Duygu Çelik is an assistant professor at the department of Dramatic Writing, Fine Arts Faculty in Munzur University (Tunceli, TURKEY). Duygu received her bachelor’s degree in Mathematics. Her master’s thesis is the first academic study that has dealt with Modern Improvisational Theatre in Turkey. Her PhD degree was defendeed by her dissertation entitled The Dengbêjî Tradition and Its Effects on Kurdish Theatre in Turkey. For her dissertation she undertook a five year field study and collected audio and video archives about dengbêjs and Kurdish theatre. It’s the first dissertation which focuses on Kurdish Theatre in Turkey. She specializes in narrative tradition (especially dengbêjî), traditional theatre and Kurdish Theatre. She has taught lessons about dramaturgy and theatre history in different universities in İstanbul, Turkey. Her play criticisms and book reviews have been printed in journals and newspapers. She has worked as a dramaturg and director with different amateur and professional theatre groups.

Eylem Ejder is a PhD candidate in the Department of Theatre at Ankara University, Turkey. She is a theatre critic and researcher based in Istanbul, co-editor of the theatre magazine Oyun (Play) and co-founder of Feminist Çaba (Feminist Endeavor), a collaborative criticism and writing group between four women critics. She studied as a guest researcher at the Center for Ibsen Studies at Oslo University in 2017. She participated in Mellon School of Theatre and Performance Research at Harvard University, 2018 session “Public Humanities”. Her essays appeared in European Stages, Critical Stages, Platform, Arab Stages, Monograph, Artism, and in numerous Turkish theatre journals and magazines. Her PhD studies are being supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) within the National PhD Fellowship Programme. She is currently writing her thesis on post-2000s Turkish theatre. For more information about her work: https://ankara.academia.edu/EylemEjder

Dr. Hadeel Abdelhameed is an honorary academic staff member in theatre and drama studies at the department of English and Creative Arts/ La Trobe University, with a work focus on gender and theatre of war, more specifically in Iraqi theatre. More broadly, her research interests center the cultural-political clash under totalitarian regimes and the role of theatre in shaping the public awareness of political and gender issues. Dr. Abdelhameed’s publications ask timely questions in the era of #MeToo. Her work has been published in Intellect, Arab Stage, MDPI Humanities and Australian Institute of International Relations. Dr. Abdelhameed holds a PhD from La Trobe University, a post-graduate Diploma of Education from RMIT University and a M.A. from Baghdad University.

Iman Aoun is an actor, director and dramaturg. She has an extensive record on stage, on screen, and behind the scenes. She was a member of the world-renowned El-Hakawati theatre, from Jerusalem, in the 1980s. In 1991, Iman co-founded ASHTAR for Theatre Productions and Training in Jerusalem, and has been instrumental in directing and devising several productions for the company. An internationally recognized theatre trainer who specializes in the Theatre of the Oppressed techniques, Iman is also initiator of the project 100 artists for Palestine in 2003. Ms. Aoun produced and performed in ASHTAR Theatre’s Richard II that toured to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre as part of the Globe to Globe Festival in 2012. She was also the initiator of the international call "The Syrian Monologues" based on the stories of Syrian Refugees 2015-2016. She has been coordinating the One Billion Rising in Palestine between 2014 – 2016, a global call to end violence against women and girls initiated by V-Day. She continues to lead ASHTAR Theatre and works regularly in difficult social and political contexts. She is a board member of The Palestinian Performing Arts Network and other Palestinian Art Organizations. To learn more about ASHTAR Theatre, visit www.ashtar-theatre.org; www.gazamonologues.com; https://www.facebook.com/iman.aoun.18

Kareem Fahmy is a Canadian-born playwright and director of Egyptian descent. His plays, which include A Distinct Society, The Triumphant, Pareidolia, The In-Between, and an adaptation of the acclaimed Egyptian novel The Yacoubian Building, have been developed at theatres across the country. Fellowships/Residencies: Sundance Theatre Lab, Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Phil Killian Directing Fellow), Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center (National Directors Fellow), Second Stage (Van Lier Directing Fellow), Soho Rep (Writer/Director Lab), Lincoln Center (Directors Lab), New York Theater Workshop (Emerging Artist Fellow & Usual Suspect). Kareem has directed new work at MCC, The New Group, The Atlantic, Ensemble Studio Theatre, New Dramatists, The Civilians, Geva Theatre, Pioneer Theatre, Silk Road Rising, Berkeley Rep, and many others. Kareem is the co-founder of the Middle Eastern American Writers Lab at The Lark and of Maia Directors, a consulting group for organizations and artists engaging with stories from the Middle East and beyond. MFA: Columbia University. www.KareemFahmy.com

