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Caroline Hatem was born in Beirut in 1976 when the Lebanese civil war erupted. Her father taught philosophy, and her mother, dance. She found out quite early how to face turmoil with art and books. She learned philosophy (a Masters’s in France), theatre (a BA at the University of Arizona), and dance. She taught dance and movement for actors for years. She truly found her calling though when she started directing: Al Beyt, by Lebanese author Arzé Khodr, which toured all over Lebanon and in Tunisia, then Al Zifaf (an adaptation from Brecht’s “A Respectable Wedding”) which represented Germany at the European Theatre Festival in Beirut. She co-founded in 2018 the cultural association YAZAN which brings together artists around transmitting, creating, and touring in the field of performing arts, film, and music. In times of greatest catastrophe, Caroline knows that it is crucial not to lose hope. She believes in capacity building, creation, production, and making work opportunities. She continues to tackle great texts, adapt them to the current reality, and bring together young and less young artists to fulfill a dream of professional and personal development. Rejecting neo-colonial depictions of Arab bodies and narratives, she aims at producing works that can tour worldwide for their intrinsic qualities, their original take on universal texts, and their insight and impact in regard to their region of origin.