Kesher Talk

Rock the Casbah. Remember that Baghdad used to be a cosmopolitan secular city with a thriving arts scene - before the Ba'athists took over.

An Iraqi theater group staged the country's first independent postwar production Sunday in Baghdad's looted, soot-stained Al Rashid theater — formerly a state-run institution in which only works sanctioned by the government of Saddam Hussein could be performed.

. . . . The theater company calls itself "Najeen," which means "Survivors." It has performed underground for years, staging plays in private homes or in public locales advertised only by discreet word of mouth. The 10-member cast in this production included some professional actors, but also poets, musicians and dancers affiliated with the group.

posted by Judith @ 5/08/2003 04:14:47 PM