Omar Abi Azar is a theatre director and founding member of Zoukak Theatre Company. He was the dramaturge and director of several of Zoukak’s performances that toured in various cities in the Middle East, Europe, the United States, South America, South Asia and Africa. He was commissioned by international festivals, theatres and universities to create original work: NYUAD’s Performing Arts Center, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center, University of Houston, Texas, Theaterfestival Schwindelfrei Mannheim, Williams College, Massachusetts, among others. He was artist in residence at the Lift Festival, London, Sundance Theatre Lab, Utah among others. Since 2008, Omar leads psychosocial interventions with Zoukak, targeting various communities in different regions of Lebanon and abroad (in Serbia and in Calais’ Migrants’ Camp, France); giving drama-therapy workshops and creating collective performances with various groups. He co-curates “Zoukak Sidewalks” an international platform of performance, and “Focus Liban” a showcase of the work of local artists in Lebanon. Omar holds a BA in Theatre from the Lebanese University, Institute of Fine Arts (2006).

Zoukak is the recipient of the Ibsen Scholarship award (2012), the Anna Lindh Foundation’s Euromed Dialogue Award for social resilience and creativity (2014), the Premium Imperiale Grant for Young Artists from the Japan Art Association (2017), the Honorary Citizenship of the City of Palermo (2017) and the Chirac Foundation for Culture and Peace (2017).