The Start of the Game – 2007
The third platform for young Arab theatre makers “The Start of the Game” took place in Damascus during the months of July and August 2007. The platform was organized by Culture Resource in collaboration with the High Theatre Institute in Damascus and SHAMS Association(Youth, Theatre and Cinema) in Lebanon.”The Start of the Game” is a creative encounter composed of 18 participants from all over the Arab world; aging between 15 and 30 years old from various theatrical fields. The participants have been selected from over 60 applicants. The platform aims to sharpen the participants’ skills, add to their knowledge, and give them the opportunity to be part of a team and to present their work to a larger audience. The participants worked under the supervision of the Lebanese director Roger Assaf.The first platform for young Arab theatre makers “The Start of the game” took place in March 2005 in Al Hamraa Theater in Tunisia and Hanan Al Haj Ali the Lebanese actress was the artistic director of the platform. The second platform took place in “Dawar Shams” Cultural Center in Beirut in June 2006, and was supervised by the Tunisian director Ezz Eddine Ganoun.

This year’s platform was divided into two phases:
Phase one: A preliminary phase, which was held in the period from 1 to 4 July. During which directors, playwrights, and scenographers were engaged for two days in discussions aiming to developing the applicants’ proposed theatrical projects. 10 young artists from Tunisia, Morocco, Lebanon, Egypt and Syria participated in this phase.

Phase two: Implementation phase, which was held in the period from 4 to 14 August and during which participants from all fields spent 10 days transforming and developing scripts which were discussed in the first phase, into theatre projects.


The participants in the Start of the Game 2007 were:

From Algeria:

  • Ahmed El Aouni – Actor
  • Mohammed Fathi Kalil – Actor

From Egypt:

  • Ahmed Amer – Playwright
  • Ehab Shaltout – Actor
  • Mohammed Moheb – Actor
  • Mennatallah Salah – Actress
  • Naglaa Younis – Actress

From Lebanon:

  • Roaa Basie – Actress

From Morocco:

  • Edris Ekla – Scenograph

From Syria:

  • Rania Mlehi – Director
  • Zaher Omren – Playwright
  • Laila Saad – Actress
  • Wessam Darwish – Director
  • Yamen Mohammed – Actor

From Tunisia:

  • Hosna El Manai – Actress
  • Mariam Busalmi – Director
  • Wahid El Agami – Actor/Director