and teenagers has its own challenges and difficulties, and this issue does not make much difference in theater and cinema. Before this, I had a history of working in the image field with children and teenagers, and I knew that I would face many challenges along the way; However, just as working with this age group has its own difficulties, it also brings a certain pleasure and charm.
Referring to the effect of families’ economic conditions on the reception of theater for children and teenagers, Hassan Khanpour said: In the current situation, the living conditions of families have become somewhat difficult, and due to the increase in living costs and ticket prices, watching theater has become the last priority for many families. For this reason, families are forced to remove theater from their cultural portfolio.
He also stated about the strategies to attract children and teenagers to theaters in competition with virtual space: producing works with attractive content, supporting families and welcoming them to watch theater can help encourage children to attend theaters and distance them from excessive dependence on mobile phones and virtual space.
Emphasizing the necessity of paying attention to the taste of children in the production of theatrical works, this teenage artist added: “When our audience is a child, in my opinion, the final decision should be made based on the taste and opinion of the children themselves.” They should like the show and leave the hall with full satisfaction and in a good mood, and besides this enjoyable experience, they should also learn useful and educational tips from watching the work.
The producer of the show “Shengul Mongol and the Third Child” continued by referring to the effect of acting experience on his interest in theater and production and said: Acting made me interested in theater and cinema and made me enter this field. Because of my interest in theater, I decided to experience producing and support this field as much as I can.
Referring to the reason for choosing the familiar story of Shangul and Mongol for the production of this show, Hassan Khanpour said: Shangul and Mongol is an old and familiar story that almost all of us have heard and children relate well to it. This story is so popular that some parents even tell it to their children at bedtime. He continued: In the show “Shengul Mongol and the third child”, Mr. Garge mistakenly eats the third child and gets into a big predicament. From here on, White Eagle or General White Eagle, the chief of police of Green Forest, enters the story to solve this problem.
This teenage producer also said about the possibility of economic continuation of the production of children’s and teenagers’ shows: if families and children and teenagers support this category of works, they can make a great contribution to theater production from an economic point of view. Unfortunately, most of the audience of these types of performances are usually the families of artists and people who work in this field; But if the theater for children and teenagers can attract general audiences to theaters, this event will have a great impact on the prosperity of production in this field.
In the end, he pointed to the problems of young groups in the way of producing and performing theatrical works and addressed to the cultural directors and those in charge of reviewing children’s and adolescent works, he noted: People who enter the stage of producing or directing theater at this age, do not yet have enough knowledge and experience and usually do not have the relationships and connections that can help their work progress. We also faced many challenges to stage this show. My request to the people who are responsible for dealing with the case of these theater groups, as well as those who come to review the works of children and teenagers, is to be a little kinder and less strict with young and fresh groups so that these people are not disappointed at the beginning of their artistic career.
The play “Shangul Mongol and Bacha Som” written by Kiyomarth Qanbari Azar, directed by Kasri Taland and Mohammad Qasim Esmaili and produced by Abolfazl Hasan Khanpour, with the host of a project by the Barana Children’s and Adolescent Acting School, will be staged every night at 21:00 in Tehran’s theater from November 9th to December 7th.
