Eastern Mennonite University

EMU Stages Egyptian Play, "The World is a Comedy"

The World is a Comedy Former EMU Theater Professor Paul Hildebrand directed a 15-member student cast in the two-hour production of "The World is a Comedy," described by Hildebrand as "a dream-play, an absurdist, comic romance," written by one of the late Egyptian leading playwrights: Tawfiq Al-Hakim.

"It is the story of an ordinary file clerk with big ambitions, and a spunky, independent-minded young woman who works in the office with him," Hildebrand said. "Together they go back to the future to find a new life - and create a new world, a world without war."

Al-Hakim, who lived 1899-1988, is known as the father of the modern Arabic theater. He wrote over 70 plays of social conscience, but only a handful have been translated and published in English.

Performance dates: February 2003. Admission: $8 in advance and $10 at the door and $5 for seniors and non-EMU students.

* Click through production shots