Safeer – The Acting Coach

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Safeer has over 22 years of theater experience. He has attended various training courses conducted by various Fulbright scholars in past 7 years. Among his theater teachers, he holds in high esteem Musadiq Sanwal, David Studwell, Kathleen Mulligan, and his Improv guru Jim Robinson. He was part of the team ‘This Stained Dawn’ (Dagh Dagh Ujala) that visited USA in 2015.

He has recently been part of a TV play ‘Siah Series’. He played the lead role of a teacher who wants to save his students from evil forces. It has been produced by IRK films and is in the post-production phase.

His recent theater projects include ‘Akhri Salute’ ‘Akhri Salute (based on a story by the legendary Urdu writer Saadat Hassan Manto) in December 2020 for Theatre Wallay, and ‘Main Ne Kuch Nahi Kiya’ and ‘Sau Baras Ki Story’ for Swaang Theater. Currently, he teaches Acting Class at The Black Hole. Earlier, he taught at Pakistan National Council of the Arts for two years.

Safeer Ullah Khan – Acting Coach, Director

He has performed in most of the Theatre Wallay productions including Tartuffe, Godot Ke Intezar Mein, This Stained Dawn (Dagh Dagh Ujala), Arturo Ui Youn Qabiq Hua, and The School for Wives.

He was also selected for International Visitors Leadership Program – an exchange program run by US State Department – under the theme ‘Arts for Social Change’. He spend three busy weeks in five States in the USA meeting people from various arts institutions and organizations in 2013.

He has vast experience of street theater. He has expertise in developing scripts, training new groups, and direction. He has directed many plays for Theatre Wallay including ‘Bachay Hamaray Ehd Ke (children’s play)’, ‘Siasat@8PM’ (has recently been performed in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and Lahore), ‘Aao Drama Dekhen’, and quite recently ‘Main Ne Kuch Nahi Keya’ – a play developed and performed by his students from the first batch of The Acting Class.

Safeer (2nd from left) performing ‘The School for Wives’

He was the lead Acting Coach of the 1st batch of the Acting Class held at Rung School of Music and Arts. The classes were held from Feb 2019 to May 2019. The Class continued to work together and decided to go through all the phases of developing and performing a play. The students developed a script, held auditions, collected all the props, prepared costumes, ran publicity/marketing campaigns, sold tickets, and learnt a little bit about lights and sounds. The final performances were held on 27th and 28th July. They received standing ovation from the audience.

Students from 1st Batch of the Acting Class perform ‘Main Ne Kuch Nahi Keya’
See also No Second Take

He has been engaged by many national and international NGOs (including Catholic Relief Services, Coffee International, Bedari, SDPI, Islamic Relief, and The Asia Foundation) to train young theater artists, and develop plays on various social issues including domestic violence, health and hygiene, girls’ education, child marriages, and sexual harassment.

He speaks English, Urdu, Pashto, and Punjabi fluently, and understand Seraiki and Sindhi as well.

His documentary ‘A Tale of Two Marriages’ (developed for Bedari/ Commonwealth of Learning) has been translated into 4 languages and is screened for communities in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Mozambique, and Tanzania.

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