Call for Conference Papers 'Women and Arabic Theatre'

5 October 2026

Call for Conference Papers     

Women and Arabic Theatre
April 21-23, 2027

University of St Andrews/Honeyman Foundation/IFTR Arabic Theatre Working Group

St Andrews, Scotland

Arabic theatre  is significantly underrepresented within the broader field of Global Theatre Studies. Language barriers, the predominantly colloquial nature of Arabic in theatre, limited translation and circulation, Euro-centric canon formation, gaps in archival and digital accessibility, funding and institutional marginalisation, and the limited participation of Arab theatre practitioners and scholars in international festivals and conferences all have contributed to the field’s marginalisation.  While critical scholarship on Arabic theatre in English has expanded since the 2010s, the work and histories of women theatre practitioners remain largely unexplored.

This conference seeks to broaden the scholarship on Arabic/Arab theatre and address gaps in how its histories have been documented, researched, and understood, bringing greater attention to the role of women within the field. School of Modern Languages invites scholars and practitioners working across disciplines, geographical contexts, and methodological approaches to examine the spaces, practices, histories, and representations of women in theatre, both within and beyond the region.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to

  • Women playwrights, directors, performers, dramaturges, producers, and theatre-makers
  • Women critics, translators, scholars, editors, and theatre historians
  • Women and the formation of theatre institutions and troupes
  • Representations of women and gender
  • Theatre and the women’s rights movement in the Arab world
  • Women and independent/ fringe theatre movements in the Arab world
  • Transnational and diasporic women theatre-makers
  • Archives, oral histories, and methodologies for recovering women’s theatre histories
  • Translation, circulation, and reception of women’s theatre
  • Class, race, sexuality, religion, and gender
  • Intersections between theatre, cinema, television, dance, and other performance practices

Please send your abstract (max. 250 words), biography (max. 200 words) and 4-5 keywords to arabictheatrewg@gmail.com and tm84@st-andrews.ac.uk by 1 December 2026. Your participation will be confirmed by 15 December 2026.

Organisers:

Dr Areeg Ibrahim (Capital University, Egypt)

Dr Hadeel AbdelHameed (Monash University, Australia)

Dr Tiran Manucharyan (University of St Andrews, Scotland)

Women and Arabic Theatre poster