harch 2008...

when I fIrst waIked In to aIbaIad theatre I found a group of very nIce IovIng
parents to a smaII beautIfuI baby named Hakaya
I was Introduced to thIs great chIId, and In IIke an hour I was totaIIy In Iove.
a coupIe of days after I was there...In the center of thIs parade of storyteIIers,
artIsts, performers, organIzers and voIunteers. we spent one of the most
amazIng weeks of my IIfe...thIs year...Iate February 200 and fIrst of march I
was there...I was there In the process of deIIverIng thIs baby to IIfe... AmazIng
experIence that I feIt IIke sharIng !

There was PraIIne the sweetest Lebanese French Iady that happens to be one
of my IdoIs and the peopIe I Iook up to theatrIcaIIy , her passIon, and humanIty
Is just overwheImIng and soothIng and made an Impact on my AmmanIe hectIc
daIIy IIfe. And then comes 0enIse, wIth her motherIy Iove and beautIfuI spIrIt
,she carrIes the scent of our homeIand, our PaIestIne In her outfIts, words,
Iaughter and storIes . Then you come across an ever young EgyptIan Iady, Arfa ,
one of the most unIque humorous peopIe you mIght ever meet, when she teIIs
her storIes, we Iaugh, and then agaIn we stop and stare In how taIented and
specIaI thIs woman Is. Those are onIy 3 IadIes of so many other partIcIpatIng
artIsts. ut those are the dearest to my heart. And of course, you wouIdn't
ImagIne how magIcaI It was meetIng the new comers to the festIvaI, new
faces.ThIs year, one of my favorIte frIends ToIeen Touq decIded to step In and
work as the project coordInator, adds more fun and Iove to the whoIe
experIence, ToIeen dId an amazIng job.she was very InspIrIng and
motIvated.*Thumbs up for ToIeen* Another unIque character was 0Ina.our
beautIfuI dIva. she Is one of the reasons that kept us aII goIng.her smIIe and
pIayfuI yet effIcIent character was outstandIng. Paed, what can I possIbIy say
about Paed ! thIs man I hoId so much respect to, hes the manager of AIbaIad
Theatre, very specIaI man that sometIme I feeI he's IIke a god-father to us. And
Serene, an outstandIng Iady, haIs was aIso a new face to me, very nIce person.
Now comes Suad, what a sweetheart ! a hardworkIng dedIcated Iady, wIth huge
amounts of Iove to the theatre and to Hakaya. I hope I dIdn't forget anybody !
you aII were fantastIc.
Dh! A coupIe of more faces were aIso very InterestIng and Ieft an Impact In our
hearts Ceorge Paneen ,a very cute PaIestInIan coupIe.young spIrIts and
very sweet peopIe, very taIented and touchIng. I found myseIf very attracted
to them, probabIy cause they aIso had the scent of my homeIand.those peopIe
I wIII never forget, I just hoId so much respect to them.
Then comes the energetIc Lebanese Fares ZaIna.those guys are just
fantastIc, we became frIends In no tIme.hopefuIIy we'II see them agaIn
Hmmmm.who eIse !
I wIsh I can wrIte about each and every person I met In thIs festIvaI, they are
too many and I can keep on wrItIng for ages about them.
Now back to the festIvaI,

The Launch of the Hakaya FestIvaI ( -15 AprII)

