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Summer
2014 23
Milia Ayache ‘05 and Riad Chirazi
Meanwhile, Ayache obtained
her theatre degree from Harvard
and returned to Lebanon. Her
first stop was Chirazi’s office. The
two had hit it off instantly since
the day when Ayache, then still in
middle school, lied about her age
and class to get into Chirazi’s the-
atre club reserved for seniors only.
And now, she couldn’t wait to tell
him about the Moscow Theatre.
Chirazi listened spellbound.
“Then we both looked at each
other,” recalled Ayache. “I’m not
sure who suggested the idea first
but we both knew that we had to
take IC students to Moscow.”
The idea was unthinkable.
Would such a prestigious theatre
school consent to take high school
theatre students from IC?
There was only one way to find
out. Ayache put herself on a plane
and headed to Moscow. She made
her plea with the theatre’s admin-
istration and waited for an answer.
“For you, Milia,” they respond-
ed, “yes”.
Back at IC, Chirazi couldn’t
believe the good news.
With the administration’s bless-
ings, he offered the once in a life-
time opportunity to his students.
Eight students signed up. It was
enough to get on the plane.
And they did.
“You will be learning from the students
of Stanislavsky,” said Ayache. “His
knowledge has been passed down from
teacher to student. And now to you.”
For all, it was their first time in Russia.
“Never break these rules,” cautioned
Ayache as she armed each student with a
list of dos and don’ts. “Never.”
The following week can only be de-
scribed by all as surreal. Russian teachers,
IC students learned all too soon, were
not there to chitchat. The work began
even before the teacher entered. All
stood up when the teacher entered. “We
really had to try not to talk in lessons,”
laughed Rhawann El Hakim, 18, one of
the IB students. “But the teachers were
intimidating enough that we didn’t.”
Intensive classes were exactly that –
intensive. Every movement had to be
repeated, sometimes painfully, until
perfection. No dawdling of any kind was
ever tolerated.
The chock-full program im-
mersed the students in the Russian
theatre scene more than they
thought possible. When they
were not taking intensive theatre
or movement classes, they were
touring museums. Every evening,
they would attend one of the
160 theatrical productions staged
every night. The performances are
always fully booked – an obvious
Russian pastime.
“It is so different than Leba-
non,” said Rhawann. “Russians
have such a high respect for the-
atre. Everyone gets dressed up and
goes. I even saw teenagers there.
It’s the thing to do there.”
To their surprise, they saw their
very own teachers performing in
one or more of these shows.
“It was amazing,” said Andy
El Rahi, 17 – another IB student.
“They would have different roles,
different characters and different
costumes in two or more shows
on the same night. I’ve never seen
such personality and character.”
It was a week that none will
likely forget - a rare opportunity
that will probably not come their
way again. It proved to be rather
difficult getting back on the plane.
As for Chirazi, he is back in his
small office at IC. He reportedly teared up
when sat in Stanislavski’s own chair. “To
go to the Moscow Art Theatre, to see it
and feel it,” he said. “It was a dream.”
Chirazi and Ayache are currently trying to
establish a week long studying program
at the Moscow Art Theatre as a yearly
event for IC’s theatre students. Ayache
is currently writing her own theatrical
shows.
At the theatre
In class