About the Troupe
Khaleej Aden is a theater troupe established in Aden city on 5 May 2005. The troupe’s first theater production ‘Family.com’ (written and directed by Amr Gamal) premiered on 5 May 2005 as part of Aden Nights Festival. The production continued to be performed for two seasons in 2006 on the stage of Hurricane cinema theater. In 2007, the production premiered at the cultural center of Sana’a.
Prior to the troupe’s launch
Prior to the official launch of Khaleej Aden’s troupe, founding members worked together on a number of school productions between the years 2001 and 2005. Those productions were rehearsed and performed as part of their academic theater curriculum, and would eventually be performed in other venues outside their schools throughout Aden; including resorts and public parks. The performances achieved great local success, generated positive interest and received a number of awards on a national level. In 2005, Aden Nights festival announced an open call for their upcoming festival with a requirement of submissions to be only accepted from registered theater groups. The members then decided to form the troupe Khaleej Aden and submit ‘Family.com’ to be considered for the festival. ‘Family.com’ became a highlight of the Aden Nights festival that year.
Theater history in Aden
Theater has always been an essential part of Aden, arguably with local productions that began as early as 1905. As a result of continuous wars in Aden leading to the 1994 civil war, almost all theater productions were terminated. Most spaces were looted or destroyed. Theater troupes and groups that remained active, would only be able to perform and put together productions as part of rarely organized festivals.
As a result of these circumstances, Khaleej Aden’s troupe began seeking alternative options in order to secure a permanent space for their productions. Hurricane Cinema; one of the first outdoor cinema spaces in the gulf (opened in 1953) came to the rescue and a partnership between the cinema space and the troupe came in affect. For the next 10 years, Hurricane cinema would be the home of seven productions of Khaleej Aden’ troupe.
With an audience of 350, the troupe’ premiered their first production at their new permanent space in 2006. The advantages of the new partnership led to an increase of interest in attending the productions from Aden’s public and many Yemenis who would travel to Aden to attend. by 2008, the number of attendees would exceed 800 in most of the performances. The troupe began performing in other cities throughout Yemen as a result of their success and in 2010, they became the first Yemeni production to ever be performed in Europe with their play ‘Ma’ak Nazel’ opening in June 2010 in Berlin, Germany.