Maria Douaihy: ‘The Play is Everything’
Maria Douaihy:
‘The Play is Everything’
By Mishka Mojabber Mourani
This winter in Beirut, Maria Douaihy and Yehya Jaber are presenting “Qornet el Bayda,” a solo theatrical performance inspired by the timeless Hakawati tradition of oral storytelling. The one-woman show is an Alice-in-Wonderland style celebration of Lebanon’s contradictions through the eyes of a citizen of the unique North Lebanon town of Zgharta. The title refers to the highest peak of Mount Lebanon: Qornet el Sawda, which rises to an altitude of 3090 meters.
In real life, writer-performer Maria Douaihy is the daughter of the late award-winning Lebanese novelist Jabbour Douaihy and his wife Therese Dahdah. And, in this monodrama, one cannot help but be moved by the evocation of the world that Douaihy-père conjured up in his novel June Rain.
I asked Maria what prompted her to choose the solo show format.
“A few years back, I wrote and performed a monodrama called ‘The Last Rehearsal.’ Yehya came to the show and the idea of a collaboration between us was born. Yehya Jaber has been very successful writing and directing plays about different communities in Lebanon. Some of his successes include ‘Mjaddra Hamra,’ ‘What shall We Wear?,’ ‘Haygalo,’ and ‘Beirut Tariq Jdideh.’
“With Yehia, the play is everything. So, we make sure that sets, costumes and props fit in one car. This way we are ready to perform at short notice. The writing, story development, and actor preparation processes are demanding and dig deep. It took us over a year to write ‘Qornet el Bayda.’”
When I asked if she could speak more about working so closely with a writer/director, she said that her “collaboration with Yehya is very inspiring: rich, intelligent, motivating, rewarding,… magical.”
In “Qornet el Bayda,” Yehya Jaber does an outstanding job maintaining energy and a rigorous pace by having Douaihy go through the motions of dressing, undressing, cleaning house, clearing clutter, washing, tidying and cooking.
“I grew up with theater as a vital part of everyday life,” Douaihy said. “My parents arranged to put on plays by the likes of Lorca and Georges Schehade translated to Arabic. They would store the props and costumes at home, and as children we loved to dress up and pretend to be actors.”
The play is an extended metaphor exploring issues of identity, language, community, feminism, culture, communication, conflict, creativity and tradition, delivered in large part in the uniquely accented Zghertawi brogue. The underlying theme juxtaposes the quirks and idiosyncrasies of the different communities that make up Lebanon with the universalism of the Lebanese condition.
The play started early in January, and will be showing at the Monnot Theater, St. Joseph’s University on February 9, 10, 16, 23 and 24. Some of Jaber’s plays run for years, and I predict this play will enjoy the same longevity. It is not to be missed.
Mishka Mojabber Mourani is the author of Balconies: A Mediterranean Memoir. She co-authored a poetry collection entitled Alone, Together [Kutub], a project in which Aida Y. Haddad translated Mourani’s poetry from English to Arabic, and vice versa. Mourani writes in English and in French, and translates from Arabic and French. Her work has appeared in numerous online and print journals, and several collections including Hikayat: Short Stories by Lebanese Women; Lebanon Through Writers’ Eyes; The Exquisite Corpse anthology; Arab Women Voice New Realities; Fruits Confits: Journal de confinement; Beyrouth à Coeur ouvert; Sursauts d’une nation, Le Liban 18 communautés et bien davantage; Plumes à vin, Des mots pour Gaza; and Dire le Liban In 2018, she was awarded a medal, Knight of the Order of Academic Palms, by the French Republic for services rendered to education and culture.Her latest publication is a collaboration with ten other writers on a daily Journal 2024-25 .