Mark Weil

{{short description|Uzbekistani theatre director}} {{Infobox person | name = Mark Weil | image = Mark_Weil.jpg | caption = | birth_name = Марк Яковлевич Вайль | birth_date = {{birth date|1952|1|25}} | birth_place = Tashkent, USSR | death_date = {{death date and age|2007|9|7|1952|1|25}} | death_place = Tashkent, Uzbekistan | death_cause = Murdered | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = Founder of Ilkhom Theatre | education = | employer = | occupation = Theatre director | title = | height = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }}

'''Mark Yakovlevich Weil''' ({{langx|ru|Марк Яковлевич Вайль}}; 25 January 1952 – 7 September 2007) was a Soviet and Uzbekistani theatre director, and founder and art director of the Ilkhom Theatre in Tashkent. His parents, Ukrainian Jews, had arrived in Uzbekistan in the late 1930s. His father was a soldier, and his mother had studied at the Theatre Institute, Kiev.

His last production was the Greek tragedy ''The Oresteia''; he was murdered the day before it was scheduled to open, and the actors went ahead because the show must go on.<ref name=":0">{{cite news| url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/7325384.stm | work=BBC News | title=Crossing Continents: Uzbekistan | date=April 1, 2008 | access-date=May 12, 2010}}</ref> He was stabbed to death in the entrance lobby to his block of flats in Tashkent. He was reportedly attacked by two unknown males, who hit him on the head with a bottle and stabbed him in the abdomen. The murderers escaped after the attack.

His murder was the subject of a BBC Radio 4 ''Crossing Continents'' documentary in April 2008.<ref name=":0" />

İn 2010, three men were convicted of murdering Weil. They said they had killed him in response to his portrayal of Muhammad in his play ''Imitating the Koran''.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16218972| work=BBC News | title=Uzbekistan Timeline | date=April 1, 2008 | access-date=May 12, 2010}}</ref>

==Further reading== {{cite news | title =Obituary: Mark Weil | work =The Times | date =2007-09-22 | url =http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2507785.ece | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20110524004237/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2507785.ece | url-status =dead | archive-date =May 24, 2011 | access-date = 2007-09-22 | location=London}}

==References== <references/>

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927182357/http://www.ilkhom.com/english/vaill/ Biography]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weil, Mark}} Category:1952 births Category:2007 deaths Category:Uzbekistani theatre directors Category:Uzbekistani Jews Category:Uzbekistani people of Ukrainian descent Category:Uzbekistani murder victims Category:People murdered in Uzbekistan Category:2000s murders in Uzbekistan Category:2007 crimes in Uzbekistan Category:2007 murders in Asia Category:Deaths by stabbing Category:Uzbekistan State Institute of Arts and Culture alumni