Khalid Al-Rowaie is a theater and film director, playwright, screenwriter, arts manager, actor, cultural activist and set designer. Al-Rowaie’s theatre productions stray away from traditional theatre design; he relies on redesigning the space to suit the nature of his performances. His directorial works always include his own set designs; integrating several elements (body, lighting, and video projection) into his design. Al-Rowaie has directed and produced over 30 theatre, music and dance productions since 1993, along with publishing many books and acts as a Jury member for different theatre & cinema festivals.

Lina Attel is/has been the Founder and General Director of the National Centre for Culture and Arts (NCCA) of King Hussein Foundation since 1987. Lina is recognized for her pioneering role in introducing drama into mainstream education and for the enhancement of the performing arts movement in Jordan; establishing the first professional National Interactive Theatre Troupe (NITT) in 1989 and the Theatre Arts School in cooperation with the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts, Washington DC. As a theatre practitioner she has conceived and directed several musicals and interactive plays on social issues, and published multiple research papers on the role of theatre in shaping opinion and impacting social change. Her theatre work has contributed to national and regional initiatives and campaigns related to the empowerment of women and gender equality. Lina has served as a member of the Advisory Committee of Experts for the UNESCO World Report on Cultural Diversity 2008, and was a member of the Greater Amman Municipality City Council where she initiated the Arts For All Program in public parks and libraries in Amman in 2010.

Maher Sinno (he/they) is a graduate of the University of Toronto with a double major in Theatre & Conflict Resolution and a minor in Psychology. Since graduation, Maher has worked with organizations such as Theatre Passe Muraille, Buddies in Bad Times, & Cahoots Theatre. He has also performed with companies across Canada; namely, Fifi/Zidan in The Green Line (Edmonton Fringe Festival), Ali in Tales of a City By The Sea (Theatre Passe Muraille/Tkaronto), & Abe in 76 Centimeters (St John‘s Short Plays Festival). Currently, Maher is writing a play titled Mhajjir. Maher’s work centers decolonization and equity with a focus on developing sustainable equity practices in theatre for marginalized groups such as folks from the SWANA region, racialized individuals, & queer folks. Maher wishes to continue such practice through his research for The Digital Guide to the Theatre of the Middle East.

Masrah Ensemble (Contributor) is a nonprofit theatre company and organization that makes, develops, and fosters research and criticism of theatre with a focus on the Arab stage. Their work has been supported by the Prince Claus Fund, Hivos, Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, Violet Jabara Charitable Trust, Ettijahat – Independent Culture, Theatre Communications Group, Young Arab Theatre Fund, and Culture Resource. Masrah: Theatre Texts is a digital platform that publishes international plays authored in and translated to Arabic. Launched in 2019, It aims to propose a new way of reading plays in the age of digital and computational technology. https://masrahensemble.org/

Melory Mirashrafi is a first-generation Iranian-American dramaturg, actor, and director from Oregon. Melory was the 2019-2020 Literary Apprentice at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, a 2019 Young Conservatory Intern with the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, and has appeared as a guest artist or lecturer across Oregon and Massachusetts, including Southern Oregon University, Opera Theatre Oregon, Aquilon Music Festival, Speakeasy Stage, Harvard University and more. Melory’s work focuses on new play development, dramaturgy, and archival of plays by contemporary SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African) and Muslim playwrights, and her writing has appeared in Howlround Theatre Commons, Oregon ArtsWatch, Public Books, at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education’s 2019 and 2020 national conferences, and upcoming in the Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays and The Next Act: Approaches to the Theatrical Canon.

