STUDIO EMAD EDDIN

Studio Emad Eddin is unique within the Arab World. Cairo’s oldest dedicated rehearsal space, it offers training and residency facilities to independent troupes and individuals from across Egypt and the Arab World working in the performing arts. The residency program is truly international.

Studio Emad Eddin’s aim is to strengthen the field of the performing arts in Egypt. Its open access approach fosters cooperation and trust between artists, assisting them to build a national, regional and global network.

Vision: Studio Emad Eddin is Cairo’s home for performing artists, particularly those active in independent theatre. The studio is both a hub of creativity in Egypt and a window to cultural scenes around the world. By providing a range of programs and services designed to support artists and develop their skills, it strengthens the performing arts sector as a whole.

Mission: Our mission is to create an openminded and alternative creative atmosphere where the territory of artistic practise can be expanded.Working in this environment enables artists in Egypt to develop the continuity of their creative process and career development, while finding a network in the wider world.

 

The Studio Fulfils This Mission Through:

A multitude of managed workspaces, available to all independent artists on an equal basis for rehearsals, local or international workshops and seminars. Varying in size, they are all fully equipped and well maintained.

A diverse and pertinent program of workshops and training. Catering to artists at different moments of their career, it is delivered by top professionals from Egypt and beyond.

The organisation’s extensive and up to date knowledge of the Egyptian performing arts sector. This is based upon strong personal and professional links to local artists and institutions.

A long established network of contacts and partnerships with performing artists and institutions from across the world.

Dedication driven by the belief that the arts, and the performing arts in particular, play a unique and important role in changing the paradigm of both individuals and society.

ABOUT STUDIO EMAD EDDIN

Studio Emad Eddin is unique within the Arab World. Cairo’s oldest dedicated rehearsal space, it offers training and residency facilities to independent troupes and individuals from across Egypt and the Arab World working in the performing arts. The residency program is truly international.

Studio Emad Eddin’s aim is to strengthen the field of the performing arts in Egypt. Its open access approach fosters cooperation and trust between artists, assisting them to build a national, regional and global network.

AHMED EL ATTAR

Founder and Artistic Director

Ahmed El Attar is an Egyptian independent theatre director, playwright, and cultural manager. He is the founder and general manager of many independent cultural institutions in Egypt. As well as Studio Emad Eddin, these include D-CAF (Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival), Egypt’s largest annual international contemporary arts festival, Maktabi, Cairo’s only office space facility designed specifically for the creative sector, Arab Arts Focus, the leading producer and distributer of Arab performing artists and D-X Media, a cultural digital platform tailored towards Arab audiences.

He is also the founding director of the Temple Independent Theatre Company, which has performed his plays at major festivals and theatres in over two dozen countries across the globe. It is currently touring internationally with his latest play, ‘Mama’, which premiered at the 72nd edition of Festival d’Avignon in July 2018.

In 2018 the French Ministry of Culture presented El Attar with the title of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in recognition of his significant contribution to theatre.

NEVINE EL IBIARY

Co-founder and Director of workshops and training programs

Nevine El Ibiary has a BA in Theatre from the American University in Cairo (AUC) where she directed several plays and worked in various student and university productions.
Since her graduation in 2000, Nevine El Ibiary has been working with the Temple Independent Theatre Company, as assistant director and as tour manager with the company’s productions in Europe and the Middle-East. In 2005, she co-directed Mother I want to be a millionaire, and in 2006 About Othello or who’s afraid of William Shakespeare with Director Ahmed El Attar.

Nevine El Ibiary has also been working as a freelance producer in several projects with the Ford Foundation and the Young Arab Theatre Fund.

Since 2005, co-founder of Studio Emad Eddin, Nevine El Ibiary, has occupied the position of director of workshops and residencies where she conceives and organizes over two-dozen workshops and training programs every year covering mainly in the performing arts.She is the founder and director of 2B Continued Laboratory and Festival which produces four new works in theatre and dance for young Egyptian artists every other year in Cairo since 2008

Between 2010 and 2012, Nevine El Ibiary has managed SEE Foundation’s two-year Euro-Arab exchange Project funded by the European Commission and in partnership with various institutions in Europe and the Middle-East.

