The First Baghdad International Theater Festival

Qasim Zaidan

Iraqi National Theater

Sada Journal
Thu, Nov 21, 2013

by Angela Boskovitch

The first Baghdad International Theater Festival was held last month at the city’s recently renovated National Theater. Iraqi performances were shown alongside plays from Europe and the Middle East and North Africa, signaling the welcoming of cultural expansion in Baghdad.

Qasim Zaidan, the festival’s secretary, said the event is about “welcoming the world to Baghdad and opening its stage to something beautiful.” The festival was one of the few international events in Iraq aimed at breaking the city’s cultural isolation, and it brought guests from across the Middle East and North Africa, as well as a smaller number from Europe and the Iraqi diaspora.

To read more about the festival and performances, click here.


To read the full piece from Sada Journal, click here.