In late October, about 25 men and women took part in five-day long acting and improvisation workshops at Weill Cornell Medical College in
Education City. They ranged in age from 15 to 40, and included in their numbers Qataris, Egyptians, Pakistanis and Sudanese.
Instructor Hisham Suleiman began by helping the participants build a baseline of confidence and trust in each other. Then they practiced exercises in improvisation, including one in which Suleiman asked them to convince a chair to move without touching it. Suleiman also encouraged budding actors to express authentic, rather than faked, emotions, and to develop the ability to switch rapidly from one feeling to another — to scream for joy in one moment and cry in the next.
To get a glimpse of a few of the participants, check out our
photo gallery.
When Suleiman isn't lending his talents to DTFF workshops, he works as the artistic director for the
Fringe Ensemble of Nazareth.