Economic curtain closing on Iraqi theater
Theatrical productions are languishing in Iraq as austerity measures take center stage.
BAGHDAD — Young Iraqi actor and director Alaa Qahtan has received numerous Iraqi and Arab awards for his more than 20 theatrical works. But to Qahtan, the future looks bleak and confusing, as the Culture Ministry's cinema and theater department does not have the budget to produce new works.
Director Tahrir Asadi shares Qahtan’s concern. Although he is currently preparing for a theatrical project he wrote and directed himself, he knows no one will produce it and it will not be performed on stage anytime soon.
![Iraqi actors perform on the stage of the damaged Rasheed theatre in Baghdad May 4, 2003, during the first post-war theatre play in the city. Members of the Najeen group performed "They passed from here", a political performance in the country's main theatre which was burned, damaged and looted during the chaotic fall of the regime of [Saddam Hussein.] - RTXLYCE](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2016/04/RTXLYCE.jpg/RTXLYCE.jpg?h=5021389d&itok=BFZXFzSd)
