Arifa Akbar is deputy literary editor and arts writer at The Independent in the UK. She has written across the arts on British theatre, books and film. She joined the paper as a news reporter in 2001, and her work includes the lead of the reporting team after the 7 July bombings in London, for which The Independent was shortlisted for a Press Gazette Award.

Mudar Al Haggi is a Syrian dramatist, dramaturg, and cultural activist. In 2010, he benefited from a Delfina Foundation residence for theatre writers in London. To date, he has published two theatrical texts which premiered in Beirut and Cairo.

Abdullah Al Kafri is a Syrian theatre scholar, critic, and dramaturge who lives in Beirut. In late 2011, he co-founded, together with other Syrians engaged in the cultural sector, the production platform Ettijahat — Independent Culture, which speaks up for a growing cultural scene that is independent from the state, and advocates a peaceful coexistence of the various communities present in Syria.

Valérie Baran has been, since January 2005, the director of Le TARMAC, the international francophone stage in Paris, which is the only French theatre dedicated exclusively to international, French-language stage production.

Sarah Enany is...