Photo credits: Tengo Lor, B Fresh Photography, Shahryar Amiri, Jeff Machtig (Courtesy of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center), John Autey
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Farid Mercury
written/ performed by Robert Farid Karimi
directed by Brian Freeman

soundscape performed live by DJ D Double
choreography by Leah Nelson
costumes designed by Erin Lavelle Lundeen; lights designed by Kathy Maxwell

 

About the show:

Part documentary theater, part rock concert,
Farid Mercury is a mash-up of the words and lyrics of iconic rockstar, Farrokh Bulsara (AKA Freddie Mercury, former lead singer of Queen) with Iranian characters from interviews conducted by critically acclaimed performance artist Robert Farid Karimi. With the help of a live soundscape spun live by all-star DJ D Double, Karimi examines the multifaceted dimensions of Persian masculinity in terms of homosexuality, US-Iranian historical relations, the current political climate in Iran, and pop culture. Karimi channels Freddie Mercury, a Persian Zoroastrian, as a spiritual guide, who provides his own story of Persian masculinity and offers Karimi, and the audience, a window into a way immigrants globally negotiate identity in new homelands.

“The bottom line is [karimi] has discovered a powerful, distinctive voice; all he needs now is an audience.”
- Chicago Reader.

Farid Mercury has been co-commissioned by MACLA, La Peña Cultural Center, and kaotic good productions for National Performance Network Creation Fund.