Combining a passion for theatre, storytelling and logic models, Naqiya Ebrahim is Seenaryo’s COO and co-creator of the Playkit. She previously worked as Head of Impact & Evaluation and Early Years Scriptwriter at now>press>play, Performing Arts Specialist at Artis Education, and Co-director at Saturday Storytellers. In 2015 she co-wrote and performed in Adventures in Noggle Noggle Land, an interactive children’s theatre production. Naqiya aims to use the arts and play to create a new generation of curious, collaborative, critical thinkers – and has worked towards this goal in London, San Diego, Hong Kong, Lebanon, and Jordan.

Victoria Lupton co-founded Seenaryo in 2015. She leads on strategic development and manages the Lebanon team. She has also co-directed several Seenaryo theatre productions including The Metamorphosis After Franz Kafka which toured 12 times around Lebanon, and What’s Far Is Near, which brought together women in Lebanon and the UK via video linkup.

Victoria has worked in and on Lebanon since 2011, first in contemporary art, then directing the US nonprofit SEAL (Social & Economic Action for Lebanon). She has created art projects including the Another Place audio walk which has toured to five countries on three continents; and co-translated two plays for the Royal Court Theatre. She started her working life as an actor, before realising that her strengths lie in acting behind the scenes for a social purpose. She has a degree in Philosophy, Politics & Economics and a Diploma in Acting.

Lara McIvor is a theatre facilitator, teacher and experienced project manager. She specialises in community collaborations and intercultural work and has gained a Masters in Applied Theatre from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. In London and Northern Ireland over recent years she has worked with organisations such as Lewisham Youth Theatre, the Tricycle Theatre and Prime Cut and has directed and performed in several theatre productions at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and other fringe venues. Lara has devised and implemented theatre and Creative English programmes for a range of organisations including Yallaa, a social enterprise organisation working with Syrian refugees living in Northern Ireland and for Siren Associates as part of their community policing training programme. Lara speaks Arabic and French and has worked and lived in France, Jordan and Egypt.

Oscar Wood is a music and theatre facilitator, teacher trainer and educational consultant. Since 2004, he’s been Artistic Director of Upstage Performance Group, who deliver Showbuilds in the UK and are a Cultural Partner of Tower Hamlets, implementing borough-wide vocal projects. He was Head of Learning at now>press>play, creating curricular experiences for over 10,000 primary school children in the UK. He was Senior Vocal Lead for Newham Music, London, executing the vocal strategy for the borough from 2014-2016.

Sara Ghanma is a theatre actress and aspiring writer with a Bachelor’s Degree in Management Sciences. An eclectic performer; she is a member of Amman’s first and only Playback Theatre troupe, an organizer of a new literary and musical event called Amman’s Heartbeat, and an amateur blogger. Her work experience spans over different areas such as brand consultancy, music curating, copywriting, and research. Sara hopes to use her voice and writing to advocate for the arts and its potential role in improving mental and emotional well-being, especially in children and young adults.

Ali Samra has a great passion for arts and education; combined together they are the embodiment of the Playkit, which is his main focus as one of Seenaryo’s Education Managers in Lebanon. Ali is an artist and performer and he aspires to be an installation artist. Ali joined The Red Bridge Ensemble in 2018 who specialise in Playback Theatre and Theatre of the Oppressed among other forms of community arts. He also joined Clown Me In in 2018 under the “We must Clown” project. Ali is an administrative assistant and a trainer with Steps – Civil Company for Change that works on creating transformational strategic moments in the process of community empowerment and change. Ali is a theatre graduate from the Lebanese University – Faculty of Fine Arts and Architecture.

With a deep passion for educational development in Jordan, Dima Nustas has diverse experience managing large scale education projects in schools and universities since 2014, working with British Council Jordan and later, INTERSOS. During 2018 she worked with Syrian refugees in south Amman and helped 95% of out of school children get back on track with their education. In 2019 she volunteered in the Erasmus plus program in Bulgaria and started off her own V-Cope project to motivate youth in Jordan to volunteer abroad and work on their personal growth. With Seenaryo, Dima will continue the journey of working towards a generation that has access to quality education and is able to achieve their full potential.