Press Release: Blind Runner

SOUTH COAST REPERTORY PRESENTS THE INTERNATIONAL MULTIMEDIA HIT

BLIND RUNNER

In Partnership with Mehr Theatre Group, Oct. 18-Nov. 8

COSTA MESA, Calif. (Sept. 24, 2026)—South Coast Repertory (Artistic Director David Ivers and Managing Director Suzanne Appel) presents the international multimedia hit Blind Runner, a Mehr Theatre Group production, with text and direction by award-winning Iranian theatre artist Amir Reza Koohestani.  Performed entirely in Persian with English supertitles, Blind Runner runs Oct. 18-Nov. 8 on the Julianne Argyros Stage.

This marks Blind Runner's West Coast debut and its second United States engagement, the previous being at New York's prestigious St. Ann's Warehouse in January 2025 as part of the Under the Radar Festival. Blind Runner is presented in association with University of California, Irvine's Claire Trevor School of the Arts Department of Drama. SCR's cultural partner is the Farhang Foundation.

"I'm thrilled to welcome Mehr Theatre Group to South Coast Repertory," Ivers said. "Blind Runner feels urgent in body and in form, using video, projections and technology in innovative ways to immerse us in a play about confinement and motion, surveillance, freedom, separation and solidarity. I am drawn to its assertion that a person who is constrained by political force finds a way to move, a person who cannot see becomes a guide and an act as simple as running becomes charged with danger, devotion and hope."

The Play

Blind Runner interweaves the destinies of three Iranians. At the insistence of his wife, a political prisoner, a man agrees to help a blind woman train for a race in Paris. After placing third, they take on a second challenge. Can they run the 38-kilometer Channel Tunnel from France to the UK in a few hours to avoid being hit by the first train of the morning?

The play premiered at the Kunstenfestivaldearts in Brussels, Belgium, in May 2023; it went to Berlin, Athens, Groningen, Netherlands, Marseille, Paris, Milan and Turin in Italy, Switzerland, and Bonn, before ending the year with French stops in Lille, Roubaix and Montpellier. In 2024, it played Munich, Venice and Seoul, before going to New York, Hamburg and Düsseldorf.

"Beyond the theme and the story, Blind Runner is a formidable performance in terms of technique and acting. The two merge to give birth to sequences of incredible poetry, great beauty and meaning," wrote Jean-Marie Wynants in Le Soir.

The play has been described as "mesmerizing, stunning, deeply moving" by The Guardian, "undeniably powerful" by New York Stage Review and "a moving hymn to freedom" by Stage and Cinema.

It received a 2026 Obie Award Special Citation for its ensemble.

"In Blind Runner, human athleticism and dignity are entwined," Appel said. "This run against time transforms running from an act of resilience into an act of resistance. This universal story of a quest for freedom will deeply resonate with our Orange County audiences. We are so thrilled to have the West Coast premiere of this international hit!"

Mehr Theatre Group

Blind Runner marks the first partnership between SCR and Mehr Theatre Group, founded in 1996 in Shiraz, Iran, as an acting workshop that seeks to create productions distinct from traditional theatre and heavily influenced by cinema. Based in Paris since 2008 and administered by French producer Pierre Reis, the company works between Tehran and exile, bringing together artists inside and outside Iran and regularly collaborating with non-Iranian designers and composers.

Under the leadership of Koohestani, Reis, playwright Mahin Sadri and actor Mohammad Reza Hosseinzadeh, Mehr Theatre Group's productions are noted for their text-driven, documentary-inspired pieces that combine personal archives, interviews and everyday documents with a precise minimalist staging.

Amir Reza Koohestani

Widely regarded as one of the most influential voices in Iranian theatre, Koohestani built his impressive body of work on creating plays known for their spare, poetic staging and detailed attention to the intersection of private life and political power. Blind Runner, the latest example of that style, continues Koohestani's interest in exploring how ordinary lives persist under political and social control.

Getting his start with published short stories in local newspapers at 16, Koohestani became artistic director of the Mehr Theatre Group in 2001, the same year his Dance on Glasses became his international breakout play. His later works included And the Day Never Came (1999), The Murmuring Tales (2000), Amid the Clouds (2005), Quartet: A Journey North (2008), Ivanov (2011), and The Fourth Wall (2012), along with the "Time Trilogy"—Timeloss (2013), Hearing (2015), and Summerless (2018). His work has been featured at more than 40 major international festivals.

Koohestani's film work includes co-writing the screenplay for Modest Reception with director Mani Haghighi, which won the NETPAC Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. The two collaborated again on Subtraction (2023).

