Hamra, Spears- Yamout Building.
Rooftop
Beirut
Lebanon
- Arts
Laban operates with a unique structure, integrating both an internal troupe and an administrative body. The troupe consists of over 25 members from diverse backgrounds, including actors, musicians, therapists, and specialists. This team is versatile, capable of fulfilling various roles such as actors, directors, designers, and technicians. In contrast, the administrative body consists of 10 employees strategies and organizes project implementation. Funding is primarily obtained through project-based proposals submitted to partners such as Choose Love, UNDP, and local NGOs like Kafa and Abaad. Laban's yearly budget averages 150.000 to 200.000 USD, supporting concrete projects ranging from art-based activities interventions. Key partners include Choose Love, UNDP, FZFD, Abaad, Kafa, Amel, MCC, and Basmeh & Zeitouni, contributing to the success and impact of Laban's initiatives.
Instagram Page:https://www.instagram.com/labantheater/
Our Mission
Laban is a non-profit civil organisation that was legally established in 2009. We specialise in cultural, artistic, and theater interventions. We believe that these interventions are a social need. This belief has driven us to create space for communication, discussion, and expression that allows members to express their reality without judgment or restriction.
We practice this belief through:
Improvised Theater and its various forms
Playback Theater
Puppet Playback Theater
Theater of the Oppressed
Drama therapy
Expressive Arts
X-Games
Art-based Creative Thinking
We also often explore and use other interactive theatrical and artistic tools to create safe spaces for dialogue, storytelling, and improvisation. We aim to contribute to advancing civic engagement, promoting freedom of expression, and increasing empathic bonds within and between different communities in Lebanon.
The different forms of theater are used in local communities, schools, universities, rehabilitation centers, hospitals, prisons, and many other settings. The topics can vary from social, political, psychological, or any other emerging themes, with high flexibility in using our formats to cater to the topics and the hosting community.
Our Vision
We strive to build a society that encompasses hope, acceptance, and social justice while guiding our community to freely elevate their imagination and self-expression and criticise their reality with no restriction or fear.
Choose Love: Laban implemented 24 playback theatre performances in Palestinian and Syrian refugee camps, targeting Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese, working on social cohesion between refugees and hosting communities. ( 1 year project 2022)
UNDP- VFC-South of Lebanon: Laban implemented 40 activities ( World Cafe, Playback performances, Forum Theater performances, NVC and image theatre workshops and film screening) in 8 different areas in south Lebanon, reaching 1600 beneficiaries. The main objective of this project was to introduce alternative ways of communication between students, teachers and parents. (6 months project 2023)
UNDP-Living of Al Quarantina: Our partnership with UNDP after the Beirut Blast, working with 250 children from Al-Quarantina neighbourhood, with a series of expressive art workshops for self-expression, collective trauma healing. Using art therapy and drama therapy techniques. (1 year project, 2021)
Forum ZFD-OUBOUR project: we have successfully conducted a series of puppet playback theatre performances with 650 children in different schools with a series of expressive art workshops in collaboration with Forum ZFD. This experience has enriched our understanding of how artistic and theatrical techniques can be effectively utilised as tools for engagement, empowerment, and self-expression. (5 years project, 2019-2023)
Basmeh&Zeitooneh: Collaborations with Basmeh&Zeitooneh have involved a diverse range of activities designed for 400 children, including competitive activities, storytelling, music creation, storytelling, dance, and more. These engagements have equipped us with a versatile set of tools and approaches for engaging and nurturing the growth of children in various contexts. (2 days event 2023)
MCC: Collaborations with MCC (Mennonite Central Committee), have involved a diverse range of activities designed for 200 refugee and hosting communities’ children, including theatre, storytelling, music, dance and art plastic. (3 years project, 2023-2025)
Amel Association: Laban had many collaborations with Amel association in many projects,
Laban in 2023 implemented 6 programs of creative thinking, the main objective was to work with humanitarians and teachers to create a new tool (Mobile application, Book…) that can be used to raise awareness on Gender-Based Violence.
Fighters for peace: the collaboration started with series of playback performances “War stories” than developed to implementation of X-games (a demonstrative activity that tackles the extremism and its effects) and an exploratory scripted play “Safe not Sound” that looks at the concept of accountability in the light of the Lebanese civil war. (2016 till 2024).
University of Brunel “Narratives from the margins: motherhood in refuge” :The project initiated with a playback theater training and later expanded into conducting drama therapy sessions at the Chatila camp in Beirut. Initially targeting 20 Syrian refugee women, the program delved into themes such as motherhood in the midst of war and life in refugee camps, as well as the journey of women navigating the refugee experience. Subsequent to the drama therapy program, a scripted play was developed, inspired by the personal narratives of these women. To enhance empowerment, the women underwent training to individually present their stories on stage before an audience, signifying the culmination of their drama therapy journey. The script was already translated into english and is in the process of being disseminated across universities worldwide, for the project to reach its objectives wider, debunking mass media narratives on refugees and women.
Amel Association: Name of the project “Heroes of Change” Across various regions in Lebanon, including Beka'a, South, and Beirut, our initiative has successfully implemented six drama therapy programs. These programs specifically catered to marginalized women and girls who are refugees, as well as members of the hosting communities. Despite diverse backgrounds, these individuals share common experiences of being marginalized women, each grappling with unique challenges evolving around discrimination, abuse and GBV, some of the participants were at protection shelters, others resided at home. Through these programs, participants openly shared their stories, expressing their struggles, pain, dreams, and moments of happiness. The transformative impact of the drama therapy sessions is evident as these individuals not only learned to articulate their experiences but also gained awareness of their rights and discovered avenues for empowerment. The outcome of these sessions were short plays, readings, short movies and a booklet documenting these stories and sharing them within the local community to raise sensitivity and awareness on women's mental health.
Abaad: “Jina Al Dar” project : Over the past three years, our community-driven project has successfully executed a series of 100 playback theater performances, reaching out to over 3,600 Syrian refugees and marginalized Lebanese women in various camps and villages across Lebanon. Our initiative involves actively listening to their narratives and skillfully reenacting them on stage, with a particular emphasis on addressing issues related to gender-based violence and promoting women's empowerment. Our intervention happens as part of a holistic approach led by Abaad team on awareness sessions and workshops targeting the same groups. the Playback performance allows the team of Abaad to assess the needs of the group and create comfort in addressing topics such as SRHR and GBV.
In contributing to the Network in our country, we offer a unique approach centred around empowering young voices and marginalised communities through narrative-based tools, particularly theatre. Our mission aligns closely with the Network's goals, as we aim to combat extremist discourses and radicalization by fostering open, inclusive, and resilient communities. By providing platforms for young people to share their stories and perspectives, we contribute to building a culture based on dialogue and exchange, which is essential for creating more empathetic and inclusive societies.
We seek to join the ALF Network because of our shared commitment to fostering inclusive and empathetic societies through dialogue, understanding, and cultural exchange. Our organisation's mission, centred around empowering marginalised voices and combating extremist narratives, resonates deeply with the objectives of the ALF Network.
Through our work using narrative-based tools, particularly theatre, we have witnessed the transformative power of storytelling in promoting understanding and tolerance. Joining the ALF Network would provide us with valuable opportunities to collaborate with like-minded organisations and individuals across the region, exchange best practices, and amplify our impact.