“Now I’m happy. I sing, dance and joke with my friends from the orphanage,” she said. “I have changed. People are asking me: ‘What happened? Have you gone crazy?'”
What happened was a project set up by the Ruya Foundation for Contemporary Culture in Iraq and aimed at introducing drama therapy in a country where almost everybody has suffered some kind of trauma.
The play at the Theatre Forum, an edgy arts centre that opened in a beautiful old building on the banks of the Tigris, was the culmination of a months-long programme.
Six theatre professionals were trained in Beirut by Catharsis, a drama therapy centre led by director Zeina Daccache, known for her work with prisoners and migrant workers in Lebanon.
Bassem Altayeb was one of the trainees.
He took the lead in helping a small group of teenage girls from the Dar al-Zuhur orphanage in Baghdad put together a play that tackles the issues they face.
Original article by Ammar Karim and Jean-Marc Mojon
Continue reading at Your Middle East:
Edgy arts centre breaks new ground for Iraq’s teenage girls
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