test The Gaza Monologues Part II|Education & Theatre

The Gaza Monologues Part II Iman Aoun in conversation with Marina Johnson

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Published: Nov 29, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/edth.43274
Keywords:
theatre of the oppressed political theatre memory and identity transnational performance networks community-based theatre
Marina Johnson
Abstract

This interview is the second part of our focus on The Gaza Monologues and ASHTAR Theatre in the current issue (see also The Gaza Monologues: Part I, pp. 92–97). Specifically, Marina Johnson talks to Iman Aoun, the co-founder and executive director of ASHTAR Theatre, a leading Palestinian theatre company based in Ramallah which is recognised for its commitment to social justice through performance. One of its bestknown projects is The Gaza Monologues, a powerful series of testimonies written by young people in Gaza in the aftermath of the 2008–2009 Israeli offensive. The interview further elaborates the discussion of ASHTAR Theatre’s work and Aoun’s artistic and political vision.

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Author Biography
Marina Johnson

Marina Johnson is a PhD candidate at Stanford University with PhD minors in Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies and the Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. She was a 2021–2022 Graduate Public Service Fellow with the Stanford Haas Center and the 2022–2023 co-artistic director of the Nitery Experimental Theatre. While in Palestine, she co-directed Al Manshiyya (Palestinian National Theatre El Hakawati), Al Akhbar M3 Manar, Nazira and Qirshekl Abyad (Al- Harah Theatre), and led workshops at ASHTAR Theatre. At Stanford, she directed the TAPS Winter 2024 mainstage The Wolves. She regularly works on community-engaged theatre projects in the Bay Area. She has worked as a dramaturg with Golden Thread Productions, Silk Road Rising and Penn State University, as well as on several Stanford mainstage productions. Select additional directing credits include: The Shroud Maker (International Voices Project), Shakespeare’s Sisters (Stanford) and The Palestinian Youth Monologues (Stanford). She co-hosts Kunafa and Shay, a MENA/SWANA theatre podcast produced by HowlRound Theatre Commons. She is also a member of Silk Road Rising’s Polycultural Institute. She has trained with Theatrical Intimacy Education, the Society of American Fight Directors, the SITI Company, the Kennedy Center Directing Lab and the Chicago Directors Lab. She holds a Certificate in Critical Consciousness and Anti-Oppressive Praxis from Stanford University, an MFA in Directing from the University of Iowa and a BA and a BS from Penn State University. Her scholarship has appeared or is forthcoming in Theatre/Practice, TDR, Theatre Topics, Arab Stages, Milestones in Staging Contemporary Genders and Sexualities (Routledge) and Women’s Innovations in Theatre, Dance, and Performance, Volume I: Performers (Bloomsbury). For more information, visit https://marina-johnson.com

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