Team
There & Then was founded in 2026 by Omar Elerian & Nassim Soleimanpour.
nassim soleimanpour
Founding Director
Nassim Soleimanpour is an Iranian-German playwright and theatremaker. His plays have been translated into over 40 languages and were performed thousands of times by some of the biggest names in the industry all around the globe.
He is best known for his cold-read plays in which a new unrehearsed actor performs the plays sight-unseen in front of a live audience.
Theatre includes: White Rabbit Red Rabbit (& Westside Theatre New York City/International Tour), BLANK (& Summerhall/International Tour), NASSIM (& Bush/ Traverse/New York City Center/International Tour); Blind Hamlet (&Actors Touring Company/LIFT); COOK (&Copenheagen Grob/ Bush/International Tour); Mr. K and The Flowers (Audible), ECHO (&The Royal Court/LIFT).
Awards include: Dublin Fringe Festival Best New Performance (White Rabbit, Red Rabbit), Summerworks Outstanding New Performance Text Award (White Rabbit, Red Rabbit), The Arches Brick Award (White Rabbit, Red Rabbit), Fringe First Award (NASSIM), Off-Broadway Alliance Awards (NASSIM).
omar elerian
Founding Director
Omar Elerian is an award-winning director, dramaturg, and theatremaker. Italian of Palestinian descent, Elerian trained in Italy and later graduated from Lecoq International Theatre School in Paris in 2005. He was the resident associate director at London’s Bush Theatre from 2012 to 2019 where he commissioned and directed some of the theatre’s most successful shows.
As a freelance director, he works internationally and his productions have been presented in theatres and festivals worldwide. He is currently developing projects with Brighton Festival, Factory International, Complicité, Welsh National Opera and FUEL.
His directing credits include the smash-hit Misty by Arinzé Kene (Bush Theatre, West End and New York, nominated for two Olivier Awards), NASSIM by Nassim Soleimanpour (Bush Theatre, Traverse Theatre, and world tour, Fringe First Award winner), Going Through by Estelle Savasta, and Islands by Caroline Horton.
His most recent directing credits include Nowhere by Khalid Abdalla (FUEL/BAC/tour) The Chairs and Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco (Almeida Theatre, Evening Standard Award winner for Best Director); Two Palestinians Go Dogging by Sami Ibrahim (Royal Court, Olivier Award nomination), As You Like It (Royal Shakespeare Company, UK Theatre Awards nomination for Best Director), ECHO by Nassim Soleimanpour (LIFT/Royal Court/tour) and Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo by Rajiv Joseph (Young Vic).
FULL TEAM