The Work, the Conversation, and the War During Arab Voices in Beirut

Each morning and afternoon for much of September, playwrights, actors, directors, stage managers, producers, workshop leaders, and participants gathered at the beautiful Dar el Nimer Center for Arts and Culture in Beirut for rehearsals, workshops, conversations, and coffee. The second floor was filled with seasoned and emerging artists speaking a combination of Arabic, English, and French, arguing, laughing, sharing stories, asking questions, and readying ourselves for the work of the day.

We had come together for Arab Voices: Identities in Translation, the newest edition of the Arab Voices project, which built on three previous events: Arab Voices: here/there/then/now (New York University Abu Dhabi Arts Center, 2016); Arab Voices: Stories of Palestine (Beirut, 2018); and Arab Voices: Three New Plays in Translation (New York University Abu Dhabi Institute, New York City, 2019).

Identities in Translation is a unique collaboration between Foundation for Arab Dramatic Arts (FADA), theatre professionals in Lebanon and the United States, and the New York City-based Noor Theatre. It is curated and produced by Aliya Khalidi, founder of FADA, Walid Saliba, Dima Matta, and me; generously funded by Venturous Theatre Fund; supported by the Noor Theatre; and hosted by Dar el Nimer for Arts and Culture in Beirut.

Arab Voices: Identities in Translation was originally scheduled to take place from 7 to 21 September 2024 at Dar el Nimer and to include presentations of three plays by United States-based authors of Arab origin (translated into Arabic) and feature Beirut-based actors. Based upon yearslong discussions with the curatorial team, the program was planned to also include workshops (in both English and Arabic) in dramaturgy, led by Adam Elsayigh; playwriting, led by Hadi Tabbal; and body and text: a dialogue—work that focused on the potential for generating text based on physical improvisation—co-facilitated by Dima Matta and myself. We were also excited to convene roundtable conversations amongst leaders from the Beirut theatre community to share ideas, discuss challenges, and hear about upcoming initiatives.

The collaboration contained many perspectives, multiple languages, a very diverse gathering, and very exciting work.

Then, on 18 September, we learned during a break in rehearsal that a series of planned, remotely triggered explosions of pagers in the south of Beirut had killed dozens and seriously wounded over one hundred people. Within twenty-four hours, another such attack, via walkie-talkies, killed and injured many more. Though we initially hoped that we could move forward to present the public readings of Food and Fadwa by Lameece Issaq and Jacob Kader and Christine et Maria ad Leones by Hadi Tabbal, it was clear by the morning of 19 September that neither the artists involved nor our expected audience were likely to feel safe and focused enough to perform and receive these wonderful plays. Moreover, the arts professionals whom we’d invited to take part in roundtable conversations were consumed with supporting their own organizations, their fellow artists, and their families.

Fortunately, all three workshops had been completed by then. The energy and creativity generated by the facilitators and participants—a diverse group of artists of different ages, backgrounds, and experience—was electric, and the work was truly inspiring. In each of the workshops, we discovered talented writers and performers who made themselves entirely available to each other and to the unique artistic approaches being introduced.  This comment from Mirvat Salhab, who participated in the playwriting workshop led by Hadi Tabbal, articulates what several in the group had expressed:

Hadi taught us how to connect with our inner selves and how to talk about something that is deep within us. It doesn’t have to be something that has meaning for us directly, but when we talk about it, we deliver it to the audience in a way that reaches their souls and feelings…and I hope after these workshops (dramaturgy and playwriting) that I will be able to write a full play that will stay close to the heart of my audience for them to feel that I am writing from within me to within them.

Identities in Translation was born not only out of the dialogue that was taking place between Arab artists in Lebanon and Arab American artists, but it was also born out of the fact that different languages were co-existing in the art-making.

In addition, the 14 September staged reading of Drowning [formerly titled Drowning in Cairo] by Adam Elsayigh, directed by Walid Saliba, drew a full and enthusiastic invited-only audience, celebrating an exciting new collaboration between playwright and director. It was followed by an enlightening and stimulating discussion on the arts and the contributions of LGBTQ+ artists in Lebanon.

Playwright Adam Elsayigh reflected on this experience:

I’ve always wanted Drowning in Cairo to have a life and production in the Middle East, but for the longest time I never imagined it was possible given its content and themes. It’s been a dream to work on Drowning with the team…my director Walid, the translator Eyas Younis, as well as the Beirut actors Yanal, Cyril, and Awad. Drowning is a coming-of-age story (about three young boys who live in the same Cairo neighborhood) as they come into their identities and their lives. 

