This week's performance took place in the southern town of Jezzine, which, by the way, wins the BIM Prize for Best Summer Weather Ever!

Jezzine is located 22 km from Saidon (Saida, Sidon) and famous for its beautiful landscape and 40m high waterfalls. Set in a lush mountainous enclave of Lebanon, Jezzine is home to the largest pine reserve in the Middle East. Performing there was literally a breath of fresh air as the altitude of 950 meters made for a much cooler atmosphere, easing the toils of preparation.

For this engagement, we were afraid the interactive element would be more difficult to maintain since the municipality had set up a rather high stage for us to perform on. Our solution was to have our driver, Marwan, who also serves as a general "go-to-guy" for the project, lift the children onto the stage once selected by the character of Tanbouri.

The children enjoyed the increased interaction so much that they got quite out of hand at times, not unlike during previous performances! They crowded the bottom of the stage so enthusiastically that at one point Tanbouri (actor Raouf Khelifa) had to stop the performance and until everyone took their seats once more! Nonetheless, this made for a deeply spirited viewing throughout and was a pleasure to behold from the producers' vantage point.

The family of the municipality invited us to their beautiful 150 year old manor (where many famous Lebanese artists would stay from 1918-1975, a period during which the home served as a hotel and mountain summer resort) for a relaxed drink to unwind after the show had ended, after which we made our way to the nearby home village (within the county of Jezzine) of one of our actors, Lama Dawood. There we enjoyed a delectable barbecue meal prepared by her very hospitable father and step mother and chatted into the wee hours of the night over delicious mint tea and traditional desserts, such as watermelon and cactus. We awoke at 7 am to get an early start and were able to take in the breath taking country side on the way back to Beirut, stopping at an amazing pastry shop, Al-Baba, for a scrumptious breakfast!