ICTJ is pleased to announce a special site-specific theater performance in Beirut to mark the 39th anniversary of the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War.
On May 3 and 4, 2014, the American University of Beirut (AUB) will present Watch Your Step: Beirut Heritage Walking Tour, in Khandaq Al Ghamiq, near the center of Beirut.
In the play, Khandaq Al Ghamiq— a living history of the war—becomes a silent character in a story that combines architecture, love, and war.
The promenade performance was conceived and directed by Sahar Assaf, a Lebanese actress,director and Lecturer in Theatre at AUB, and her students in the Fine Arts and Art History course “Workshop in Theater Production.” It was written by Robert Myers, a playwright and Professor of English and Creative Writing at AUB.
Watch Your Step was devised from ICTJ’s mapping report “Lebanon’s Legacy of Political Violence” and oral history film “Badna Naaref” (We Want To Know), and the active participation of Lebanese individuals who generously shared their memories and stories of the war.
AUB and ICTJ both recognize the urgent need to engage all of Lebanese society in the process of recuperating memories and revealing the truth about the country’s history of violence. The play aims to serve as a poignant reminder—for both performers and the audience—of the importance of remembering and confronting the past in the larger effort to achieve sustainable peace and embark upon an effective reconciliation process.
Another significant aim of this performance is to dramatize the necessity and usefulness of civic action in the absence of any official measures to remember the nation’s civil war.
Tickets for the play are sold out; Please contact watchyourstep2014@gmail.com for more information
