The event featured over 20 theater productions, in addition to concerts, workshops, installations and discussions.

Organized by LAU’s Department of Communication Arts, the event helped the participating actors grow professionally through exposure to new and unique techniques and styles used by their peers from various countries.

The festival was kicked off on July 22 with a performance of Kafka, His Father, the Boss, the Wolf, and the Pigs, an LAU major production directed by Dr. Lina Abyad, LAU assistant professor of theatre, which was first performed in May.

Following Kafka, the festival gave the floor to singer and songwriter Hiba Saab, who was the first of 10 musical performers.

Walad, a local group that mixes folk, blues and oriental music, performed several songs outside the Safadi Fine Arts Building on the opening night, following Saab’s performance.

Students from the Utrecht School of Arts, in the Netherlands, performed their play Dwaal, meaning “wander,” during the second night of the festival. The play deals with issues of identity, expression, choice, social codes, and the strive for freedom.Festival participants came from Belgium, the Netherlands, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Kuwait and Syria. A handful of Lebanese universities also took part, including LAU, the American University of Beirut, Lebanese University, and Haigazian University.

In the Heart of the Heart of Another Body, an LAU fall major production directed by Nagy Souraty, an LAU theatre instructor, was presented outdoors as an open rehearsal on the second night of the festival.

“I think the festival was more colorful this year,” says Hala Masri, LAU theater coordinator who was a member of the event’s organizing committee — along with Souraty, Abyad and Dr. Mona Knio, associate professor in the Communication Arts Department.

Masri says organizers worked harder and longer to plan the festival than in previous years, resulting in more plays and extra activities.

“The festival has become a tradition at LAU,” Masri says. “People start asking me about it two or three months before,” she adds.

Here, young professional Syrian actor Mustafa Al Khani leads an acting workshop for the young artists.

LAU students perform Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza, written by British playwright Caryl Churchill in response to the 2008–2009 Israeli military strike on Gaza.

Belgian actors from Théatre Universitaire Royal de Liège performed a theatrical rendition of Franz Kafka’s 1917 short story Communication à une Académie (Report to an Academy), on the third night of the festival. The story is about an ape named Red Peter who has learned to behave like a human, then writes to an academy about his transformational experience.

Students from the Utrecht School of Arts perform an outdoor experimental piece called Project Lens, in which two members from the audience depend on each other to complete several military-themed missions, developed in the form of a video game.“Our main thought in this is to try to prevent or maybe even decrease a traumatic stress disorder,” said Rosa Frensman, one of the performance’s organizers. “We are trying to do this by taking away someone’s vision and giving it to someone else to see if without vision, something may be less traumatic.”

The Bear was performed by the Higher Institute for the Performing Art and Cultural Activity in Morocco. The play, written by Russian playwright and author Anton Chekhov, is a story of two adversaries, a widow and her debt collector, who fall in love.

LAU student production Guantanamo: The Meaning of Waiting was staged on July 25, the fourth night of the festival which was reserved for Lebanese universities. The play tells the story of six women waiting for their husbands to be released from America’s infamous Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba.

Courtesy of www.lau.edu.lb

The following comments were submitted by randomly selected members of the audience.

"It's very nice, very funny, very good play to end the festival with"

"Very nice, I enjoyed it so much"

"Very funny and smart. The combination of Cindy and Julie was just great"

"I really liked it, it was very very nice"

"Very great: directing wise, script, acting and lighting. We didn't really understand the language but the idea was clear"

Please feel free to comment and discuss the different views in the comment section.

The following comments were submitted by randomly selected members of the audience.

1-"I loved the set. I think they should have presented something about Kuwait."

2-"I expected them to tell us something about Kuwait. I was surprised to see them presenting something about Lebanon, our country. The showed us music and the flag which we obviously already know."

3-"It was quite accomplished"

4-"I felt the subjects discussed were not related to each other"

5-"I think the set was amazing and I really liked the unity of the actors"

6-"The lighting was amazing! Blocking was very well thought of and worked on"

7-"Very interesting, one of the most interesting subjects discussed during the festival so far"

Please feel free to comment and discuss the different views in the comment section.

The following comments were submitted by randomly selected members of the audience.

"Great work, it's just that the actors spoke too fast. The simplicity made it very nice and the idea is very nice"

"Too exaggerated, poor acting. No realism, it could be much funnier if that's what they want"

"Very good!"

"Great work, very fun play!"

"It's too fake and too over acted, trying to create something abstract but it's not working"

"It was a great play, amazing!"

Please feel free to comment and discuss the different views in the comment section.

The following comments were submitted by randomly selected members of the audience.

1-"Cheap"

2-"They talk too fast and it's not understandable. No articulation, and the room is too small, no ventilation but the actors were good"

3-"It was amazing, good actors and nice script. The best team in the festival"

4-"Too long, no tempo"

5-"It was very cute"

6-"It was very nice, it shows the suffer of the new theatre talents, it touches us because it looks so much like us university students"

7-"It was wonderful I wish I could have understood because I can't speak Arabic"

8-"Very good control of their physicality and vocality"

9-"I think the acting was most of the times believable, but there was too much repetition of gags"

Please feel free to comment and discuss the different views in the comment section.

The following comments were submitted by randomly selected members of the audience.

1-"The plot is nice but it lacked some action and pace"

2-"It was a wonderful play, each one of the actors played his role perfectly and the timing was in its place. I also liked the lights and how the whisky looked real!"

3-"Old fashioned and badly acted but Adham was a good actor"

4-"Elle manque de rythme et de direction de l'acteur. Les comediens sont toujours à droite de la scène, pourquoi? Les comediens ne sont pas dans la peau des personnage"

5-"Ils se sont basés sur la parole et oublient les actions"

6-"Very good english diction, good job!"

7-"Too monotonous, low pace"

8-"Good job!"

9-"Bad acting for most actors"

Please feel free to comment and discuss the different views in the comment section.

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"Project Lens","Communication à une Académie", & "The Bear" at the 5 O'clockchat

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"Dwaal","7 jewish children",& THE OPEN REHEARSAL of " In the heart of the heart of Another Body at the 5 O'clockchat

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A 3o minutes chat about the previous performances ..

"Kafka " by Lina Abiad in the 5 O'clock chatroom

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To watch gossip and other funny things that happen behind the scenes, visit our FaceBook group: (P.S. You can post anything and upload your own videos and photos about the festival)

LAU THEATER ON FACEBOOK
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5 O'CLOCK CHAT - Preview

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Jeanne Arnold - Interview

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Fahd Al Mothen - Interview

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A Rencontre on Drama Therapy

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Improvised-multicultural performance

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Mustafa Al Khani - Interview

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Osman - Saxophone Player

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Sneak Peak at the Gulbenkian Theatre Preparations - Rayssa Kanso Interview

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"KAFKA" Preview - July 22nd,2010

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WALAD - CONCERT 02

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