By: Jana Al Obeidyine, a dancer, writer and independent publisher based in Beirut- Lebanon.
Once upon a time, in 2018, I met Zaher Kais, an old friend and an actor, at the entrance hall of Al Madina Theater in Beirut. We exchanged news and thoughts about the future of theatre and the struggles artists face in this city, one of the most culturally vivid in the Arab region. Afterward, Zaher and I crossed paths several times in Hamra Street. Back then, such encounters were the norm. It was enough to take a walk in Hamra Street to meet at least a friend or an acquaintance. You stop for a chat near a café, a restaurant, or a bookshop, and sometimes during such encounters, ideas get born and start shaping into real projects.
In 2021, Beirut has turned into a ghost city. Hamra alleys are dark and deserted in the evenings. The series of long confinement periods during the pandemic, the collapse of the banking sector, the severe economic crisis, the political absurdity of the ruling class, and the Beirut port explosion had drained the life out of the city and made it hard for its residents to hope, and, even harder, to dream.
Yet, one day during the latest COVID confinement, I was scrolling through my Facebook feed when a photo of Zaher surrounded by a half dozen of puppies captured my attention. He looked content and serene despite it all. He even seemed happier than he used to be during the good old days when we used to meet in Hamra.
I was very intrigued until I discovered that he had moved back to his village in Mount-Lebanon and he was spending his time doing what he loved most: Theater, in his beautiful village, Batloun, all the while creating sustainable activities in the town and fostering a cultural, environmental and artistic space.
In 2021, Zaher and a group of friends rented an old house in Mount-Lebanon and started its restoration to turn it into a cultural hub called: Beit Sarmada, or The Everlasting House. The current slogan of their project is: “From mouneh, we make theatre.”
Mouneh is a Lebanese culinary tradition still practiced today in most Lebanese villages. During the summer of every year, when the harvest is still fresh, villagers prepare and preserve certain types of food (fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and meat) to be consumed during the following winter. The word mouneh is derived from the Arabic word mana, meaning, “to store.”
What I find most captivating about their idea is that it combines two sectors that rarely merge in one project: traditional food and theatre production.
Usually, theatre productions take place in the cities and then, sometimes, travel to the villages. Zaher noticed that many of his artists’ friends (actors, dancers, musicians, etc.) meet and collaborate in the city while they could very well create their work in the countryside. In the end, the most remote village in Mount-Lebanon is an hour’s drive from Beirut. He also noticed that the residents of Mount-Lebanon were longing for theater and art. So he decided to reverse the trajectory, making theatre in the village and then travel with it to the cities.
On the other hand, over the last few decades, mouneh had become a popular business in Lebanon. Many social entrepreneurs saw in mouneh an opportunity to empower village residents and small farmers by marketing and selling their products online through apps and websites, or at fancy boutique shops and cafés.
But no one seems to have thought before to produce theatre out of the revenues of mouneh sales. And here is the ingenuity of the project. Both mouneh and theatre are not easily sustainable initiatives, but joining them in one business model might make both ventures financially viable.
The Beginning
The project started in 2019 with the initial idea of bringing theater back to the Chouf region in Mount-Lebanon. The first edition was focused on theater production only. The Sarmada group held a three-day audition at the public library of Baakline, a major town in Chouf. To their great surprise, two hundred persons coming from the neighboring towns and villages auditioned. The overwhelming participation in the auditions made them realize that they were on the right path; that what they were doing was crucial and needed. Following the auditions, they held acting workshops with volunteer local and international theatre professionals to produce a play that was performed in July 2019. The play was fully booked for 10 consecutive performances.
By the end of 2019, the economic crisis had begun and the question of how to proceed started to become urgent. The 2020 COVID crisis pushed the Lebanese to spend more time in their villages, which helped the group reach their decision to keep going and find unconventional sources of income. The idea of creating a space in Mount-Lebanon to host all their activities was born. The severity of the economic crisis made them think of creating a sustainable economic cycle.
Beit Sarmada
Being familiar with the region, the Sarmada group was aware of the old abandoned house located at the intersection of several hiking trails. The house was built in the early 1900s and was once a public school and a municipality building. They also knew its local owner who was willing to rent it to them for an affordable fee. They then started to rehabilitate the house with their own hands and with no external funding or support except that of their friends and the town residents.
Then the search for a name that could embody all elements of the project began. And since culture, art, and nature are all timeless, not bound or contained by time, Beit Saramada, or the Everlasting House, sounded like the perfect name for the project.
The house is divided into four zones: the garden, which they turned into a botanical garden featuring all seeds that traditionally grow in the Chouf region and their health benefits; the main hall where they showcase and sell their mouneh products; a multi-purpose room where they conduct rehearsals, workshops, and programmatic meetings; and the backyard, converted into an outdoor public space where people could gather, work or study.
As a response to the multilayered crisis in Lebanon, the Sarmada House became quickly the focal point of several activities offered for free to locals and visitors alike, all of which have a direct socio-economic impact.
To encourage small farmers and empower local women, the house began producing, showcasing, and selling local mouneh. The Sarmada team purchases organic products from local organic farmers and hires women to make mounehproducts.
And since many of Saramada’s members grew up in the region and are very familiar with their natural environment, they started organizing weekend hiking trips, using the house as a starting and ending point for their trips. To make the trips more engaging, they paired each trip with an artistic or environmental activity. Participants would connect with nature and enjoy a music gig, for example. These trips come at a time when most Lebanese are unable to go for a vacation abroad, so they substitute their travels with local tourism.
To contribute to the youth’s artistic skills and creative expression, the Saramada team started providing acting classes and workshops to individuals from the surrounding villages, hosted at the Sarmada House.
Although all activities are offered free of charge, visitors and participants in the activities can choose to support the house and its programs by purchasing the mouneh products available at the house or by acquiring a Support Voucher available at a diverse range of prices to suit all types of income. The revenue generated from the house’s activities goes to the local mouneh makers and to fund professional theatre plays produced entirely with young local talents and professional artists from the region.
The Sarmada group is currently working on their second play to be performed at an old amphitheater in Batloun from 10 to 12th August 2021.
A Cyclic model
At the Everlasting House, theater plays are produced made with the support of mouneh makers. Two activities that were once thought to be at odds managed to create a beautiful cycle of creation.
Up until now, we have been living in a dichotomized world, where even arts and culture are split into traditional and modern, rural and urban. We were inclined to think that Art is necessarily an urban product and that rural areas are places where only traditions can flourish. The beauty of Beit Sarmada is that it succeeded in creating a space where dichotomies collapse in favor of a cyclic model that respects, listens to, and sync with the cycles of nature, creating a space of serenity, productivity, and creativity amidst the catastrophes
Photos taken by Zaher Kais; copyright Beit Sarmada