Winter of 88

Born and raised in Iran, Mohammad Yaghoubi is an award-winning playwright, director, and screenwriter. He moved to Canada in 2015 and co-founded the Toronto-based NOWADAYS THEATRE company in 2016. His plays have been translated into six languages. Select awards include the Promising Pen Prize from Cahoots Theatre for his 2021 play Persimmon, winner of the Iranian Playwrights Society and third place of the New Play Contest at the 2016 Toronto Fringe Festival for Outstanding Writing for A Moment of Silence, and the Tehran Theatre Festival Award (Fadjr) for Outstanding Direction and Writing for Winter of 88.

Nazanin Malekan is a graduate of English translation from Iran, with an acting background in both Farsi and French. She moved to Canada in 2005 and was involved with the NAGs (Nomads Acting Group) between 2006 and 2011, where she acted in minor roles and helped with the props, stage management, and productions. She attended Aida Keykhaii’s acting workshop in 2016 and was cast in Dance of Torn Papers as the workshop’s final acting project in Toronto. She joined NOWADAYS THEATRE shortly after and collaborated with the company in areas such as script translations, grant applications, and other admin-related tasks. Nazanin joined Mohammad Yaghoubi’s acting workshops between 2017 and 2018 and was cast in Angles in Iran as the workshop’s final acting project in Toronto and Waterloo. She is a utility corporate planner from nine-to-five, and an art and theatre lover the rest of the day.