Samar Maakaroun

Looking for a Missing Employee in Shizuoka, Japan & Live from Beirut

11 to 16 May 2008

I was invited with director Rabih Mroue to Shizuoka in Japan to present 'Looking for a Missing employee'. Due to the airport closure in Lebanon, the director and performers could not make it, I ended up alone in Japan, with 48 hours to find a solution for the presentation and scenographie OR cancel the show.
I decided to go ahead, althought that meant pushing all the Japanese team into an area way out of their confort zone, working under huge time limitations... but eventually we did it: Rabih performed in his living room in Beirut, sounds and images uploaded through 3 internet connections, projected in Shizuoka Theatre in front of a 250 people audience. The stage set remained as it was originally designed, a screen behind a table a chair, where Rabih's image is telling the story and two other big screens following the story through notes and the notebooks...
It was an amazing experience, performers and audience together yet far away; Where the audience was present, the performer was absent, and vice versa...

P1010259.JPG - the 3 images received live from beirut, and although the connections were not great, we managed to keep the voice of the main performer going all through the show.

One of the articles for this show, can be found on this link, in Japanese
www.yomiuri.co.jp/e-japan/shizuoka/news/20080515-OYT8T00787.htm

'Looking for a Missing Employee' is produced by Ashkal Alwan, written and directed by Rabih Mroué, performed by Rabih Mroué and Hatem Imam, with scenography by Samar Maakaron and video by Ali Cherry.