BAGHDAD: Haneen, who has spent most of her life in orphanages, says she used to stay weeks locked up in herself, aimlessly eating, watching TV and sleeping through each day.

Last week, the 13-year-old Iraqi girl was beaming with joy and excitement when the crowd at a Baghdad theater gave her and her friends a rousing round of applause.

“Now I’m happy. I sing, dance and joke with my friends from the orphanage,” she said. “I have changed. People are asking me: ‘What happened? Have you gone crazy?.’“

What happened was a project set up by the Ruya Foundation for Contemporary Culture in Iraq and aimed at introducing drama therapy in a country where almost everybody has suffered some kind of trauma.

The play at the Theatre Forum, an edgy arts center that opened in a beautiful old building on the banks of the Tigris, was the culmination of a months-long program.

Six theater professionals were trained in Beirut by Catharsis, a drama therapy center led by director Zeina Daccache, known for her work with prisoners and migrant workers in Lebanon.

Bassem Altayeb was one of the trainees.

He took the lead in helping a small group of teenage girls from the Dar Al-Zuhur orphanage in Baghdad put together a play that tackles the issues they face.