2B continued festival brings drama and dance to Falaki Theatre

Four theatre and contemporary dance performances produced by young Egyptian directors and choreographers will be presented back to back on three nights, 16, 18 and 19 January at the Falaki Theatre in downtown Cairo as part of Studio Emad Eddin's 2B Continued festival. The festival includes two dance pieces: 'A Room Filled with Smoke' choreographed by Mounir Said and 'What's Left…' by Mohamed El-Deeb, and two theatre performances: 'Mirror,' directed by Yasmine Emam Beshir, and 'Triangles are My Favourite Shapes,' by Seif Abdel-Salaam. "The festival’s main goal is to heighten creativity within the performance arts field and encourage up and coming artists to push their boundaries," according to festival organisers. Described as a "theatre laboratory," 2B Continued helps aspiring directors and choreographers in the conception and production of a new piece of work. "The companies selected for participation are mentored by an established theatre director and/or a choreographer, as well as a professional lighting designer, set designer, and production manager," the organisers said. "These mentors supervise and support the companies throughout the different steps of the production, from the choice of texts to the final productions." The four performances scheduled to debut at the Falaki Theatre on 16 January were developed in workshops staring 1 October 2013. The young artists were mentored by Studio Emad Eddin founder, theatre director and playwright Ahmed El-Attar (theatre directing), and founder of Homma for Contemporary Dance Mohamed Shafik (choreography), Lebanese set designer, artist, and art director Hussein Baydoun (set design), Hussein Sami (sound design and operation), and Paul Geday (light design). They also received grants covering production expenses. During the festival, the audience will be asked to vote for their favourite theatre performance, dance performance, set design and light design, and the results will be announced on closing night. Programme: Thursday 16, Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 January, at 7pm. Falaki Theatre, AUC Tahrir campus, Cairo, Egypt Source: Ahram Online