YEREVAN, JULY 14, ARMENPRESS. The prominent Armenian playwright Zhirayr Ananyan today, on July 14 would turn 80 years old. Known to the public by his "Taxi, Taxi", "My house is not your house" and other plays the famous playwright devoted his entire life to art.

Zhirayr Ananyan (Jirair Hrayri Ter-Ananyan, July 14, 1934, Berd, Armenia – April 24, 2004, Yerevan) was an Armenian playwright. He is the author of "Taxi, taxi" (1973) comedial play, one of the most populars in Armenia since 1970's. During one season it was staged in Soviet theatres more than 100 times.

Ananyan studied at Mikayel Nalbandyan school of Yerevan. He finished the historio-philological faculty of Yerevan State Pedagogical University in 1958. From 1959 to 1980 he worked at the Armenian State committee of TV and Radio. Ananyan's first play, "For a diploma" was staged in 1956. His "Andzanot amusninner", "Im tunn ko tunn che", "Karusel", "Trchogh apseits ijats marde", "Bravo" and other plays were staged at the Yerevan Sundukian theatre and Paronian theatre of comedy (including "Taxi, taxi" with Karp Khachvankyan as Knyaz and Svetlana Grigoryan as Roz).

He is one of the most popular Armenian playwrights, whose plays were translated into many languages of the world and staged in different countries, including USA, Iran, Lebanon, etc. Since 1980 he was a member of the USSR Union of Writers. In 2002 he was awarded with the "Vahagn" all-Armenian prize for the collections of plays “Luys ksanyoti gishery”. He died in Yerevan on April 24, 2004.