Achkar's renovation of Saroulla created hope among artists that other theaters on Hamra Street, such as Piccadilly Theatre, would also be restored to their former glory. Al Madina Theatre was credited for bringing back traces of high culture to Hamra Street that was the cultural hub of Beirut before the war. In 2011, The Maqamat Dance Theater also opened on Hamra Street in 2011, providing a new contemporary dance space and furthering Hamra's cultural and art-scene revival. The 20th anniversary was celebrated in Al Madina Theatre in 2016. The first Lebanese National Theatre Festival in 2018 was also held there by the Ministry of Culture in Al Madina Theatre. Provocative playwright Rabih Mroué wrote How Nancy Hoped it Was All an April Fool's Joke in 2007. The play dealt with political problems and addressed the issues that divide the country. In 2008, Zeina Daccache, a television comedian and head of The Lebanese Centre for Drama Therapy, presented 12 Angry Lebanese that starred prisoners from the infamous, maximum-security Roumieh Prison. Daccache and a group of prisoners adapted the play from Reginald Rose's Twelve Angry Men and then staged it at the prison in a makeshift theatre. Socialites, the Prosecutor General and the Minister of Interior were among the guests and other prisoners present at the premier. Théâtre de Beyrouth, a vestige of pre-war Beirut, was a small theatre known for its cutting-edge productions and performances in various languages, Arabic, French, and English. Another active theatre, with more than 60 performances per year, is Monot Theater, presenting local French-language programming but also international acts, such as the Danish, Svalholm Dans' "Imago Poetry and Performing Arts" in 2011. Lebanese dancer-choreographer Georgette Gebara was conferred with the new honorary membership of the International Theatre Institute at the 33rd ITI World Congress that was held in China in 2011. References Theatre in Lebanon Theatres in Lebanon Performing arts in Lebanon Lebanese culture