Background & Experience

I was born in Egypt, and have been moving around the world ever since I was a child. I have spent years of my life in Europe, Africa, North America, Central America, and the Middle East. All of this moving has given me a very fluid sense of national identity, as well as an interest in how people tell themselves by telling their stories. I believe we can change and take control of ourselves by changing and taking control of our telling.

I have been involved with the theatre since I was 10 years old. Performance, in its many forms, has been the source of my greatest joys, and it is my goal to share this special type of activity with whomever I can. I am currently living in the Northeast USA, but have active engagements in the UK and the Middle East. In the coming years, I will be spending more time with the stories told in these and other places, and playing my part in the transformation of how they are told.

Theory Behind the Work

Principles: Love and Hope. Rehearsing the Future. Witnessing. Micro-politics. Advocacy. Moving Meditation. Community.

My method is to cycle between these interconnected elements:

  • Awareness: Focusing on the now - where are we? What stories lead to this moment? Focus on personal story and experience and making images, theatre, and role-plays focusing on the way things are. Shows that reflect what we have.
  • Action: Shifting our stories to making stories that we want - challenging the status quo with our imagination. Activist performance. Shows that reflect and create what we think we can do or achieve.
  • Improvisation: The new, chaos, doing anything: What will happen? Letting go of goals and desired ends, approaching the new. Shows which create that which we have not expected.

Methods and Styles

The following are areas of creative work or creative organizing that inform the work that I do.

  • Poetry, voice work, spoken word
  • Physical training, Physical Theatre, Contemporary Dance
  • Improvisation
  • Playback Theatre
  • Theatre of the Opress & Forum Theatre
  • Devised theatre processes
  • Open Space Technology

Past Work

I've worked with many different groups, including homeless folks, migrants, youths, refugees, charity organizations, activists, slum dwellers, and war-survivors.

  • Sudan Outreach and Understanding through Drama (SOUND) project. Using drama to address post-conflict culture in Khartoum, Sudan
  • Thalia theatre company - theatre with disabled people, to engage and interact
  • Work in South Africa - work in townships, offering training support to local theatre troupes
  • Cardboard Citizens, United Kingdom – work with homeless people using the techniques of theatre of the oppressed
  • Actors for Refugees - producing theatre advocating for Human Rights for asylum seekers in the UK
  • Praxis Community Projects
    • Deliberative meetings
    • Advocacy for asylum seekers
    • Training and Planning with client organizations
  • United Kingdom Refugee Council - advocacy and awareness-raising projects
  • Institute for Public Policy Research - team building for a liberal think tank
  • The Royal Shadow - work with a diagnosed schizophrenic playwright; performances to bring her experiences to a wider public
  • freeDimensional - Various types of facilitation to improve team dynamics and organize discussion

Read about my services.