Language was a driving force in Arab Voices for months leading up to our gathering in Beirut and throughout our time together. According to Dima Matta, a co-producer of Identities in Translation, “Identities in Translation was born not only out of the dialogue that was taking place between Arab artists in Lebanon and Arab American artists, but it was also born out of the fact that different languages were co-existing in the art-making that was happening during Arab Voices.”

The three plays we were to present were all moved from English to Arabic by the brilliant translator Eyas Younis—not a simple task, as each of the plays required dialogue in a dialect specific to a particular culture. For Christine et Maria ad Leones, a Lebanese dialect was needed; for Food and Fadwa, which Eyas had translated several years before, a Palestinian dialect; and in the case of Drowning, all three dialects—Lebanese, Palestinian, and Egyptian—are spoken. Amazingly, Eyas is fluent in all these and other versions of Arabic, and the sessions between him and the playwrights were deep, specific, and illuminating for all. Our larger team discussions often focused on what we came to realize is the dramaturgy of translation. Finding the “right” word and phrase choices in the translated dialogue, and in the humor of the plays, became the mission of Eyas and the dramatists.

Having these works translated to appropriate Arabic dialects and performed by actors for whom the language was “home” was a goal we pursued passionately. When we chose to have a workshop and public presentation of Food and Fadwa, a play that had premiered at the New York Theatre Workshop in 2012, director Aliya Khalidi made clear her mission to engage an entirely Palestinian cast:      

Doing this play is very important because it’s the first time it’s done in Arabic, and we chose an all-Palestinian cast since it’s set in Bethlehem… anyone can put on an accent, but we have a lot of Palestinians in Lebanon who are very talented but never had the opportunity to act in plays. So it was a great opportunity for most of the cast.…It’s a beautiful play in which the Israeli occupation forces impose a curfew and the wedding of one of the characters is cancelled or postponed, and it is significant because just three days before we were about to stage this play, the Israeli occupation forces attacked Lebanon and forced us to stop the play itself.

Hadi Tabbal’s Christina et Maria ad Leones is part of a trilogy Hadi has been developing that frankly, and sometimes uncomfortably, explores the experience of Lebanese in the diaspora and their relationship to their culture of origin. The story focuses on two sisters: one works for a nonprofit in Beirut, and her elder sister is disdainful of her sister’s dedication to “doing good.” For a Lebanese American like myself, it illuminates the way we who live in the United States, though we hope to be a bridge between here and there, often misunderstand and perhaps misrepresent the experience of living in a land that that is so threatened by global tensions. The play is meant to be performed in both Arabic and English, highlighting the potential for that misunderstanding.

As the dramaturg for Christina et Maria ad Leones, Dima Matta worked with Hadi to

reframe his play that was written with an American audience in mind to suit the interest of the audience here in Lebanon. The nuances, what is potentially being over explained or under explained. What is redundant? What does an audience in Lebanon know that we do not need to include in the play?…so the work on that was extremely interesting and challenging in the most fun way.

For me, every day the Arab Voices company came together was an opportunity for discovery and inspiration. And our interactions did not stop at the end of our work days: the hotel where those of us who had come from the United States stayed featured a comfortable and welcoming café where we relaxed and chatted in the evenings with our Lebanese collaborators, sometimes unpacking our experience of a workshop or rehearsal, other times discussing politics, or even sharing personal histories—often sipping Arak, the beloved liqueur of Lebanon.

We speak frequently, hopeful that wisdom will prevail and the current ceasefire will hold and lead to a peace that will allow us to continue and build on what we’ve begun.

There’s no question that we had become a kind of family, starting with our lead artists and producers—Aliya Khalidi, Walid Saliba, Dima Matta, Awad Awad, Hadi Tabbal, and Adam El Sayigh—not to mention our two dozen actors, production staff, designers, and videographers. Moreover, an important aspect of our goal for the project was realized: to discover, through the Arab Voices workshops, emerging writers in Beirut whose work we can go on to support and share internationally.

We’re not done. Though our work was cut short, and the attention of the Beirut-based team has turned to providing relief for the many people whose lives were upended by attacks that began on 18 September, we speak frequently, hopeful that wisdom will prevail and the current ceasefire will hold and lead to a peace that will allow us to continue and build on what we’ve begun.

In the words of co-producer and Drowning director Walid Saliba:

This year’s theme was Identities in Translation, and for us language is no longer a barrier—the plays whose content is Arab we wanted to be staged in Arabic in front of an Arab audience… We built an amazing community who stood next to each other, and we cannot wait to do Arab voices next year and the next and the next.