By Ruba Hattar
On the evening of November 7th, Lebanon’s top actors and actresses Nadine Labaki, Nada Abu Farhat, George Khabbaz, Rita Hayek, Bernadette Hadeeb, Talal Al-Jaradi, Badi 'Abu Shakra and Douri Al-Samrani and others met in a unique theatrical work entitled "Whispers" that was shown on YouTube to raise funds in support of the Beirut theater industry, which has been affected by the August 4 explosion.
The work was directed by Lina Abyad and produced by Josiane Boulos from Lebanon and Agatha Ezzedine from Britain. It consists of a series of monologues written and donated by six prominent British writers and a dialogue written and represented together by George Khabbaz and Nadine Labaki.
The organizers of the show, 62 events by Josyane Boulos, noted that "Gemmayzeh, Mar Mikhael, and Ashrafieh, where theaters and cultural venues in Beirut are, are among the areas seriously damaged by the explosion." "With many theaters demolished and hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage, the theater scene in Beirut is in dire straits. Moreover, many talented directors, producers, and theater actors have suffered great financial hardship and personal losses due to the explosion and may be forced into withholding their artistic contributions to this industry due to their current difficult circumstances."
