Stéphanie Ghajar (she/her) is a Lebanese-born Australian theatre and filmmaker, mainly working as a director and dramaturge. Her work delves into the human condition to explore the individual in deeply personal situations where the familiar motions of the everyday darken and veer towards the tragic. Her credits include: Director of Zaffé, created with a group of collaborators from the Middle East (2023), Director of The Cave of Spleen (Theatre Works, 2023), Make Me A Houri (La Mama Courthouse, 2019), Assisting Director Briony Dunn on When the Rain Stops Falling (Theatre Works, 2020-2023), and John Collins on Everyone’s Fine with Virginia Woolf (Elevator Repair Service, 2018). For film, her credits include: Assistant Director on Apartment 42 (Mad Hatter Films, 2024) and Kuduz (Sinemaskope, 2022), Dramaturge on The Horse Thief (Sinemaskope, 2021), Littlefish (Wendyhouse Films, 2020), Someone Has Died in the Forest (Eva Justine Torkkola, 2019).

Lara Week (she/her) is a designer for performance and creative producer. She began working with Patrice Naiambana, producing decolonial arts programs and performances in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, the Netherlands, UK, and the western suburbs of Melbourne. In 2019 she produced and designed the premiere season of Samah Sabawi’s play THEM at La Mama Courthouse, directed by Bagryana Popov. THEM was shortlisted for the NSW and Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, nominated for four Green Room awards, and remounted as part of the VCE Drama Playlist, and toured to NSW, QLD and regional Victoria as a co-production between Lara, Critical Stages Touring and La Mama. With St Martins, she has produced The Word (2024) and Gene Tree: Listen. Now. Again (2022, winner 2 x Green Room awards including Best Production), an interactive performance adventure led by 28 children and young people through Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. Other design credits include Afterplay (La Mama Theatre), Mother Courage and her Children (La Mama Courthouse), The Cane (Red Stitch), ANNA (La Mama Courthouse), Make Me a Houri (La Mama Courthouse), and two seasons of Samah Sabawi’s award-winning play Tales Of A City By The Sea (La Mama Courthouse) which she co-produced in 2016 with Daniel Clark and toured to Adelaide, Sydney, and Kuala Lumpur.

Ayman Kaake (he/him) is an award-winning Lebanese-born queer Australian photo-media visual artist currently based in Melbourne's inner northern suburbs. He explores diasporic melancholy and the agony of exile through contemplative portraiture and sculptural, styled poses. His many accomplishments include being finalist at the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022 and 2023, Featured artist for PHOTO 2024 International Festival of Photography for the outdoor program, the winner of Midsumma and Australia Post Award 2022, the winner of the small Work Art Prize at Brunswick Street Gallery 2022, the recipient of Room to Create residency at Collingwood Yards 2020.

Jean Bachoura (he/him) is a Levantine writer and artist based in Naarm, Melbourne. He is an inaugural recipient of the Wheeler Centre’s scheme for writers, The Next Chapter. In 2019, his multi-platform project TRETINOIN was awarded The Lifted Brow & RMIT non/fiction Lab Prize for Experimental Non-fiction. His work is reflective of a life lived between cultures: born in Damascus, raised in Syria, Lebanon and Australia. As an actor he has worked across stage, TV and film productions, including Goran Stolevski’s You Deserve Everything, and more recently Taika Waititi’s Time Bandits.

Meena Shamaly (he/him) is a composer, session musician, poet, lecturer, and radio presenter. He is the host of ABC Classic’s Game Show, exploring the rich and wonderful world of video game soundtracks. He presented Orchestra Victoria’s 2023 hit video game concert, Indie Symphony. Meena’s work centres around creating music for storytelling. On stage, Meena regularly features at poetry events and collaborates with multi-disciplinary art collectives, as a poet, musician, and a theatrical performer. In 2022, he was a cast member and pianist in the critically acclaimed play THEM, by Samah Sabawi. His work on Zaffé (2023), alongside Camille El Feghali, earned them a Green Room Award for Best Sound Design and Composition. In games, Meena collaborated on Christopher Tin’s Grammy-nominated soundtrack for Old World, providing oud and Middle Eastern vocals. He is the composer of Innchanted and Every Hue of You, and is also a performer on Total War: Pharaoh.

