Paving the Way for the Birth of a Theater in Lebanon — Wanted: Two Dresses for the Roles of "Europa" and "Miri" in Said Akl's "Cadmus"

Who is responsible?

Who is responsible for this orphanhood in our world of acting?

Is it the feeble stage that has made acting a passing occupation, from which the professionals drift farther away day after day? Or is it our stunted acting that has made the stage a bereaved forecourt of art?

Do you remember how the Lebanese applauded in admiration of the actors of London and Paris in the courts of our citadel? When will they applaud actors of our own?

And here the story begins.

The story of two men. The first says the second is its hero, and the second says the first is its hero and forerunner!

Mr. Nizar Miqati was a child when he leapt onto the stage to play the part of a sweet little girl... Then Rome drew him, and he hurried there to learn and to train, then returned to his country... And here, on the horizon of his dreams, there remained a tossing stage whose anchor was lost between ebb and flow...

In Tripoli, his birthplace, the members of the Comédie Française watched him act, and they admired and were astonished... As for him, he took heart with an optimism of wide-spread wings.

And in his soul hope kept driving hope onward, until he heard over the radio the voice of a comrade he had never met... Kamel Kostandi... And who has not heard him on the broadcasting stations, producing programs, acting, and speaking? Mr. Miqati rejoiced, and from his depths he cried: "He is my colleague — how sweet my tomorrow on the stage!"...

And here they are today, supervising the dramatic work at the Lebanese Company for Artistic Recordings... and between them and tomorrow stands a promise... a Lebanese performance shall rise at the Baalbek festivals...

But wait... plays are poor in number, and stage scripts are stunted and watery — so where did the choice alight?

On Said Akl's "Cadmus"... in which our poet follows the classical path amid an atmosphere of mythology that imagination has studded here and there.

The family of Cadmus numbers four great figures...

There is Cadmus, whose tunic Mr. Kamel Kostandi has already donned... and Cadmus is a bridge whose story East and West have known.

As for Mr. Nizar Miqati, he is the blind man, mighty in his affliction.

There remain the two heroines, Europa and Miri... their gowns beckon to two young women from among us... young women whose way to acting culture has lit... And how greatly people here differ over the meaning and the echo of this word... acting!...

The tongues of reality often wrong the truth, which the sickliness of this reality obscures!...

I return and say: wanted, two young women — from the college and from the university... from the shades of culture and of light. For the roles of Europa and Miri in the play Cadmus.

Five of us met in the office of The Woman's Voice... The centerpiece of our necklace was Mrs. Edvick Shayboub, the editor-in-chief, and there were Miss Jinan Jaroudi

The first to come forward for the role of Europa
Jinan Jaroudi

and Mr. Nizar Miqati and Mr. Kamel Kostandi and I... One subject brought us together... namely, paving the way for the birth of a theater in Lebanon... I shall not enlarge upon it, for the importance of the theater is too well known to need explaining.

Mrs. Shayboub announced to us that The Woman's Voice would take up the attempt to find the two actresses — this apart from whatever help it can give the project... The magazine will therefore take upon itself the receiving of applications, each to include a good photograph of the candidate together with a brief sketch of her (on the model of the one sent in by Jinan Jaroudi and printed with this article).

The picture of Europa — I could almost draw it... She is truly beautiful... slender of figure, with a delicate soul stirred by an emotion like the surging deep, not knowing where to alight with it: in the nest of her love, or in the courtyard of her greater homeland?

As for Miri, Europa's governess and Cadmus's wet nurse, her advancing years have made her forget the coddling of love and its tender turnings.

She is mighty, stubborn in her patriotism... yet Europa remains her greatest care, and she pours out love and devotion upon her while Europa, in her grievous ordeal, is lost between No and Yes. Miri — in her face there is a power of expression, and goodness... in her body a fullness, and in her speech resolve and confidence...

Miri and Europa: two roles awaiting their mistresses...

So who will come forward?? The Woman's Voice awaits the applications and the candidates.

All this in the service of the theater...

We all want that theater...