Rawya El Chab's Performance Trilogy Confronts Lebanon's Civil War Legacy

In December 2025, Rawya El Chab's production 'Crossing the Water' wrapped up its performances at The Brick in Brooklyn. The 45-year-old artist delves into themes of surveillance, displacement, and the Lebanese Civil War using elements of mythology, puppetry, and clowning. Her trilogy reflects on the Lebanese Left during the 1980s, the Israeli invasion, and Palestinian resistance. El Chab's narrative is deeply personal, rooted in her father's departure to Abidjan in 1982 and her own escape in 1983. The show incorporates shadow puppets, paper cutouts, and Arabic storytelling, resonating with audiences from Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria. Directed by collaborator Jesse Freedman, her upcoming project will focus on the Al-Jarmak Battalion. The Civil War (1975-1990) resulted in 150,000 fatalities and displaced a quarter of Lebanon's populace.