DINA SAID

Studio Emad Eddin Space Manager (Morning) & Workshops Coordinator

Dina holds a BA in Greek and Latin Studies from the Faculty of Arts, Cairo University (1999), and a Cultural Development Diploma from the Faculty of Arts, Cairo University (2018-2020).
She worked as an actress, events coordinator, culture activist, and office manager for the past twenty years, and received training, attended workshops and did internships in the fields of theater, and arts & culture. She joined the Orient productions team in 2013.
She is an alumna of IFA’s CrossCulture Program since 2008 and selected as CCP Country Representative in Egypt 2018-2023 by IFA (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) in Germany.

WAGIH FAYEZ

Studio Emad Eddin Space Manager (Evening)

Wagih holds a BA in Commerce from Cairo University (2008), a BA in Art Criticism, from the Academy of Arts (2012), and a Diploma in Cultural Management from the Higher Institute of Art Criticism (2014).
He worked as an administrator at Orient Productions Company in 2012 and currently Manger of Studio Emad Eddin from 2013 until now.
Wagih is interested in cinema and screenwriting. He also participated in many cultural and artistic programs in the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

MOHAMED RADY

Administrative Assistant

Holds a BA in educational media, Faculty of Specific Education, Minia University (2016). He Joined Studio Emad Eddin team in 2017.

MOHAMED GEDO

Administrative Assistant

Mohamed holds a diploma in agriculture, and has previously worked as a construction worker, driver, and courier in the hotel industry. He joined Studio Emad Eddin in 2014.

AHMED EL SERSAWY

Administrative Assistant

Ahmed holds a diploma from the Wireless and IT Institute (1997), and occupied many positions in the field of tourism. He was a security manager in the hotel industry for 18 years, and is currently an administration assistant at Studio Emad Eddin.

EZZAT AZIZ SALIB

Cafeteria

Ezzat worked as a courier at the India Tea Promotion Center at the Cairo International Fair (1976 – 2013), and became the responsible of the cafeteria of Studio Emad Eddin in 2015.

HISTORY

Studio Emad Eddin was founded by Ahmed El Attar, an Egyptian independent theatre director active in the field of the independent performing arts since 1992. His work has received national, regional and international acclaim.

He was motivated to establish the Studio by his experiences as a young theatre director and playwright, when he struggled to work in an environment that presented many obstacles to his creative ambitions.

The studio was inaugurated in 2005. Though this was more than fifteen years after the birth of the independent theatre movement in Egypt, it continued to face challenges that threatened its existence.

Many vital components that sustain a vibrant theatre scene were lacking. Independent artists and troupes didn’t have secure legal status, production funding was scarce and it was hard to find spaces to rehearse or perform in. The absence of a structured network between colleagues severely hindered the progress of the new generation of directors, writers and troupes, and there were few opportunities to be exposed to the work of regional and international theatre scenes.

El Attar conceived of the Studio Emad Eddin to provide reliable rehearsal space. In doing so he knew it would address many of the most pressing needs felt by performing artists – needs which continue to challenge the development of the field in Egypt today. For the Studio’s vision is not restricted to simply providing rehearsal and training facilities. Nor does it limit access to a specific bracket of troupes or individuals. Rather, its committed policy of open and equal access allows it to facilitate dialogue between a huge breadth of working methods and artistic visions. In this way, it embraces the development of the performing arts field as a whole.

Since its foundation Studio Emad Eddin has been a space of healthy creative exchange amongst artists, where connections between colleagues and institutions from around the world are made possible.

EMAD EDDIN NAME

The Studio was named after the vital artery of Downtown Cairo on which it stands. The long history of Emad Eddin Street is deeply connected to the city’s vibrant entertainment industry. 2.5km long, it stretches from Ramsis in the north, intersects the neighbourhood of Abdin and passes through the squares of Azbakia and Mostafa Kamel. In the south it becomes Mohamed Farid Street, named after the famous Egyptian writer and militant for independence who died in 1919.

