Cairo-based playwright and director Dalia Basiouny and actors Maison Abo El Naga and Helal Ibrahim are now in Addis Abeba to perform the play Solitaire the Crossing Boundaries Festival (September 24-27, 2015).
An accomplished theatre practitioner, Dalia Basiouny has been directing for the stage since 1993. She has dedicated her career to fostering theatre work by women about women. She is the founder of Sabeel Group for the Arts, a theatre company that she founded in 1997 to present women’s work and to investigate presenting theatre in alternative spaces. Committed to the idea of art as a vehicle for activism, she is considered a leading figure in Egypt’s “Free Theatre” movement.
Dalia Basiouny’s Solitaire is solo multi-media performance about an Egyptian woman living in New York during the 9/11 attacks and being forced to face big questions regarding her identity and alliances. Her spiritual and political awareness grows throughout the performance and it culminates in her joining the masses to topple the regime in the Egyptian revolution of 2011. Dalia Basiouny looks forward to presenting her play to fellow African artists, to the dialogues it may generate, and to creating deeper cross-continental ties at the festival.
AMA wishes Dalia, Maison and Helal a wonderful stay in Addis Abeba and a fruitful time at the festival!