Taj Aldeeb (she/her) is an actress, musician, radio presenter and dancer of Syrian heritage. Among her acting credits are SBS TV series Four Years Later (created by Mithila Gupta), short films The Fall (Dir. Mert Berdilek); a finalist for the Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films category at the Sydney Film Festival in which Taj played the lead role, Nour (dir. Suzy Sainovski) and Get to the Wire (dir. Paul Burns). On stage, Taj performed in THEM, for Arts Centre Melbourne's 2022 season and subsequent national tour, as well as co-created and performed in Zaffé (2023, dir. Stéphanie Ghajar). Alongside her work as an Actor, Taj is a Digital Media graduate from RMIT and is currently pursuing her Music Performance (piano) studies at Monash, regularly performing as a percussionist with Monash Academy Orchestra and Melbourne Youth Orchestra. She is also working as a Presenter for ABC Classic Radio, a pre-concert speaker and a production assistant with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Taj was granted the "Young Leader Award" by the Victorian Multicultural Commission 2021 as she employs her talents as a storyteller in advocacy work for human and refugee rights, and mentoring youth groups. Motivated by her own journey, Taj tells stories that demonstrate the challenges, triumphs, and diverse experiences of migration through audio-visual forms and collaborations with multicultural artists, locally and internationally.

Camille El Feghali (he/him) is a musician who draws his inspiration from the traditions of the Middle East. The instruments he plays include Qanun, Nay, and. Camille performs a wide range of songs and compositions that will take you on a journey to different parts of the middle east and North Africa. The styles will vary greatly regionally and stylistically. This includes Turkish Sufi music, Egyptian music and Classical Arabic music. His work on Zaffé (2023), alongside Meena Shamaly, earned them a Green Room Award for Best Sound Design and Composition.

Rawya El Chab (she/her) is a theater maker based in New York City. Her artistic journey has been shaped by classical theater training and immersive experiences in experimental and contemporary art forms. Having come of age in the aftermath of the Lebanese civil war and the Taef agreement, Rawya has keenly felt the absence of official and historical narratives surrounding that tumultuous period. At the heart of her artistic practice is storytelling, which she views as a vital tool for addressing this void. Through her work, Rawya endeavors to give voice to untold stories and illuminate the complexities and nuances of the events she recounts. Her first piece in NYC, The Meltdown, was produced by The Global Forms Festival at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. She received a residency at Target Margin to develop The Gambler, which ran at the Loading Dock in June 2022 as part of the Exponential Festival. In January 2023, she showcased Epikoinonia, a digital collage, also at the Exponential Festival. Her show Loula & the Pearl of the Bekaa received a production grant from AFAC and opened at the La Mama Theater in February 2024. Currently, she is developing The Union (!?New Works 2024), an interactive immersive piece investigating the effects of diverse social dynamics on the democratic process, and Crossing the Water or The Immortal, the second show in a triptych of migratory tales exploring martyrdom in Arab culture.

Salma Zahore (she/her) is a drag queer performer and artivist against injustice. In 2022, Salma burst onto the performance scene, captivating audiences at venues such as Razzmatazz Club in Barcelona and La Bellevilloise in Paris. Her performances challenge traditional notions of gender and belief systems while proudly asserting her Lebanese and Arab identity, which deeply influences her work. She launched SALMATI, a show staged in both Paris and Barcelona, aimed at creating a platform that unites artists from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, fostering dialogue and understanding between queer Arab communities and other communities. Given her alter-ego as a filmmaker, she incorporates visuals into her shows, creating a roller coaster of emotions designed to evoke laughter, tears, and deep introspection.

Mia Shouha (she/her) is a Syrian/Australian artist and researcher. She is interested in connection, communication and the stories and social structures that bind us, including diaspora and migratory experiences. Mia is a PhD candidate in Political Economy and Anthropology at the University of Sydney. Her research centres on power structures, social change and coercion in Lebanon and Syria under financial crisis. Mia is also very interested in cultural preservation and supporting artisans and art innovators in Syria to continue their work under economic strain. She has co-created the social enterprise SOUQ in order to honour the Souq and Silk Road history of Syria in times of crisis and to create pop-up markets for the sale of Syrian crafts and designs internationally.

