Sisterhood Damaskus: Meet the artist

A zoom talk with director/writer Anna Akkash and Actress/ Choreograph Noura Murad

Live stream from Damascus on the 4th of December at 3 PM on the website of Kammerspiele Munich

Since the Damascus Theater Festival stopped in 2010, the Syrian theater has been isolated from the Arab and international art scene. With the start of the military operations, Syria was prevented from participating in international theatrical festivals due to the ban on the Syrian passport and the inability of the Syrian Ministry of Culture to cover travel costs due to the reduction of its budget and the ban on delegation. During these ten years, many people left working in the Theater, either because they travelled abroad or because of the wages that no longer covered the cost of transportation to the theater. For example, wages in 2011 were about 150,000 Syrian pounds (equivalent to $3,000 according to the exchange rate at the time). This number remained almost constant in Syrian pounds until 2021 despite the collapse of the exchange rate to its lowest level (150,000 Syrian pounds equivalent now 50$).

In this Talk, the dramaturge Rania Mleihi will interduce the work and the life experience of two theater-makers from Damascus/Syria: Noura Murad, the artistic director of Leish (Why) Theater Troupe in Damascus and Anna Akkash, the artistic director of Maraya (Mirrors) Theater Group. Both artists are still living in Damascus, the capital of Syria: we will hear their personal experience about working the theater field, how does it look like to still making theater in Syria? What did change during and after the war? What difficulties are they facing? How do they finance their work, and many other questions. A window through our screen will open a world to us, about, we know very little.

Leish Troupe is a physical theater company based in Damascus. Since our inception in 1999, we seek to discover, practice, and understand the unlimited capacities of human body’s expression. Our work brings together artists from different disciplines and creates long- term partnerships with artists and cultural institutions at the local, regional, and international level.

We create physical theater performances on stage and in alternative places, organizing workshops for amateurs and professionals of all disciplines in contemporary performing art, and we do theoretical and practical research about the body in the form of long-term projects. We are striving towards a society where people are more aware of their bodies and emotional abilities, and more resilient mentally. We seek to develop the capacities of contemporary performing artists to express themselves in their own language and improve their teamwork skills.

Our Mission is shifting stable concepts, Expanding the audience base of physical theatre and dance by conducting training for local community members and building an active relationship with the audience in live performances and Developing the expressive language of physical performances.