The Cast

Blind Runner features performers Mohammad Aghebati and Ainaz Azarhoush, both making their SCR debuts.

Aghebati is an award-winning Iranian theater director and actor whose notable film projects include Hero, the 2021 Grand Prix Winner at the Cannes Film Festival, directed by two-time Oscar-winning director Asghar Farhadi; Modest Reception (Berlinale 2012); They (Cannes 2017); and the Berlinale award-winning film The Great Yawn. Aghebati has taught at institutions such as Tehran University and Shanghai School of Drama and has served as a jury member at various festivals.

A graduate of the Art University in Tehran, Aghebati's early work led to his productions touring in Asia and Europe while he was still in his 20s. He was invited to the United States through an artist residency at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2009 that led to a Special Research Fellowship at Yale University School of Drama. He received his M.F.A. in Performance and Media Arts from Brooklyn College.

Azarhoush (Instagram handle @Ainaz Azarhoush) is an Iranian actress and filmmaker who toured with Blind Runner from its Brussels premiere through the three-week Off-Broadway run at St. Ann's Warehouse in New York. Previously, she starred in Koohestani's Hearing, presented internationally at Festival d'Avignon, Festival d'Automne in Paris, and Schaubühne in Berlin. Azarhoush's recent U.S. stage credits include a leading role in Sanaz Toossi's Wish You Were Here at ArtsWest in Seattle.

Her film credits include Fish and Cat, winner of the Horizons Special Prize at the Venice Film Festival, The Paternal House, and The Pig. Azarhoush recently made her directorial debut with the short film Death of a Seagull, which was selected for LA Shorts International Film Festival and Linz International Short Film Festival in Austria.

The Creative Team

The design and creative team includes Samaneh Ahmandian, dramaturgy; Dariush Faezi, director's assistant; Éric Soyer, lights and scenography; Negar Nobakht Foghani, costume design; Yosi Moradi and Benjamin Krieg, video design; Phillip Hohenwarter and Matthias Peyker, music; Diana Fathi, associate director and show caller; Massoumeh Lahidji, English translation & subtitle adaptation and Pierre Reis, production administration & promotion.

Blind Runner received generous support from Season Producers Apriem Advisors, with production and engagement support provided by the Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation.

Tickets are now on sale and range in price from $44 to $128, with additional discounts available for educators, seniors and theatregoers ages 25 and under. Tickets may be purchased online at www.scr.org or by phone at (714) 708-5555. More information is available at www.scr.org.

Related Information for Blind Runner:

Special Events

• Post-Show Discussions:
• Actor Talks with members of the cast: Wednesday, Oct. 28 and Thursday, Nov. 5.
• Terrace Talk, a new feature this season. SCR is taking our popular Actor Talks outdoors under the stars for a more casual, interactive experience: Sunday, Oct. 25
• Community Conversation, a presentation and discussion surrounding a theme specific to Blind Runner, Sunday, Nov. 1.

• Inside the Season: Saturday, Oct. 31 from 10:30 a.m.-noon.

Led by members of SCR's literary staff, this lively 90-minute session includes in-depth interviews with cast members and artists from the production staff, revealing secrets and offering insights into each play. Tickets are $14 and may be purchased in advance or at the door.

• Audio-Described Performance with live translation and verbal commentary for the visually impaired: Saturday, Oct. 24 at 2 p.m.

Location: South Coast Repertory is located at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa, at the Bristol Street/Avenue of the Arts exit off the San Diego (405) Freeway in the David Emmes/Martin Benson Theatre Center, part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Parking is available on Park Center Drive, off Anton Boulevard.

2026-27 Upcoming Productions: Into the Woods, Sept. 12-Oct. 18, 2026; Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares, Oct. 8-11, 2026; Blind Runner, Oct. 18-Nov. 8, 2026; A Christmas Carol, Nov. 28-Dec. 27, 2026; Mother Russia, Jan. 22-March 20, 2027; The Importance of Being Earnest, Jan. 23-March 20, 2027; How I Became a Pirate, Feb. 19-March 7, 2027; Three-headed Monster, April 4-May 2, 2027; The Ingenue, April 18-May 9, 2027; Hamlet, May 8-June 5, 2027; Hershey Felder's Great American Songbook Sing-Along!, July 3, 2027; Hershey Felder, BEETHOVEN, July 6-18, 2027; Hershey Felder, Love Notes, July 21-Aug. 1, 2027.

SCR's annual showcase of new works, the Pacific Playwrights Festival, runs April 30-May 2, 2027.