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Have you ever wondered how your written script could be transformed into a theatrical production? If so, bring your script and join us for this workshop! Designed to guide you through the creative process, this workshop will walk you through the making of Hamour Doesn’t Leave the Cubicle (هامور لا يغادر المكتب), a theater production premiering at The Arts Center this October.
Participants will gain hands-on insights into the multifaceted creative process of theater production, receiving guidance from experienced theater-makers. Teaching this workshop are the collaborators of the piece: Hamour Doesn’t Leave the Cubicle’s playwright, director, producer, sound designer, and lighting designer.
Each team member will share their expertise and share a prompt for you to further develop your own idea. By the end of the workshop, you’ll walk away with a series of drafts and concepts, ready to take the next step in bringing your vision to life and help you lay the groundwork for your piece.
Biographies
Reem Almenhali (Director)
Reem is an Emirati performance artist and a theater practitioner. Reem received a B.A in Theater with a minor in Psychology from New York University Abu Dhabi. Reem co-created Amulets of Palm with her collaborator Maitha Al-Suwaidi and showed it in Alserkal Avenue as part of their More Than Human festival. The performance used poetic and visual forms of fiction to capture the palm as a mystical soul, an abundant ground, and an entity. The performance later developed into a short film that was screened in Basel, Switzerland as part of the public programming of Art Basel. For Deliberately and in Cash, Reem wrote and directed the performance lecture on the history of the practice of collecting Diya money in the Gulf. Reem also wrote Al Raheel | Departure, and co-created the performance in collaboration with the director Joanna Settle. The performance is a bilingual contemporary theater piece that explores how the rapidly evolving life in the UAE and its bilingual reality are experienced by women of different generations. Al Raheel was produced by The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi and was co-commissioned by Cultural Foundation in 2019, and received official support of the US Mission to the UAE in 2022. Reem won the 2020 Gulf Capital ADMAF Creativity Award for writing Al Raheel.
Ahmed Almadloum (Playwright)
Ahmed is a diversely skilled writer and journalist. Ahmed seamlessly blends his satirical commentary with his passion for technological innovation in his creative works, and literature. His substantial knowledge in technology, acquired through both formal education and self-directed learning, informs his approach to reimagining the art of writing.
Spencer Hogg (Sound designer)
Spencer is a multidisciplinary Artist with an established practice in Sculpture, Installation, Photography, Moving Image, Sound, and Performance. Spencer holds an MA in Fine Art (Distinction (D-PG)) from Falmouth University in the United Kingdom. As a global citizen who has resided outside his country of origin for the last 25 years, Spencer's practice explores the complexities of place, movement, and belonging. As someone who exists in a temporary and transient state, what does it mean to be in outer space within a place? Spencer's creative outcomes have been exhibited at Art Institutions and Festivals globally including at Sharjah Art Foundation, Lulea International Film Festival - Sweden, Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, The Whirled Cinema - London, Ras Al Khaimah Fine Arts Festival, Tashkeel - Dubai and Sikka Art and Design Festival -Dubai. Spencer was an Artist in Residence at the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation in 2022/23 and a participant in the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Visiting Artist Programme from 2022/24 with Artist Kabir Mohanty.
Aida Allowch (Producer)
Aida Allowch holds a Bachelor's degree in Production Arts from Sharjah Performing Arts Academy and a training certificate in Stage Management from Dubai Opera. She has worked on internationally acclaimed shows such as The Lion King the Musical, Shrek the Musical, Mamma Mia the Musical, Urinetown the Musical, and Nimrod, written by His Highness Shaikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasmi. Additionally, she has experience as a trainer in Production and Stage Management in both Arabic and English.
Carlos Páez (Lighting Designer)
Carlos is a multidisciplinary theater artist and game designer. His work focuses on creating new realities where audience-participants explore new ways of being themselves and interacting with other humans and non-humans. Carlos has been involved in theater since the age of 13, performing in public venues with community groups in Venezuela and Abu Dhabi. Some of his recent works are After the Mountain Wildfires, a participatory live performance with a game-like structure presented at Dubai Expo 2020, and Dinos Rock, an immersive and interactive play for children. Carlos holds a BA in Theater from NYU Abu Dhabi and is currently an artist fellow in the Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Emerging Artists Fellowship.