Seven on Tour through El Warsha, the Embassy of Sweden in Cairo, Egypt and the Swedish Institute in Alexandria staged the first two readings of Seven in Cairo and Alexandria 19 and 18 November.
KAIRO NOVEMBER 19
The reading of the Seven was organized as a collaboration between El-Warsha (theater organization) , the external project manager Sondos Shabayek ( Bussy Project), the Embassy of Sweden in Cairo and Hedda Production. The reading is part of a series of events by the Swedish Embassy to highlight women’s rights and womens empowerment.
Seven was performed at the Greek Campus to an audience of about 250 people. In the crowd there were both men and women of varying ages and among them former senior politicians and students.
ENSEMBLE
Khaled Aboul Naga, actor and producer
Menna Shalaby, actress
Dr. Hala Shukrallah, Director of the Development Support Center for Training and Consultancy, and former head of Al Dostour Party
Anissa Hassouna, Executive Director of the Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation
Dr. Fatema Khafagy, regional gender expert and former Director of the Egyptian Ombudsman’s Office for Gender Equality and Women’s Rights
Mohamed Naciri, UN Women’s Regional Director for Arab States
Ragia Omran, lawyer and award-winning human rights activist
Directed by Hassan El Geretly, El-Warsha
ALEXANDRIA NOVEMBER 18
The reading of Seven in Alexandria was organized by the Swedish Institute in Alexandria in collaboration with Vice Versa ( Arts and Theatre ) and the Library of Alexandria . The reading launched the project ” Women X – Expanding the narrative space for women through arts and culture .” The project consists of storytelling workshops , screenings and discussions about street art , and film. More information is available at SwedAlex website.
Seven was staged at the Library of Alexandria to an audience of approximately 240 people, consisting of men and women of different ages an from different background.
ENSEMBLE
Mahmoud Mansi, writer
Sama Sultan, world ranked swimmer
Azza Derbala, housewife
Nada Abdelwahab, director and student
Amer Soud, Syrian actor, engineer and Refugee
Abdel Samaie, student and activist students’ rights
Amina Adel , actress
Directed by Tarek Nader
About Seven on Tour in Egypt
The project is a cooperation between el Warsha, Sondos Shabayek, the Embassy of Sweden and Hedda Produktion and funded by the Swedish Institute. The project is connected to efforts on the theme “Women’s empowerment” a cooperation between the Embassy of Sweden.
El Warsha, Local Partner Organization
|
El Warsha is an independent theatre troupe, established in 1987. The company has devoted much effort to strengthening the independent sector in the Arab region. We started by ‘Egyptianizing’ Western plays with increasing freedom. Then we explored the traditional performance arts of Egypt, and created our own plays. We, later, took everyday life as a source for theatre, and also produced Egyptian masterpieces of the 20th Century. We have toured our plays locally and internationally. We are now trying to tell the story of the Egyptian Revolution, and to retell the story of Troy, emphasizing the strength and the wisdom of the conquered. El Warsha offers on-going training opportunities for young amateurs and would-be professionals, and works towards the promotion of a space for self expression, in close cooperation with local NGOs working in education and development. |
Sondos Shabayek, Project Manager
Sondos Shabayek is a theatre director, freelance writer & workshop facilitator. She’s the funder of the BuSSy Project and the Tahrir Monologues.
For more information:
Sondos Shabayek
sondos.shabayek@gmail.com