Actor George Khabaz Hosted by MCFA
The Faculty of Mass Communication and Fine Arts at Al-Maaref University organized on Thursday, April 19, a session with the theatre and comedian-actor Mr. George Khabbaz titled, “The Theatre and the Problems of the Country”.
The session was attended not only by the students from Al-Maaref University, but it was also attended by a number of students from other Lebanese universities and people interested in culture and arts.
The one-and-a-half hour session was moderated by the students, Rayan Sayed and Zeinab Bzaeih, in a joyful and engaging atmosphere between the guest and the attendance. The session was embedded with a number of stand-up activities and reports presented by the student Batoul Abdul Sater, accompanied with her colleague Mohammad Hasan. The activities focused on the obstacles that students may face during their early careers and the video reports were on Mr. Khabbaz as a humane actor and genius director.
The students' moderators addressed intriguing and varied questions to Mr. Khabbaz particularly about the status quo of the theatre as a performance art after the spread of smartphones and the dominance of social media platforms.
In the context of the hashtag paragraph “#a question to George” (in Arabic) which launched by students from MCFA just a day before the session, the student Nour Assi was able to ask the questions of the hashtag followers to the guest.
In answering the questions, Mr. Khabbaz confirmed that he aimed from his roles in the plays to represent a part of the society in order to respect the notion of difference among citizens, and hence to pursue multiculturalism and accepting the Other.
Mr. Khabbaz and the audience remembered together the words of the song “Kibrit Albanot”, and they also remembered a number of his poems which lodged in the memory of the attendance several years ago and recalled back the most significant plays presented by him.
In the end, Al-Maaref’s Vice-President Professor Jalal Jomaa and Dean of the Faculty of Mass Communication and Fine Arts Dr. Ali Takach handed a commendation award to Mr. Khabbaz.
The students expressed their respect and gratitude to the guest through writing their words on the university’s flag, and this was deeply appreciated by him.