From maternal ancestors to daughters, the stories of women go on

CAIRO – 22 October 2017: The Falaki Theater and Gallery at the American University of Cairo (AUC) hosted on Friday a gender-themed performance titled “The Mother Line Story”. The performance is directed by guest directors Eliza Simpson and Amanda Lederer from America and Dalia Basiouny from Egypt. Two years ago “The Mother Line Story” started in the U.S. as a storytelling performance by women, about women, for everyone.

This is the first time “The Mother Line Story” is performed internationally as part of “The Show Goes On” project launched in Egypt on March 8th to mark the International Women’s Day. A project sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Egypt that includes series of performances taking place from October 13 to October 22 to amplify the voices of Egyptian women and to create a safe space for women to express their vision for their own lives.

“The Show Goes On” project reflects the power of the Egyptian-American partnership “The Embassy has a number of directions for the work we are doing to engage women in Egyptian society from political participation to economic empowerment. We believe that an Egyptian society that is strongly represented by its women is a stronger Egyptian society,” said the U.S. Embassy’s Cultural Attachée in Egypt, Ruth Anne Stevens-Klitz to Egypt Today.

Egypt Today was present at the opening performance and the flowing reception. To learn more about the background and anticipated effect of such programs on trigging the curiosity of the general community on gender issues, we met the team behind the project.



All presented Mother Line stories were written and performed by 12 Egyptian women aging 14-65 years old. These girls and women bring the stories of their maternal ancestors to life on stage and highlight how they shaped their own experiences as children, teenagers and grownups.

In addition to “The Mother Line Story”, the project features two other performances produced by Egyptian women; “Untangled” by Sally Zohney and “45” by Nada Sabet that reflect on women issues and struggles in Egypt.
For more information on “The Show Goes On” project please visit

@motherlinestoryproject