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Uzma Sabeen [Uzma Sabeen] (born in August 1983) is a Pakistani Theatre Director, Lighting Designer, Costume Designer, writer, and a YouTuber.

Early Life

She was born in Faisalabad, Punjab but raised in Karachi. Her father was in Government Service. She got her early education in Karachi. After her Bachelors in Chemistry, she enrolled in the English Department of the University of Karachi for her Masters in literature.

Professional Life

She has joined NAPA in May 2009 as a Student Coordinator and Faculty Member after completing her three years Diploma from NAPA. She contributed in compiling the course outline under the guidance of Mr. Rahat Kazmi.

Along with all her engagements with NAPA, she owes a small theatre group by the name of “Rung Munj”. Rung Munj is trying to provide a platform for young actors, writers, and directors. Her first play under this banner was ‘Lonely In Love’ which she has directed and it was performed at PACC in December 2009.

In 2010, she got the Fellowship offered by The Kennedy Centre, Washington, DC. The Fellowship was funded by US State Department and it was under the Cultural Exchange Policy. She was one of the representatives from the other eight countries.

She has directed “Oedipus Rex” in 2011 under the supervision of Mr. Zia Mohyeddin for which she designed the costume and the lighting. She has also designed lighting for the Repertory plays since 2008.

In the first Performing Arts Festival 2012, she directed a play named “KAFKA” which has received a lot of appreciation from the critics being the original play on Kafka’s life as well as technically good production in which I have incorporate projectors with the live performance. Her team won Media Award for Best Theatre at the Lux Awards for this production. As a Costume Designer, she has designed mostly period costumes for Zia Sahib’s plays.

In 2013, she went for the short course in Lighting Design from the Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas(SILV) which offered a hands-on course. She appeared in the examination and earned the Seal of Qualification. She has directed her first children’s play ‘Ali Baba Chalees Chor’. They did 30 performances for various schools which include 15 performances for underprivileged schools funded by Youth Initiative by US AID. Since then she is directing children’s plays every year and these plays have a huge demand among schools.

In September 2014, she has directed a farce named ‘Sua Din Chor Kay’ for NRT which was very well received by the audience and the production earned good profit so it was decided by Zia Sahib to run it again. It was the only NRT Production that has two spells of 10 days each. It was also performed for collages in the morning.

In April 2015, she has directed a play for TKF by the name ‘Buray Phansey’ at the Karachi Arts Council. She has joined Haque Academy as a director for their annual Urdu play with their students on a contractual basis for three months. She has directed four plays with them to date. In 2016, she went for the Master Classes in Direction at the Barrow Group, New York. After her course, she participated in the Fast Play Festival as a director. She directed a play by the name of ‘Cup Cake’ with American actors. In 2017, she went to PNCA Islamabad with her romantic comedy named, ‘Meray Samney Wali Khirki Mein’ to participate in the National Theatre Festival. Her team did a movement presentation at the Karachi Biennale at the Farer Hall.

In February 2018, she was invited as a directed by the PNCA for the National Artist Convention where she was invited to discuss and shape the Cultural Policy of Pakistan. Then she went to Baku, Azerbaijan to attend the International Theatre Conference where she represented Pakistan. She has directed a play for Iqra University’s event which was organized to create awareness about domestic violence against women. She joined the Arts Council Theatre Academy as a Faculty Member for a year where she contributed to develop their course outline. In June 2019, she went to Dusseldorf, Germany under the Cultural Exchange Program by the Goethe Institute. She has attended the Impulse Theatre Festival which had avant-garde performances. It was a six-day program where she interacted with artists and theatre practitioners from all over the world. On her return she has directed ‘Pooja’ the first dance drama in the history of NRT. It has more than 20 performers and fires acts in the auditorium. She has directed a play for the First Women Conference at the Karachi Arts Council. The play was very well received by the audience. In the days of COVID, she has started her YouTube Chanel by the name of ‘Uzma Sabeen’ which has plays for children, poems, stories, comedy skits, and a series of interviews with the prominent names in Theatre. Her Writings

She has written a couple of Children's plays for stage by the name 'Sinbad' and 'Sultan'. From March 2021, she is writing articles on theatre and artists for the prestigious Azeem English Magazine which is being published in Islamabad and distributed nationwide.

https://aemagazine.pk/public/article/is-theatre-dying https://aemagazine.pk/public/article/women-directors-pakistani-theatre https://aemagazine.pk/public/article/tik-tok-vs-theatre https://aemagazine.pk/public/article/theatre-as-an-industry https://aemagazine.pk/public/article/theatre-and-politics

The link of her channel is as below: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY9o97mHgkLWFP6NEWaxQLQ