Director saves theater, looks for soul of Beirut

Chicago Tribune: "For more than a year, Ashkar has struggled to revive a theater known as Masrah al-Madina, housed in the city's old Saroulla cinema. She brings determination, defiance and not a little faith to the task, inspired by nostalgia. By saving the theater, she insists, she can save the avenue that hosts it, Beirut's storied Hamra Street, the remnants of what was perhaps the most cosmopolitan mile or so in the Arab world."