Omar Abusaada
Omar Abusaada studied at the Drama School of Damascus, his hometown. Spurred on by his professors, who were then developing new methods based on international creation, he built his own vision of a politically- and socially-conscious theatre. Working as a playwright and director, he co-founded in 2002 the group Studio Theatre, whose first show, Insomnia, premiered in 2004. He then directed El affich (2006), Forgiveness—based on improvisations with a group of inmates from a youth detention centre—Almirwad wa almikhala (2009), Look at the streets ... this is what hope look like (2011), Could You Please Look into the Camera? (2012), Intimacy and Syria Trojan women (2013), Antigone of Shatila (2014). He spent years travelling the remotest regions of Syria, Egypt, and Yemen, performing on marketplaces shows that were so many pretexts to talk with the villagers, who sometimes joined the actors onstage. Since then, he has created shows that bring together the Syrian dramatic tradition and new practices, like contemporary writing or documentary theatre.
