Azerbaijan
Mehriban Alakbarzade Zaur gizi was born on August 5, 1965 in Ganja (Azerbaijan). In 1983 she entered the directing faculty of the Azerbaijan State Institute of Arts named after Mirzaagi Aliyev, from which she graduated in 1988.
In 1988 she started her career as a director with Jean-Paul Sart's play "Dead without Burial" (diploma work) staged at the Azerbaijan State Academic National Drama Theater.
Since 1991 she started working in the theater, then at the film studio, later worked as a stage director at the Academic National Drama Theater. She made feature TV films and TV plays.
Since 1994 she started journalistic activity as a creator of author's programs on Azerbaijan Television (AZTV). In 2001-2007 she worked as a head of Author Programs Department. In 2007-2008 she worked as the head of "Enlightenment" studio (4 editorial offices) at Azerbaijan Television and Radio Broadcasting (AZTV).
Since 2018, she worked as the chief director of Azerbaijan State YUG Theater, and since 2022, she has been working as the chief director of Azerbaijan State Theater of Young Spectators. In May 2023, she was appointed artistic director of Azerbaijan State Academic National Drama Theater.
She has staged plays at the Azerbaijan State Academic National Drama Theater, Azerbaijan State Academic Music Theater, Azerbaijan State YUG Theater, Azerbaijan State Theater of Young Spectator, directed feature and documentary films.
Mehriban Alakbarzade was awarded the title of Honored Art Worker of the Republic of Azerbaijan (2013), the State Prize of the Republic of Azerbaijan (2024) and the Chingiz Aitmatov Prize of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly (2024).
On September 3 and 4, 2024 in the program of the XV International Theatre Festival "Alexandrinsky" will be shown Mehriban Alakbarzadeh's play "Iblis and...", staged at the Azerbaijan State Academic National Drama Theatre (Baku, Azerbaijan).
