No Demand No Supply: A Rereading of Lebanon’s 2016 Sex Trafficking Scandal
Conceived and directed by Sahar Assaf
4-7 September, 8:30pm at Zoukak Studio
In Arabic with English titles.
Tickets: 30,000L.L. (20,000L.L. for students)
Sold in all Librairie Antoine branches and Online through Antoine Ticketing
Zoukak Studio hosts "No Demand No Supply", a theatre performance by Sahar Assaf, produced by AUB Theatre Initiative in collaboration with KAFA.
About the Performance
On March 27th 2016, the inquisitorial commission in Mount Lebanon raided Chez Maurice and Silver brothels in Jounieh area, and saved 75 Syrian women from the biggest sex trafficking network in the history of Lebanon. The story gained huge media attention as the women told horrifying stories about the torture and abuse they suffered at the hands of one of the lead figures of the network. No Demand No Supply aims to give a voice to the women’s stories while shedding light on an aspect that was totally disregarded in the mainstream media.
Credits
Conceived and directed by: Sahar Assaf
Performers: Nazha Harb, Serena Chami, Pascale Ch, Joyce Abou Jaoude
Assistant director: Nour Annan
Production Managers: Abdallah Kaddoura, Razan Abuismail
Light Design: Paul Seif
Scenography Consultant: Ghida Hachicho
Video Editor and Operator: Firas Haidar
Translation: Raja Mouawad, Nour Annan
Production history
No Demand No Supply was originally presented on April 8, 2016 as the closing event of the Center for Arts and Humanities - Mellon Grant conference “URBICIDE II: Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Palestine – Postwar Reconstruction” at AUB. Then it had a second performance at LAU’s Irwin theater on May 26, 2017 in collaboration hosted by the The Arab Institute for Women - AiW and at Al Madina Theater on July 4, 2017 in partnership with Kafa Organization. Later same year it got selected to participate in Between the Seas Festival in Athens (Sept 15, 2017). Excerpts of the play were read at Martin Segal Theatre Center in October 2017. This year, NDNS participated in Between the Seas Festival in its NYC edition at Theaterlab on May 19 thanks to a grant from the U.S. Embassy Beirut and the Department of State. A staged reading of the play directed by Rachel Valentine Smith was presented on July 13, 2019 Shubbak Festival in London.
Special Thanks
AUB Trsutee Dr. Marwan Muasher
Dean Nadia El Cheikh, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
FAS Dean’s Office
H.E. Elizabeth Richard, US Ambassador in Beirut
U.S. Embassy Beirut
Center for Arts and Humanities - Mellon Grant, AUB
Robert Myers, Director of CASAR and AUB Theater Initiative
Abdulrahim Abu Husayn, CAH
Najib Chowdhury, Assistant Director of Advancement & Programs
Ghada Jabbour, KAFA (enough) Violence & Exploitation
Colonel Mustafa Badran
Sandy Issa, Al-Taharri
Rania Hamzeh, Legal Agenda
The Arab Institute for Women - AiW at LAU