There are various stories on the origins of the name Emad Eddin. The most official is that the street was named after a Sheikh whose mausoleum sits at the southern end (now called Mohamed Farid). The most amusing tale tells of how the name belonged to a neighbourhood strongman or thug, a fetiwwa, who controlled the northern part of the street which was then busy with cinemas, theatres, bars and nightclubs. It is said that the street was named after him in recognition of the way he protected the artists and performers from other fetiwwas of the neighbourhood.

The very distinct characters of Emad Eddin and Mohamed Farid have emerged from the different nature of commercial activity that takes place along them. From its origins in the 19th century, the southern part was a financial centre which hosted the premises of banks such as Credit Foncier and The Ottoman Bank. When the establishment of Bank Misr on the street in 1927 encouraged other financial institutions to follow suit the area’s character was confirmed.

Meanwhile, from its intersection with 26th of July (or Fouad Street) until Ramsis in the north, the street’s pavements were lined with theatres, cinemas and nightspots. The apartment buildings above were occupied by artists, agents, production houses and events organisers. For many decades Emad Eddin Street was considered the Broadway of not only Egypt, but the whole Middle East. Some of its venues hosted legendary performers such as Naguib El Rihani, whose name was later given to a side street that meets Emad Eddin, as well as the theatre located there.

Until the fifties the street was the scene for the glamorous life of wealthy Egyptians and expats who came to indulge in its flourishing nightlife. The architectural distinctiveness of its public and residential buildings only added to the sense that show business was all around.

Following the 1952 revolution and the subsequent nationalisation of many foreign and local fortunes, financial institutions and apartment buildings, a lot of the street’s businesses and residents left the country. Their properties were reallocated to local insurance companies who rented them out to newly-established private and public sector businesses. Emad Eddin started to lose its glamorous character and became instead a centre for the supply of high-powered electrical equipment. Theatres and cinemas closed down and night clubs were reduced to third-grade bars.

Then in the early eighties a new phase began which has seen some of Emad Eddin’s former character reemerge. First came the establishment of the Karim Cinema, followed by the renovation of the Cinema Cosmos. Today, the street has are five active cinemas and one working theatre:
• Cinema Cosmos
• Cinema Pigalle

Vision and mission

STUDIO EMAD EDDIN

Studio Emad Eddin is unique within the Arab World. Cairo’s oldest dedicated rehearsal space, it offers training and residency facilities to independent troupes and individuals from across Egypt and the Arab World working in the performing arts. The residency program is truly international.

Studio Emad Eddin’s aim is to strengthen the field of the performing arts in Egypt. Its open access approach fosters cooperation and trust between artists, assisting them to build a national, regional and global network.

Vision: Studio Emad Eddin is Cairo’s home for performing artists, particularly those active in independent theatre. The studio is both a hub of creativity in Egypt and a window to cultural scenes around the world. By providing a range of programs and services designed to support artists and develop their skills, it strengthens the performing arts sector as a whole.

Mission: Our mission is to create an openminded and alternative creative atmosphere where the territory of artistic practise can be expanded.Working in this environment enables artists in Egypt to develop the continuity of their creative process and career development, while finding a network in the wider world.

 

The Studio Fulfils This Mission Through:

A multitude of managed workspaces, available to all independent artists on an equal basis for rehearsals, local or international workshops and seminars. Varying in size, they are all fully equipped and well maintained.

A diverse and pertinent program of workshops and training. Catering to artists at different moments of their career, it is delivered by top professionals from Egypt and beyond.

The organisation’s extensive and up to date knowledge of the Egyptian performing arts sector. This is based upon strong personal and professional links to local artists and institutions.

A long established network of contacts and partnerships with performing artists and institutions from across the world.

Dedication driven by the belief that the arts, and the performing arts in particular, play a unique and important role in changing the paradigm of both individuals and society.

Who we are

ABOUT STUDIO EMAD EDDIN

Studio Emad Eddin is unique within the Arab World. Cairo’s oldest dedicated rehearsal space, it offers training and residency facilities to independent troupes and individuals from across Egypt and the Arab World working in the performing arts. The residency program is truly international.

Studio Emad Eddin’s aim is to strengthen the field of the performing arts in Egypt. Its open access approach fosters cooperation and trust between artists, assisting them to build a national, regional and global network.

