Roundtable on Women in the Performing Arts

Abstract

“Women in the Performing Arts” was the subject of a round table discussion held at the Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World in January 2007. The participants were Nidal Ashqar, a pioneer actress and director, and the first Lebanese woman to manage her own theater Masrah al-Madina; Julia Kassar, renowned Lebanese actress and acting instructor; Joelle Khoury, pianist, composer, and founder of the Jazz quintet In-Version; Yasmina Fayed, singer in the troupe Shahadeen ya Baladna and assistant producer at Future Television; Pamela Koueik, singer and university student at LAU; Dima Dabbous-Sensenig, director of the Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World, and Mona Knio, guest editor of al-Raida. Due to space constraints, the following are excerpts from the two-hour discussion.