John Farzad Strong:
A.K.A John Farmanesh-Bocca, the immigrant son of an Iranian General, is a multi-award- winning American theatre director and writer, who is know both here and abroad for his many modern adaptations of ancient theatrical works. John has had a three-decade career making theatre around the world.
Currently, he has a number of film projects in various phases of development; notably his adapted screenplay SHIMMER based on the play of the same name by John O’Keefe. Mr. Farmanesh-Bocca is also attached to Direct, with Ed Harris (Westworld, Pollack) to star.
In addition to his writing and directing, John served as on-set Acting Coach for both Season 3 & 4 of the Paramount Television and Netflix Original Series 13 Reasons Why, where he had also choreographed 2 episodes.
As a multi-faceted artist, Mr. Farmanesh-Bocca, is also an award-winning actor and choreographer and began his career as a dancer and fencer.Awarded an American Theatre Wing Scholarship, John trained at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts (‘94) for Acting, before serving as a Directing Fellow at the Juilliard School - Drama Division (2003-2005).
Mr. Farmanesh-Bocca now serves as Emeritus Director of the award-winning Not Man Apart - Physical Theatre Ensemble which, under his watch, was named by Backstage Magazine in 2014 as one of the 13 most innovative physical theatre companies in the world. Mr. Farmanesh-Bocca was also very recently named by Broadway World Magazine – Los Angeles Awards as ‘Los Angeles Theatre Director of the Decade.’
Mr. Farmanesh-Bocca’s visually compelling and visceral plays have been seen at U.K. venues such as The Burton/Taylor Theatre in Oxford England, The Oxford Playhouse, Theatre Royal Bath, England, Belfast Cathedral Quarter Festival and The Edinburgh Festival Fringe where his work received the highly coveted Fringe First Award.
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Brenda Strong:
Brenda Strong is an award-winning actress, director and producer, perhaps best known for her seminal work on the ABC television series, and worldwide phenomenon, Desperate Housewives as Mary Alice Young, which garnered her two Emmy Nominations and two SAG Awards. Her long and consistent work on Television and Film (Seinfeld, Dallas, Starship Troopers, Fear the Walking Dead, Supergirl, 13 Reasons Why, UnPrisoned, 61st Street, etc.) has led her to find her voice behind the camera.
She has produced three multi-award-winning films, "Fallen" a documentary with Michael Chiklis, picked up by Netflix and Amazon, "I Did Not Forget You," written by John Farmanesh- Bocca shot in Dallas, (which premiered at GI Festival, winning several awards including audience favorite) and her directorial debut, #3 Normandy Lane, also written by Farmanesh-Bocca, which has had a successful 21 Film Festival run and won 12 Awards worldwide. She recently directed two pivotal episodes in the fourth and final season of “13 Reasons Why” for Netflix.
Her forthcoming book The Daughter’s of D’Artagnan, the first in a series, is the reimagined feminine focused sequel to Alexandre Dumas’ internationally beloved Three and Four Musketeers.
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