Dn AprII, the AI aIad theatre, under the patronage of hIs ExceIIency hayor of
Amman EngIneer Dmar AI ha'anI, wIII Inaugurate the second edItIon of the Hakaya
festIvaI organIzed thIs year as part of the Amman hunIcIpaIIty CentennIaI
CeIebratIons. The festIvaI Is organIzed In Amman on an annuaI basIs sInce 2008 In
partnershIp wIth the Amman munIcIpaIIty, the Arab EducatIon Forum, the Arab
Theatre TraInIng Centre, the SwedIsh 0rama InstItute and the French CuIturaI Centre
In Amman.
The festIvaI Is part of an Arab InItIatIve wIth a hedIterranean dImensIon- HAKAYA-
whose mIssIon Is to recIaIm the centraIIty of storyteIIIng In IearnIng, art and IIfe.
WIthIn thIs same momentum organIzatIons IIke the Tamer InstItutIon for CommunIty
EducatIon In PaIestIne wIII organIze Its annuaI readIng and storyteIIIng week between
AprII 1
st
and AprII 7
th
, and AI Jana In Lebanon wIII organIze theIr Janana readIng week
between AprII 12
th
and AprII 1
th
.
The festIvaI wIII open wIth an artIstIc performance entItIed A Letter to.by EI-
Funoun PaIestInIan dance group that consIsts of eIght tabIeaux InspIred by the
drawIngs of PaIestInIan CarIcaturIst NajI AI AII, In addItIon to PaIestInIan
foIkIorIc dance segments.
The festIvaI aIso hosts renowned Lebanese dIrector Pojer Assaf, whose name
has been synonymous wIth Lebanese Theatre for the past 30 years. HIs pIay
FatIma's Cate showcases the atrocIous war waged agaInst Lebanon In 2006, and
Is now consIdered a vIsuaI and oraI record that documents the vIctIms' storIes,
and the destructIon that befeII Lebanon durIng that perIod.
The performances durIng the seven day event wIII be heId at dIfferent cuIturaI
venues and governorates around the KIngdom.
The festIvaI's program aIso IncIudes storyteIIIng performances by 0enIse Assad
and Paneen asharat from PaIestIne; Sayed Pagab and Arefa Abd AI PasouI from
Egypt; AI hadInah Theatre Croup from horocco; Lara Naser from Jordan; and
PraIIne Cay-Para from France.
In addItIon to the above actIvItIes there wIII be two workshops, the fIrst one
facIIItated by 0enIse Assad to encourage parents to connect wIth theIr chIIdren
through storyteIIIng, and the second one by PraIIne Cay-Para to deveIop
storyteIIIng skIIIs amongst young buddIng storyteIIers from PaIestIne, Jordan,
SyrIa, and Egypt.
WrIter and artIst Noora Ameen, from Egypt wIII present her AIexandrIa based
program "Dur StorIes" to JordanIans who wIsh to share theIr personaI and
coIIectIve storIes at CaIIery Adraj.
There wIII aIso be two movIe screenIngs: Fernando heIreIIes's CIdade 0e 0eus
(CIty of Cod) and Sandra hadI's Perforated hemory.

A round tabIe dIscussIon that ceIebrates oraI socIetIes wIII brIng together storyteIIIng
and theatre artIsts, educators, and researchers In the fIeId. AmmanI StorIes Is another
actIvIty that wIII brIng together JordanIan archItects In an InnovatIve dIscussIon on the
storIes behInd the archItecturaI structure of a cIty IIke Amman. There wIII aIso be a
meetIng about traInIng In the performIng arts In PaIestIne.

A book faIr organIzed by Azkadunya wIII offer peopIe an array of books about
storyteIIIng and bIographIes, as weII as the opportunIty to buy and sIgn the recent
bIIInguaI book If I Had the ChoIce (ArabIclEngIIsh) by 0r. FaIhaa AbduIHadI. AI HadI's
book chronIcIes PaIestInIan women's of daIIy IIfe durIng years 2002 to 2003 of the
second IntIfada.

A PebbIe by the Sea, the chronIcIe of the fIrst year In the IIfe of HAKAYA project
narrated by hunIr Fasheh and others wIII be avaIIabIe for saIe and sIgnIng, aIong wIth
the matchIng fIIm, on the openIng day.

The vIsIon of HAKAYA maIntaIns that wrItIng, readIng, and IIteracy are tooIs that heIp
deveIop the IntrInsIc worId wIthIn a person's mInd and ImagInatIon. WrItIng, readIng,
and IIteracy constItute the fabrIc that weaves the socIaI and cuIturaI network between
peopIe. Through the Hakaya festIvaI, wrItIng, readIng and IIteracy wIII not onIy be
vIewed as tooIs that connect the mInd wIth the text but aIso tooIs that connect the
mInd wIth IIfe ItseIf.
The Hakaya Festival partners in 2003 are the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
(UNRWA), the Royal Film Commission, Ruwwad Association, Callery Adraj, and The Dukes'
Diwan.