Macarona Playback Theatre to perform at Mahatat Collective

CAIRO – 25 February 2018: The Macarona Playback Theatre will be performing at the Mahatat For Contemporary Art Monday.

The group was formed over a period of six months of intensive training by the Dawar Center of Arts, with the aim of establishing more Egyptians skilled in the field of playback theatre. Playback theatre is a unique form of spontaneous theatre used in over 40 countries; it involves increased participation and collaboration from the audience, where they share real stories about their lives. Then, the actors on stage will adapt these stories into improvised performances that honor the lives of the audience members.

The first playback theatre was founded in 1975 by Jonathan Fox and Jo Salas, north of New York City.

Macarona is comprised of eight actors from a wide variety of backgrounds, ranging from engineering, professional enterprise, international humanitarian organizations, education, acting, energy healing and psychological mentoring. This wide range of experiences help enrich the purpose of what playback theatre is all about; bringing the community together through theatre and aiming to provide safe spaces where the love of acting can flourish.

Mahatat For Contemporary Art was founded in 2011, and is a Cairo-based center for social and artistic interactions. Primarily focused on contemporary art, Mahatat aims at bringing social transformation and change by creating new opportunities for people to become interested in art, while also offering support for artists to express themselves and hone their skills.

They specialize in public performances, artistic workshops, community art events, art tailored for educational purposes, research and more. Seeing an issue with the separation of Egypt's art world and its common populace, Mahatat's goal is to break down these barriers and prove that art should be accessible to all.