Alaa Abdel-Aziz, president of the Alexandria Arab Theater Festival for Specialized Institutes and Colleges, has expressed his happiness with the success of the first edition of the festival, which came to an end last Sunday.

"Everyone is a winner, not only those who won prizes and certificates," he said.

"The festival is very important for Egypt's theatrical scene and for the Arab world at large. It is an opportunity to showcase the many academies and theatre departments in the academic institutions operating across many countries," Abdel-Aziz said, referencing the festival's first edition, which took place between 3 and 8 December and consisted of a series of panel discussions and 10 performances from numerous Arab countries, staged at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina hall, Alexandria.

Abdel-Aziz also added that he would like to dedicate the festival's inaugural audition to Fawzi Fahmy, a theatre academic who Abdel-Aziz praised for his "encyclopedic knowledge of theatre."

Following four days of activities (4-7 December), the festival held a closing ceremony on 8 December at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina's main hall. 

The winning performance of the festival was 'Glass Monsters' directed by Youssef Al-Asadi and presented by the students of the Higher Institute for Theatrical Arts in Cairo. Reem Masri, in the role of the protagonist, won the Best Actress Award.

The Special Jury Award was given to Moroccan performance Hanaa directed by Dia Hijazi.

The best actor prize was awarded to Joseph Aqiqi for his performance in the Lebanese play titled The Dictator, while the second prize for best actor went to Hassan El-Sayed for Excellencies by the theater department at the Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University.

Best director went to Dalal Fayyad for the play titled Barr from Jordan, while the play Moushka from Oman won the best lighting award.

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