On May 18, psychologist and drama therapist Zeina Daccache opened the doors of Roumieh prison to a restricted but curious audience that had come to see "Johar … Up in the Air," a play performed by inmates. Focused on the mentally ill sentenced to life, the play challenges the way society looks at prisoners while allowing the incarcerated to express themselves and perhaps find some sense of liberation.
Drama therapy, according to the North America Drama Therapy Association, "can provide the context for participants to tell their stories, set goals and solve problems, express feelings, or achieve catharsis." These are the points Daccache has stressed during 10 years of working at Roumieh. She offered theater to the inmates for the first time in 2009 with the play "12 Angry Lebanese." That was two years afters founding Catharsis, the first drama therapy center in Lebanon and the Arab world.
