Who’s Who: Samaan Tawfeek Alani, theater consultant at the Ministry of Culture and Information

Samaan Tawfeek Alani. (Supplied)

Samaan Tawfeek Alani has worked as a theater consultant at the Ministry of Culture and Information since 2019. He was recently granted Saudi citizenship after the government decided to grant citizenship to a number of foreign nationals because of their specialist skills.
He was previously a theater consultant at the Saudi Arabian Society for Culture and Arts for 10 years.
He has directed nearly 20 plays, including “The Train of Luck,” “Al-Karamania,” and “Under the Chairs.” This last production brought together theater stars such as Mohammed Al-Ali, Rashid Al-Shamrani, Nasser Al-Qasabi, Abdullah Al-Sadhan and Khaled Sami.
Alani has taken part in many international theater festivals, including ones in Carthage, Baghdad, Kuwait and Cairo.
He has trained folklore teams to perform at major events around the world, with locations as diverse as the US, South Korea, and Algeria.
He has given lectures and seminars in Saudi cities about theater and writing for theater, chaired committees for domestic theater festivals, and supervised theater courses in the Kingdom.
Alani has a bachelor’s degree in theater direction from the Academy of Fine Arts at the University of Baghdad.