AHMED EL ATTAR

Founder and Artistic Director

Ahmed El Attar is an Egyptian independent theatre director, playwright, and cultural manager. He is the founder and general manager of many independent cultural institutions in Egypt. As well as Studio Emad Eddin, these include D-CAF (Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival), Egypt’s largest annual international contemporary arts festival, Maktabi, Cairo’s only office space facility designed specifically for the creative sector, Arab Arts Focus, the leading producer and distributer of Arab performing artists and D-X Media, a cultural digital platform tailored towards Arab audiences.

He is also the founding director of the Temple Independent Theatre Company, which has performed his plays at major festivals and theatres in over two dozen countries across the globe. It is currently touring internationally with his latest play, ‘Mama’, which premiered at the 72nd edition of Festival d’Avignon in July 2018.

In 2018 the French Ministry of Culture presented El Attar with the title of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in recognition of his significant contribution to theatre.

NEVINE EL IBIARY

Co-founder and Director of workshops and training programs

Nevine El Ibiary has a BA in Theatre from the American University in Cairo (AUC) where she directed several plays and worked in various student and university productions.
Since her graduation in 2000, Nevine El Ibiary has been working with the Temple Independent Theatre Company, as assistant director and as tour manager with the company’s productions in Europe and the Middle-East. In 2005, she co-directed Mother I want to be a millionaire, and in 2006 About Othello or who’s afraid of William Shakespeare with Director Ahmed El Attar.

Nevine El Ibiary has also been working as a freelance producer in several projects with the Ford Foundation and the Young Arab Theatre Fund.

Since 2005, co-founder of Studio Emad Eddin, Nevine El Ibiary, has occupied the position of director of workshops and residencies where she conceives and organizes over two-dozen workshops and training programs every year covering mainly in the performing arts.She is the founder and director of 2B Continued Laboratory and Festival which produces four new works in theatre and dance for young Egyptian artists every other year in Cairo since 2008

Between 2010 and 2012, Nevine El Ibiary has managed SEE Foundation’s two-year Euro-Arab exchange Project funded by the European Commission and in partnership with various institutions in Europe and the Middle-East.

DINA SAID

Studio Emad Eddin Space Manager (Morning) & Workshops Coordinator

Dina holds a BA in Greek and Latin Studies from the Faculty of Arts, Cairo University (1999), and a Cultural Development Diploma from the Faculty of Arts, Cairo University (2018-2020).
She worked as an actress, events coordinator, culture activist, and office manager for the past twenty years, and received training, attended workshops and did internships in the fields of theater, and arts & culture. She joined the Orient productions team in 2013.
She is an alumna of IFA’s CrossCulture Program since 2008 and selected as CCP Country Representative in Egypt 2018-2023 by IFA (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) in Germany.

WAGIH FAYEZ

Studio Emad Eddin Space Manager (Evening)

Wagih holds a BA in Commerce from Cairo University (2008), a BA in Art Criticism, from the Academy of Arts (2012), and a Diploma in Cultural Management from the Higher Institute of Art Criticism (2014).
He worked as an administrator at Orient Productions Company in 2012 and currently Manger of Studio Emad Eddin from 2013 until now.
Wagih is interested in cinema and screenwriting. He also participated in many cultural and artistic programs in the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

MOHAMED RADY

Administrative Assistant

Holds a BA in educational media, Faculty of Specific Education, Minia University (2016). He Joined Studio Emad Eddin team in 2017.

MOHAMED GEDO

Administrative Assistant

Mohamed holds a diploma in agriculture, and has previously worked as a construction worker, driver, and courier in the hotel industry. He joined Studio Emad Eddin in 2014.

AHMED EL SERSAWY

Administrative Assistant

Ahmed holds a diploma from the Wireless and IT Institute (1997), and occupied many positions in the field of tourism. He was a security manager in the hotel industry for 18 years, and is currently an administration assistant at Studio Emad Eddin.

EZZAT AZIZ SALIB

Cafeteria

Ezzat worked as a courier at the India Tea Promotion Center at the Cairo International Fair (1976 – 2013), and became the responsible of the cafeteria of Studio Emad Eddin in 2015.

