The fourth edition of the Gilder/Coigney International Theatre Awards has awarded first place for Hanane Hajj Ali for her award-winning one-woman show Jogging.” Zoukak’s Maya Zbib is also one of the finalists.
Presented triennially to a nominated theater woman whose art tackles controversial or impactful topics in her home country and abroad, the normally in-person award ceremony will now be held virtually on Feb. 16, accompanied by a week of webinars.
“I was very surprised to get nominated. When I went to look into it, I didn’t expect to go further than that, but I went into the finals and was then awarded the top prize,” Hajj Ali told The Daily Star. “I was supposed to go to New York to receive the prize and present my play, give a workshop and network with other theater professionals, but unfortunately because of COVID-19 we had to change plans.”
Throughout Hajj Ali’s 40-year career, she has written, performed and directed many Arabic-language productions. Her artistic career started as a founding member of Hakawati/Storytellers Theater in 1978, followed by the co-founding of the SHAMS Association in 1999, which brings together young artists from different backgrounds.
The partly autobiographical “Jogging,” a taboo-breaking solo performance tackling religion, sex, and politics, has toured the MENA region and Europe since 2016, including a notable staging at the 2017 Edinburgh International Festival.
The Gilder/Coigney award is accompanied by a commission. “They’ve [requested] a short film from me about my relationship with the theater and my hobby of jogging, which is what my play was inspired by, as well as the story of Medea and some local true tragedies,” Hajj Ali said. “I look at the story of a woman in Bhersaf, [Metn], who poisoned herself and her three girls with fruit salad and rat poison, and another story about a women called Zahra in the south, whose two children died fighting in the 2006 War. Her third died in Syria.
“I combine all these ideas together because Medea is a role I’ve fantasized to play but never dared to,” she added. “I once had a dream about killing my own son, who was suffering with cancer at the time, and it reminded me of Medea’s story of killing out of love.”
Among the three finalists, Zbib will take part in two of the online talks on Feb. 18 and 19, which will discuss creating art in various social contexts and Zbib’s role in Lebanon’s theater scene.
“It’s about how we navigate the social and political climate we live in, through art and the role of theater in breaking the walls of sectarian culture and transcending differences,” Zbib told The Daily Star. “I’m doing another panel with all the finalists about making art in unusual circumstances ... about the different women who have forged their own language and practice in these contexts.
“It’s very interesting and for me the exciting part was getting to know them through the discussions but also get an insight into their work and kind of theater that’s being made around the world.”
The future of Zoukak Studios is still in the works since the explosion gutted their Karantina space. They hope to reopen by the end of this year, but the location is under debate.
“I’m not sure if in the future we will go back or find another space but Zoukak Studios will come back,” Zbib said. “We’ve fixed the current studio enough to do some activities but it’s not a fully working studio, so we’re still deciding where to go from here.
“We’ve had some funding from the Goethe Institute, the Prince Claus Fund,” she added, “and even from a fundraiser in Germany, from a theater I once worked with, who raised money from ticket sales for us.”
Registration for the online talks and ceremony is free at: eventbrite.com/o/league-of-professional-theatre-women-32300412167
This article has been adapted from its original source.