Niloofar Mohtadi is an Iranian journalist, translator and has an MA in Dramatic Literature from the Faculty of Art and Architecture at the Islamic Azad University Central Branch in Tehran. She has worked on the arts sections of various newspapers, websites and journals for over eight years, and currently works as a freelance translator for Trend News Agency and UNICEF. Her scholarly work includes an academic essay published in Tehran University Honar Haye Ziba (Fine Arts) Journal in 2016. Her paper was accepted to the Shakespearean Communities conference at the University of Portsmouth in the UK, in 2016. Her other work in theater includes collaboration with Papion Theatre Group, and public relations for the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in Tehran that was hosted by the Tamashagan Institute of Performing Arts. She has also held a solo photography exhibition in 2012.

Nora Amin is a writer, performer, choreographer, theatre director and educator. Fellow of the centre for theatre of the oppressed (Brazil, 2003), S. Fischer guest professor for comparative literature (FU/Berlin 2004-2005), guest lecturer/Ford associate (acting) at Mount Holyoke College (USA, 2005), founder of The National Egyptian Project for Theatre of the Oppressed and its Arab network, fellow of the Academy of the Arts of the World (Cologne, 2015), fellow of the International Research Centre for Interweaving Performance Cultures (FU, 2015-2016), Valeska-Gert guest professor for dance sciences (FU, 2018), Mentor/expert at PAP (Performing Arts Program/Berlin) and Flausen program.

Sawsan Darwaza is an award winning theater and film director, producer, and writer. Sawsan has written and directed 6 of her 18 plays. She has also written and directed several TV series, films, portraits, and short youth programs. Darwaza chooses to evolve her work organically as she explores new spaces on the stage and the screen. She started her filmmaking career when she introduced audiovisual media in her theater work. The intermingling between film and theater offers her audiences new experiences, enabling her to venture into new ways of action and interaction, moving both mind and soul. Darwaza is the co-founder and the director of Ma3mal 612 – Think Factory and the Karama Human Rights Film Festival and the owner of Mir’at Media Productions.

Sahar Assaf is a theatre-maker based in Beirut. She is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at the American University of Beirut, where she recently co-established the AUB Theatre Initiative. She has been active in the Lebanese theatre scene since 2003. Her recent credits as a director include: Garcia-Lorca’s Blood Wedding as a site-specific promenade performance, Shakespeare’s King Lear, Meen El Felten, a documentary play on rape and sexual assault in Lebanon as part of Abaad Mena campaign of 2018 and No Demand No Supply, a documentary play about sex trafficking in Lebanon in collaboration with Kafa NGO and Ab: Beit Byout (an adaptation of Tracy Letts’ August Osage County). Sahar is a member of Lincoln Center Director’s Lab in NYC (2014), a member of Directors Lab North in Toronto (2017), co-founder and artistic director of Directors Lab Mediterranean (2019) and a Fulbright alumnus with an MA in Theatre Studies from Central Washington University (2011).

Stav Palti Negev (Israel) is an Israeli writer and playwright. Her play “Salim Salim,” received the Best Play award at the 2014 Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre and ran for two years at Tmuna Theater in Tel-Aviv, 2015 – 2017. In 2021 it won The Woodward International Playwriting Prize and it will receive its English language premiere as part of the UNH Theatre and Dance’s 2021/22 season. Her play “Elsewhere: a play for an audience of one” premiered at the Acco Festival in October 2016, in 2018 Stav developed a virtual reality (VR) adaption of the play in collaboration with The Public Theater, and in 2019 it received a second adaption as an audio play. Stav’s work has been developed in the United States through Atlantic Theater Company, The Public Theater, MacDowell, The Lark, The Flea Theater, New York Live Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, The Orchard Project, and The 14th Street Y, among others. Her plays have received productions with the Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre, Tmuna Theater (Tel-Aviv), and Nazareth Theater. Stav is a 2017 alumna of The Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group, a 2015/2017 HaPais Council for the Arts Artist award recipient, a 2016/2019 Asylum Arts development award recipient, and a member of the Middle Eastern American Writers Lab at The Lark in New York City. She is currently working on a script for a new Polish-Israeli film co-production and on a new play about her personal immigration story. Stav holds an M.A. in Performance Studies from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and a B.A. in Theater Studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.