Partner
AL NOOR Foundation for Culture and Media, Iraq
Ala'a Hussein graduated in 2005 as an actress at the College of Fine Arts, Baghdad University, Department Theater. She is a member of the National Theater Ensemble and cooperated additionally with many art production companies in the private sector. She awarded around 14 prizes as the best actress from several festivals in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Tunesia. During the last 16 years she participated in 28 TV-series, 12 plays, 5 children theater plays, 19 radio series and 8 educational TV-programs.
Supported by
U.S. Embassy Baghdad
Theater & Cinema Department
Ministry of Culture, Republic of Iraq
Saad Mohsen hold a Bachelor degree from the College of Fine Arts at Baghdad University. He is a member of the Iraqi Theatre Syndicate and is currently employed at the National Theater Ensemble. He acted in different theatre performances inside of Iraq as well as abroad and represented Iraq in several international festivals. He is addtionally well known in TV series. He is considered to be one of the eminent Iraqi actors of today.
Press Review
AL Hurra TV, Baghdad:
INTERVIEW - Theaterperformance
German-Iraqi co-production
with Alaa Hussein and Saad Mohsen
directed by Akram Assam
Text: Alaa Hussein
Choreography: Modjgan Hashemian (Germany)
Video: Haider Joma
Light Design: Mohamed Rahim
Stage Manager: Hussein Jassem
Critisising the impact of traditions and cultural practices that a society holds against women, 'Interview' is a play that crystallises the ongoing controversy concerning the everyday status of Iraqi women.
Using elements of melodrama, interviews, dialogue and dance, the performer Alaa Hussein along with Saad Mohsen manage to deal with delicate details of a woman's daily life that are imposed by society trends and traditions, pushing women to dark corners of unlimited censored issues that force them to struggle in order to realise their human traits.
Based on the original book "Eyes of Inana - Anthology of Iraqi Female Contemporary Writers", the play dives deep into those corners and fills the stage with images that deserve reconsideration.
The dancer and choreographer Modjgan Hashemian lives and works in Berlin. She graduated at the Ernst Busch Academy for Dramatic Art and her Persian roots are an essential component in her artistic work. The Persian background is one reason, why she was curated for this performance. In her dance stories she deals with language, movement, themes and scenes of the daily life and take the audience on a journey through the everyday life of different cultures.
April 22, 2016
in Theater an der Ruhr, Mühlheim, Germany
June 25 and 26, 2015
in TAK Theater Aufbau Kreuzberg,
Berlin, Germany
December 6, 2014
in Hali Roschinbiri, Suleymaniya, Iraq
October 20 and 21, 2014
in National Theater, Baghdad, Iraq
Performances
Akram Assam graduated as an actor and director at the College of Fine Arts at Baghdad University in 2010. He worked as an actor in "Snow" directed by Samim Hasab Allah as well as in "Worried" and "Scream", both directed by Duraid Abd Al Wahab. In 2011 he directed the play "House of Houses". In 2012 his theaterplay "Plato" was presented on the occasion of the "15.th Young Experimental Theater Forum, Muntada Al Masrah" Baghdad. In 2013 he directed the play "4Black", written by Saleh Mansi. With "4 Black" he awarded the prize as the best director at the "16.th Young Experimental Theater Forum". He is currently employed in the Iraqi National Theater.
Alaa Hussein addresses a lot of sensitive topics and speaks up through the heart of the Iraqi audience. The dancing parts underline the struggle of a woman with the self, the shadow, the scarf and the freedom.
The play is concepted as a televised interview. The performer Alaa Hussein and Saad Mohsen are giving an interview in front of a live camera. They are talking about their lovestory. She is a dancer and he is a sculpture. One day he fades out of her life. He joins a certain organisation. She gets executed by members of this organisation. Holding her head on her laps, she scrutinized the ideology of this organisation debating with him on several traditions in the society.