The son of Iranian and Guatemalan parents and a UCLA graduate, San Francisco Bay Area native Karimi is a playwright, humorist, activist, poet and director of the Kaotic Good Productions theater company.
His latest work is “Farid Mercury,” which premiered recently in Berkeley, California and runs at the Teatro Diana on December 1 and 2. The performance features Karimi as Freddie Mercury, the late lead singer of the rock band Queen.
In a phone interview with the Guadalajara Reporter, Karimi said that when he started researching rock icon Mercury, he discovered that his story was parallel to that of many immigrants.
“His ancestors travelled from Iran to India he was born in Africa then his family went to England. For me he is the symbol of the transnational immigrant and a symbol of masculinity. Iranian men are known as being “metrosexual” because they dress very well,” Karimi said. “I discovered the idea of bravely being who you are whatever the cost. I hope that I can communicate this idea to the Mexican as well as the international audience.”
Karimi calls the show “a tapestry of my experience along with those of the Irani-Americans I interviewed.”
Other Karimi projects include a cooking show called Karimi and Comrades. “It’s a crazy comedy satire,” he said. “Like most of my shows, it’s about walking into an experience. The studio audience walks in and I feed them.”
Karimi said he uses humor as “a weapon” to tell his stories. “I grew up watching American and Mexican comedies from Cantinflas, Chavo del Ocho, Richard Pryor, Bob Hope and other comedians, and I always felt that humor is the best way to get people into a room to talk about their experiences.”
A former high school teacher and published poet, Karimi does youth work to help to improve reading skills in the United States. He also featured in the documentary “Total Chaos: The Art and the Aesthetics of Hip- Hop.”
“I wrote a ten-page essay about my philosophy on theater and culture. I used the concept of a sample in Hip- Hop (In Hop -Hop they sample a piece of record and they use it as a beat). I argued in my essay that we take samples of our memory, history and our culture and we put them together to make up who we are. Whenever we are in a different situation we remix ourselves. We do this constantly.”
Anyone looking for a different theater experience should make an effort to see Karimi in a live performance. “Come expecting to be taken on a journey,” Karimi said. “Come ready to clap and to be a part of it.”
“Farid Mercury” shows at the Estudio Diana, Av. 16 de Septiembre 710, Tuesday, Dec. 1 and Wednesday, Dec. 2, 9 p.m. Entry free.
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