History

HISTORY

Studio Emad Eddin was founded by Ahmed El Attar, an Egyptian independent theatre director active in the field of the independent performing arts since 1992. His work has received national, regional and international acclaim.

He was motivated to establish the Studio by his experiences as a young theatre director and playwright, when he struggled to work in an environment that presented many obstacles to his creative ambitions.

The studio was inaugurated in 2005. Though this was more than fifteen years after the birth of the independent theatre movement in Egypt, it continued to face challenges that threatened its existence.

Many vital components that sustain a vibrant theatre scene were lacking. Independent artists and troupes didn’t have secure legal status, production funding was scarce and it was hard to find spaces to rehearse or perform in. The absence of a structured network between colleagues severely hindered the progress of the new generation of directors, writers and troupes, and there were few opportunities to be exposed to the work of regional and international theatre scenes.

El Attar conceived of the Studio Emad Eddin to provide reliable rehearsal space. In doing so he knew it would address many of the most pressing needs felt by performing artists – needs which continue to challenge the development of the field in Egypt today. For the Studio’s vision is not restricted to simply providing rehearsal and training facilities. Nor does it limit access to a specific bracket of troupes or individuals. Rather, its committed policy of open and equal access allows it to facilitate dialogue between a huge breadth of working methods and artistic visions. In this way, it embraces the development of the performing arts field as a whole.

Since its foundation Studio Emad Eddin has been a space of healthy creative exchange amongst artists, where connections between colleagues and institutions from around the world are made possible.

EMAD EDDIN NAME

EMAD EDDIN NAME

The Studio was named after the vital artery of Downtown Cairo on which it stands. The long history of Emad Eddin Street is deeply connected to the city’s vibrant entertainment industry. 2.5km long, it stretches from Ramsis in the north, intersects the neighbourhood of Abdin and passes through the squares of Azbakia and Mostafa Kamel. In the south it becomes Mohamed Farid Street, named after the famous Egyptian writer and militant for independence who died in 1919.

There are various stories on the origins of the name Emad Eddin. The most official is that the street was named after a Sheikh whose mausoleum sits at the southern end (now called Mohamed Farid). The most amusing tale tells of how the name belonged to a neighbourhood strongman or thug, a fetiwwa, who controlled the northern part of the street which was then busy with cinemas, theatres, bars and nightclubs. It is said that the street was named after him in recognition of the way he protected the artists and performers from other fetiwwas of the neighbourhood.

The very distinct characters of Emad Eddin and Mohamed Farid have emerged from the different nature of commercial activity that takes place along them. From its origins in the 19th century, the southern part was a financial centre which hosted the premises of banks such as Credit Foncier and The Ottoman Bank. When the establishment of Bank Misr on the street in 1927 encouraged other financial institutions to follow suit the area’s character was confirmed.

Meanwhile, from its intersection with 26th of July (or Fouad Street) until Ramsis in the north, the street’s pavements were lined with theatres, cinemas and nightspots. The apartment buildings above were occupied by artists, agents, production houses and events organisers. For many decades Emad Eddin Street was considered the Broadway of not only Egypt, but the whole Middle East. Some of its venues hosted legendary performers such as Naguib El Rihani, whose name was later given to a side street that meets Emad Eddin, as well as the theatre located there.

Until the fifties the street was the scene for the glamorous life of wealthy Egyptians and expats who came to indulge in its flourishing nightlife. The architectural distinctiveness of its public and residential buildings only added to the sense that show business was all around.

Following the 1952 revolution and the subsequent nationalisation of many foreign and local fortunes, financial institutions and apartment buildings, a lot of the street’s businesses and residents left the country. Their properties were reallocated to local insurance companies who rented them out to newly-established private and public sector businesses. Emad Eddin started to lose its glamorous character and became instead a centre for the supply of high-powered electrical equipment. Theatres and cinemas closed down and night clubs were reduced to third-grade bars.

Then in the early eighties a new phase began which has seen some of Emad Eddin’s former character reemerge. First came the establishment of the Karim Cinema, followed by the renovation of the Cinema Cosmos. Today, the street has are five active cinemas and one working theatre:
• Cinema Cosmos
• Cinema Pigalle