The festival organized a competition among university theater groups as well as meetings and workshops with artists and theater experts. On the sidelines of the festival, it also brought theater critics and artists together to talk about Arab theater.
Dr. Abdullah bin Hatab, director of student’s clubs at KAU, said university theater is characterized by different schools of theater.
“Our theater artists are very talented. They participated in a number of local Arab and international festivals and won a number of prizes. Last year they won a best actor award at a Moroccan theater festival,” said Hatab.
Hatab thanked Dr. Osama Tayeb, KAU president, for his continued support and exceptional care for Saudi theater.
“Under the supervision of Dr. Abdullah Maharjee, our theater carried out excellent work and won a lot of prizes on national and international levels. Even today we are participating in this festival for the seventh year in a row,” said Dr. Hatab.
KAU participated with the play “Doves Strumming” written by Yasser Madkhly, directed by Ahmed Al-Saman, and starring Muthanna Muammar and Abdullah Johar. Mustafa Fadhil was the play’s manager, Abdullah Al-Ghamdi handled sound and Khalid Matrafi worked on the lighting.
The play revolves around two characters, one who is unstable and weak and the other one who is weak in appearance but possesses an exceptionally strong character.
The set design depicted ruins in wartime, as the writer was focusing on the happenings of the Arab world. The writer said he was trying to convey a depth of emotion and portray his observations based on his surroundings.
The university’s delegation to Morocco was led by Dr. Abdul Aziz Bashammakh, Dr. Marwan Kamash and Ahmad Zogby, director general of student affairs.
