Arab Stages
Arab Stages is devoted to broadening international awareness and understanding of the theatre and performance cultures of the Arab-Islamic world and of its diaspora.
ISSN Number: 2376-1148
Entries under this journal are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
Current Issue
Vol. 15, Spring 2024
Editor's Statement
Why document and analyze theatre practices in these terrible times? The violent and indiscriminate attacks against Palestinian civilians, following Hamas's massacre and abduction of Israeli civilians on October 7th, have left much of the world angry and disheartened, and it is hard to know how to respond in a meaningful way. Participating in marches and civil disobedience, signing petitions and forwarding them to our social networks, heeding the Ashtar Theater’s call to mount The Gaza Monologues at our respective campuses—these feel like small gestures in the face of the enormous suffering of the people of Gaza. At this moment, it is especially hard to assert the importance of documenting and analyzing the theatre of the SWANA region and its diasporas. Why take time to review a site-specific theatre festival in Bethlehem? Or publish an interview with an Egyptian theatre director? My answer for why we publish is taken from Brecht: “The man who first looked with astonishment at a swinging lantern and instead of taking it for granted found it highly remarkable that it should swing… was brought close to understanding the phenomenon by this observation, and so to mastering it.” We live in a world in which it is taken for granted that a certain percentage of the population will live lives of deprivation and daily humiliation. It is rendered natural and unavoidable when it should inspire terrified astonishment. Theatre exists to restore such astonishment as a first step to mastering a world that would otherwise render us impotent. When there are no obvious and easily implemented solutions, we need artists to imagine entirely different structures and restructure our affective networks. Arab Stages exists to draw attention to the work of such artists.
Edward Ziter
Archive
We are in the process of moving all past journal entries to the current websiite. Please bear with us as we make this transition. You can view all the past issues at https://arabstages.commons.gc.cuny.edu.
For any queries or clarifications, write to us at arabstages@gc.cuny.edu
About The Journal
Arab Stages is devoted to broadening international awareness and understanding of the theatre and performance cultures of the Arab-Islamic world and of its diaspora.
The journal does not seek to be exclusive nor to promote any nationalist or religion-based agenda. In strictly geographical and political terms, the journal will be devoted to theatre and performance material from the member states of the League of Arab States, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, but also diasporic literature from around the globe created by former residents of those states or their descendants. Moreover, both the operative adjectives Arab and Islamic should be understood here to demarcate, primarily, a general cultural area of scholarly exploration and negotiation. Investigations of material from the many non-Arab and non-Muslim communities located within the Arab/Muslim world are welcomed by the journal.
Subjects can be drawn from all areas of theatre activity as well as from performance work that lies outside the traditional European concept of theatre. The journal will welcome essays of a scholarly nature, which will be submitted to peer review, also reports on current productions, interviews, and translations of plays and theoretical statements, and reports, notices and announcements of current and future productions and festivals or other matters of potential general interest to the readership.
The journal appears twice yearly in digital form by the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center of New York and is a joint project of that Center and of the Arabic Theatre Working Group of the International Federation for Theatre Research.
Submission Guidelines
Articles, interviews, and play translations should normally fall between 4,000 and 8,000 words. Performance and book reviews should fall between 800 and 2,000 words. We are especially interested in the studies and reviews of recent or contemporary work.
Proposals or articles may be submitted to our editors at arabstages@gc.cuny.edu.
Please include the author’s full name, institutional affiliation (if relevant), telephone number, and Email address. Contributors are also asked to include a) a short biographical note (no longer than 250 words); b) relevant images for publication c) a document detailing each image’s caption and credit.
Resources
This section is under construction. For suggestions and contributions, kindly email arabstages@gc.cuny.edu
Open Calls
More information coming here soon.
Events / Festivals
Bankstown, Australia - Arab Theatre Studio (http://urbantheatre.com.au/current-projects/arabic-theatre-studio/) Al Ain, UAE - Arabian Shakespeare Festival (http://www.arabianshakespearefestival.org/About_ASF.html) Liverpool, UK - Liverpool Arab Arts Festival (http://www.arabartsfestival.com/) Cairo, Egypt - The Egyptian National Theatre Festival (http://www.cairoopera.org/) Baghdad, Iraq - Hawler International Theater Festival (https://hawlerinternationaltheaterfestival.wordpress.com/)
Grants
More information coming here soon.
Research
The International Federation for Theatre Research (http://www.firt-iftr.org/) International Centre for Theatre Research (https://rickontheater.blogspot.com/2011/08/peter-brooks-international-centre-of.html)
Communities
Brussels, Belgium - Young Arab Theatre Fund (http://www.annalindhfoundation.org/members/young-arab-theatre-fund) Chicago, Illinois USA - Silk Road Rising (http://www.silkroadrising.org/) New York, New York USA - Noor Theatre (http://noortheatre.org/) USA - Middle East American Initiative (http://www.larktheatre.org/who-we-are/programs/fellowships-and-residencies/middle-east-american-initiative/) San Francisco, California USA - Golden Thread Productions (http://www.goldenthread.org/) Beirut, Lebanon- Ashkal Alwan (http://ashkalalwan.org/) Beirut, Lebanon - Maqamat Dance Theatre (http://www.maqamat.org/) Algeria - Companie El Ajouad (http://www.elajouad.com/fr/accueil) United Kingdom - MENA Arts UK (https://www.menaarts.uk/)
Films
Arab Film Festival Australia (http://arabfilmfestival.com.au/) Aan Korb: BBC Arabic Film and Documentary Festival (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26518011)
Publishing
Journal: Performing Islam (https://www.intellectbooks.com/performing-islam) Issued by Intellect Press UK in both print & digital Magazine: Brown Book (http://brownbook.me/) Published in Dubai
Teaching Opportunities
More information coming here soon.
People
Founding Editor
Marvin Carlson
Founders
Marvin Carlson
Frank Hentschker
Editor
Edward Ziter
Performance Reviews Editor
Katherine Hennessey
Book Reviews Editor
George Potter
Managing Editors
Christopher Harder
Alison Pascale
Martin E. Segal Theatre Center
Marvin Carlson
Director of Publications
Frank Hentschker
Executive Director
Advisory Board
Hadia Abd el-Fallah Ahmed
Khalid Amin
Dalia Basiouny
Areeg Ibrahim
Michael Malek Najjar
Sonali Pahwa
Babak Rahimi
Nada Saab
Samer al-Saber
Mohammed Jafar Yousefian