Michel Nassar: A performer by nature runs The Drama Club

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The Drama Club

Michel Nassar is a professional actor through and through, the stage is his religion, as he likes to say – “… The stage is the amended reflection of life, so when we go on stage, we excel in imitating life; till we start excelling in life itself.” He studied Visual and Performing Arts, Acting and Directing, at the Lebanese University in Beirut. Michel had performed in more than 18 plays, 6 TV series, as well as in several short films. Being the initiator and founder of The Drama Club, which he had led as drama teacher for 8 years in Beirut and brought to life end of 2017 in Dubai, Michel is inexhaustibly passing on his profound knowledge of acting through drama therapy exercises to his students. He created The Drama Club around different acting methods in an acting system.

drama club
‘Dr. Love’

Michel and I met in 2015. A business social media platform brought us together since Michel is working as Media Producer at the Middle East Broadcasting Center MBC, which combines our fields of interest. The idea of running The Drama Club in Dubai has been an inspiring goal since Michel’s arrival in 2013.

I’m happy to see The Drama Club in action and I’m even more excited to be a veteran of the Dubai Drama Club from the first take.

Who can join the Dubai Drama Club?

 – Everyone who’s interested in acting and drama, who wants to learn more about themselves, have fun and needs to have fun.

What are the benefits to participating in the Dubai Drama Club?

– The benefit list is long:

Participating in The Drama Club improves self-confidence, communications skills, the senses of individuals, the understanding of body language, speech and people addressing methods, imagination, body language usage … It creates a better work environment, team spirit, independency from society stereotyping, it is a support group for individuals with a sense of belonging and it motivates individuals to use their imagination …

 How does drama therapy change your perspective on life?

 – The drama therapy itself is a new hype in the world of therapies, where the acting exercises help you deal with several situations in life, adding to explore your own flaws and dealing with them, adrama club dubais well as expressing yourself.

Which acting methods do you honour and combine in your acting classes?

– Throughout my university years I had learned about a lot of methods, basically, I’m using the Stanislavski method, but I merged it with my own experience and several studies, which I have done around the rest of the acting methods. I like to create a system for every student, as Stanislavski said: “Create your own method. Don’t depend slavishly on mine. Make up something that will work for you! But keep breaking traditions, I beg you!”.

Which encounter makes you feel deeply grateful in all those years of running The Drama Club? Have you changed someone’s life?

– I am a performer by nature and every performance has two functions – entertain and educate. Maybe, The Drama Club has changed the life of a lot of people, maybe not, but I think it has entertained and made many people discover themselves.

Which role(s) in your acting career do you remember with a big smile?

 – I remember each role with a big smile, not because of the character I played, more because of the journey I went through in the rehearsals to reach it.drama club

You produce, write and direct plays as well. I loved acting in the role of ‘the Nurse’ in your play ‘Dr. Love’ last year. Where do you find inspiration?

– I don’t get inspired, I just find and see and hear people living in my head suddenly, so I put them on paper.

You are planning to produce a play with members of the Dubai Drama Club. Can you give us a little taste of things to come?

– Well, since you mentioned taste, I will say – sweet and sour.

I asked my fellow students to choose only one word, which describes what The Drama Club means to them:

Students of the Dubai Drama Club:

Aaqeel: THESPIAN; Amal: BEING; Apoorva: ENLIGHTENING; Azza: STRENGTHENING; Geetha: STIMULATING; Karan: MAGICAL; Marija: FULFILLING; Nancy: NOURISHING; Natalie: BELONGING; Nouha: RELIEF; Sadiya: FRATERNITY; Soni: ENGAGING; Jeet: PROFOUND.

Former students of the LIU Drama Club, Beirut:

drama clubNatasha: METAMORPHOSIS; Sabine: LINK; Ziad: EVOLUTION; Jessy: REALITY; Ali: HUMANITY; Bashar: GROWTH; Rita: TEAMWORK; Fadia: CONCENTRATION; Ibrahim: GENESIS; Maria: BONDING; Hassan: CONNECTION; Ghassan: ACTING; Judy: PAIN; Mariya: FAMILY.

Michel, if you could pick only one word to describe our relation, which word would you choose?

– Blank.

Photo credits: Michel Nassar

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