Co-Founder Biographies
Nour Kawaja
Nour Kawaja is a Performer/Director and has spent most of her life moving between the East and the west. Nour has performed with various theatrical companies based in England and Europe and took on roles as an actress, physical theatre performer, comedian and stage clown. She has toured and performed in four different continents. Nour has written 3 original shows that toured in Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, United States, Canada and the Untied Kingdom. She has also written a one woman comedy show, that she toured in England, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic and Canada. As a director Nour is dedicated to devising new original work that highlights social and political issues that plague our societies. She has directed various theatrical productions and she is passionate about physical theatre, political satire and comedy. Along side directing and performing Nour is also active as a performing arts instructor. She has taught at colleges, secondary schools and at universities. Nour is currently based between Toronto, Canada and London, England. Nour has a degree is physical theatre, a post graduate in physical theatre and M.A in Directing.
Ofer Yatziv
Ofer arrived in London from Israel in August of 2002 where he worked as a professional dancer. After serving in the Israeli defence force, Ofer graduated from the `Bat-Dor` studio in Tel-Aviv and pursued his career as a dancer with companies like The Young Kibbutzit Ensemble and ‘Carmon’. Later he established O&A dance company and choreographed for stage including Karmial International dance Festival and screen. Ofer is a two time winner of the Tel-Avivcity prize for youth dance groups. After graduating in 2005 from three year theatre training with The Courtyard Theatre Training Company, Ofer turned to directing, producing and teaching theatre. Ofer hopes Conflict Relief will inspire people to look at life in a different way.
Jana Zenadeen
Jana is a Lebanese-American actress, drama facilitator and theatre practitioner. A recent MA Applied Theatre graduate of Central School of Speech and Drama, Jana trained at the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory in Washington, D.C. and the British American Drama Academy in Oxford. In 2002 Jana moved to New York where she appeared in many plays, including Live! With Pascale & Chantal (co-writer), Love in Las Vegas (writer), independent films and a role on hit TV series Law & Order. Jana is committed to creative projects that bring a positive awareness and understanding of the Arab culture through performance. Conflict Relief reaffirms her faith in theatre to change the way we see the world, and each other. Jana currently resides between London and Amman, Jordan.
Rebecca Gross
Rebecca trained on the Acting course at Central School of Speech and Drama and graduated in 2006. Theatre includes: ‘The Arab the Jew and the Chicken’ around the world; ‘Allo Allo’ UK tour, ‘Charity Wars’, The Pleasance; ‘Still Love’, Hampstead Theatre; ‘Cressida Amongst The Greeks’ White Bear; ‘Techniques of Breathing in an Airlocked Space’, Old Red Lion. Screen credits include ‘Bonaqua’ and ‘Altoids’ commercials and ‘The Academy’ with Ian Mckellen for television. Rebecca feels honoured to be working collaboratively with Conflict Relief and is enjoying the creative freedom this allows her to explore her Jewish identity and to use comedy to provoke dialogue and send a positive message.
Company Member Biographies
Margaret E. Hall – Stage Manager / Company Manager
Margaret, a proud member of Conflict Relief, is an International Director and (U.S. AEA) Stage Manager. Work includes The Lost Theatre Festival, The Sam French Playwrights Festival, and The Strawberry One Act Festival, among others. With her company HallWay Productions she recently created a 24 Hour Theatre Series which has had two successful rounds, ‘24 Hours: Underground’ and ‘A 24 Hour: Pub’. Her skills and training have taken her to Bali, Scotland, Austria, Russia, England, Romania, and to several U.S. States. Margaret holds a BA in Theatre Arts from SUNY New Paltz, and an MFA in Theatre Directing from East 15 School of Acting, University of Essex in London.
Adam Dahrouge – Actor / Collaborator
Adam is half Egyptian, half European and born in London. Having trained for five years he studied his last two at BRIT School of Performing Arts. His theatre includes ‘Insurgents‘ at Finborough Theatre, ‘Touch‘ at Tristan Bates and ‘onenite.com‘ at Contact Theatre. With a heavy background in short film he also appears in the feature films ‘Dark Rage‘ (2008) and ‘Mesocafe‘ (2009). TV credits include ‘Bremner, Bird and Fortune‘, ‘The Basil Brush Show‘ and series 1 and 2 of Bebo‘s online interactive hit Sofia‘s Dairy. He will also be appearing in a new high-end web series ‘Block X‘ in 2010. And his favourite word is hummous.
Tamara Barnett – Production Co-ordinator
Tamara is a British Sephardic Jew (but with a dual French passport and half Israeli mum) who, after doing some acting, burlesque and stand-up comedy, then moved to the more ’serious’ side of theatre, producing and directing her own play, Canting & Canapés, at the Burton Taylor studio theatre. While living in Almaty she helped behind the scenes at Artishok – the first independent professional theatrical group in Kazakhstan -and set up a Kazakh drama group of her own. Once back in London she worked at Catch21 Productions and was Producer for the second series of the political TV show The House. Tamara is thrilled to now be working with Conflict Relief to help them to inspire, entertain and amuse people.
Current Collaborators:
Jamie Cohen
Inayat Hussein Kanji
James Nidal Agha
Yariv Perlmuter
Yasmeen Khan
Tamara Barnett
Past Collaborators:
Amber Onat Gregory
Sonja
Zolio
Adam Elabdaly – Actor (March 2008)
Zein Ja’far – Creative Collaborator (2007)
