This discussion comes after a tour of “Heavens” on 10 different radio stations and online platforms in the region, reaching 3000 listeners. Experts in the fields of law, civil activism and theatre, will discuss the various topics dealt with in the play, including the general amnesty law of 1991 and the new amnesty law currently up for legislation. 

We are happy to be hosting on the panel, Nizar Saghieh, leading lawyer, legal researcher and co-founder of the Legal Agenda, and Wadad Halawani, civil activist and head of the Committee of the Families of the Kidnapped and the Disappeared in Lebanon. They will be conversing with Zoukak members, Lamia Abi Azar, performer and drama-therapist and Junaid Sarieddeen, performer, director and dramaturge. The panel will be moderated by writer, actor and activist Hanane Hajj Ali. 

The panelists will discuss the problematics raised within the play, addressing the individual’s relationship and responsibility towards major events in history, covering questions about the relation between theatre, history and collective memory, the unwritten history of Lebanon, the case of the kidnapped and the forcibly disappeared in addition to the general amnesty law of 1991, touching on the new controversial amnesty law that is currently up for legislation in the parliament. The discussion will be followed by a Q&A session, open to the public.
 
‘’Heavens’’ was created by Zoukak Theatre Company in 2014, as a result of a two-year cycle of research around Lebanon’s history. The play is performed by a chorus of women and addresses the subject of loss, the absence and presence of individuals in relation to historical events, and what remains in the personal and collective memory/ies of citizens. The radio tour of “Heavens” was launched with a broadcast on “Sawt el Chaab” on the 13th of April 2020, marking 45 years since the start of the Lebanese civil war. The play toured throughout the months of April and May, and was broadcasted on 10 different FM and online radio stations and platforms from Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Tunisia, Turkey and Berlin, reaching more than 3000 listeners.
 
Registration process
This panel discussion is open to the public, to attend, please register by sending us an email to coordination@zoukak.org, and we will send you the Zoom Link. 
If you have not yet listened to the play and would like to participate in the discussion, the audio version will be available on Zoukak’s Soundcloud on the 9th and 10th and 11th of June.