Giovanna Yate Gonzalez (she/her) is a Colombian professional dancer who has expanded her skill set in Australia through the production bachelor at VCA in Lighting Design. Across 2022, she worked as lighting designer for the dance piece Siren Dance by Lilian Steiner not only performed at Dance House but also at Sydney Dance Company and Homo Novus Festival, also, theatre performances such as Fast Food at Red Stitch. In 2023, She was able to design different performances such as the dance shows Queers of Java with Lengger artist Rianto Manali at Sydney Dance Company and at Melbourne Fringe STAUNCH ASF with Amelia O’Leary at the Meat Market and LUSH by gemma+molly, which won Best Dance and Physical Theatre. Also, designed theatre performances such as Shhhh at Red Stitch directed by Emma Valente. Moreover, Giovanna was one of the five placements of the Besen Artistic Program at Malthouse as Lighting Designer. This year, she has designed for DanceHouse season one dance performance Flesh Vessel by Jayden Lewis Wall and Melissa Yvonne Pham and the play Akaraka by Amarachi with Empty Seat Theatre production. She is also part of the FUTURE CREATIVE program with MTC.

Julia Landberg (she/her) is a theatre maker and puppeteer based in Melbourne/Naarm, originally from Sweden. She holds a Bachelor of Performing Arts from WAAPA and an Acting Diploma from Calle Flygare in Stockholm. Julia has taken on roles both on and off stage and has production managed When The Rain Stops Falling by Andrew Bovell at Theatre Works and White Horse Centre, night, Mother by Marsha Norman at Chapel Off Chapel and Stage Managed shows such as Women of Troy, Der Hamlet Machine, Medea+Herakles and A Midsummer Night's Dream. She has worked in a coordinator role for Theatre Works Radical Acts playwriting festival and Music Play Festival at Melbourne Recital Centre for Melbourne Museum as well as Acting Performance Studio's Full Time and Part Time Courses. As a theatre maker, Julia has developed works such as Trash With A Porpoise for Trash Puppets, Wake as part of La Mama Explorations and an original translation and adaptation of Stringberg’s The Stronger as Company in Residence at Theatre Works, together with Iron Lung Theatre Company.

Rain Iyahen (she/her) is a Stage Manager who’s been mainly working in Melbourne’s theatre scene. Some of her credits include: Victorian Opera’s productions of La Rondine (2024), English Eccentrics (2024), Candide (2024), Galileo (2023), The Visitors (2023), Melbourne Cheryomushki (2023) and The Butterfly Lovers (2022); Melbourne Theatre Company’s productions of The Almighty Sometimes (2024), Is God Is (2023) and Sunday (2023); Ilbijerri Theatre’s production of Get Your Geek On (2024); Critical Stages’ productions of Black Sun Blood Moon (2023) and THEM (2022); Essential Theatre’s production of Emilia (2022); Red Stitch Theatre’s productions of Monument (2023); Fast Food (2022); Grace (2022), The Cane (2021) and Single Ladies (2020).

Led by director Stéphanie Ghajar, Zaffé’s international team of musicians, poets, and theatremakers worked together for three years to develop this work.

“Zaffé is inspired by the ways people throw celebrations in response to destruction and loss. I saw it in Lebanon in 2019, with parties every night after protests against the government. I saw it after the explosion in Beirut the following year, which killed 204 people and made 300,000 people homeless. Celebrations nourish us, connect us with our roots and with each other, and keep us going.”

-Stéphanie Ghajar

Zaffé is designed by visual artist and National Portrait Prize finalist Ayman Kaake, in collaboration with theatre designer Lara Week.

“We’re bringing to life the chaotic, joyful feeling of the Beirut of my childhood. I want our audience to feel cosy and familiar, but also a bit surreal. I want them to be reminded of anything they love.”

-Ayman Kaake

Concept and Director: Stéphanie Ghajar
Producers: Lara Week and Stéphanie Ghajar
Creators: Taj Aldeeb, Jean Bachoura, Rawya El Chab, Camille El Feghali, Stéphanie Ghajar, Ayman Kaake, Julia Landberg, Meena Shamaly, Mia Shouha, Salma Zahore, and Lara Week
Performers: Taj Aldeeb, Jean Bachoura, Rawya El Chab, Camille El Feghali, Stéphanie Ghajar, Rain Iyahen, Ayman Kaake, Meena Shamaly, Mia Shouha, and Salma Zahore
Scenic Designers: Ayman Kaake and Lara Week
Sound Designers and Composers: Meena Shamaly and Camille El Feghali
Stage Manager: Rain Iyahen