“It is humbling to realize how much in common you have with people who were away from their country each for different reasons and at different stages in their life,” said Greek professional actress and theater scholar Vicki Koumoutsi, who currently lives in Dubai.
The actress wanted to find a way to express herself through the arts while also promoting Greek theatrical culture in the United Arab Emirates. Therefore, she created a theatrical group called “Scenes and Skenes” in Dubai, which consists of amateur actors.
“The theater and more generally art, has the magical ability to become the thread that binds us allowing us to maintain our cultural identity while providing entertainment and projecting our Greek culture,” she explained.
Dubai currently hosts many Greeks who work under difficult conditions but garner good wages. The group is an outlet, a means of entertainment, both for the Greek Diaspora members and for the Arabs who attend their performances.
All group members wish to bring a smile to people’s face through their art, so they are supporting the nonprofit organization Emfasis Foundation. The organization was the brainchild of a group of Greek expatriates, who sought to give immediate and effective solutions to growing social problems like homelessness, lack of medical insurance, one-parent families, as well as to support the fight against child labor.
The group’s first theatrical season kicked off on November 7 in Dubai at Ductac theater with the comedy play “Dad…don’t die again on a Friday” by Alexandros Rigas and Dimitrios Apostolou.
