The Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts (HIDA), (Arabic: الْمَعْهَدُ الْعَالِي لِلْفُنُونِ الْمَسْرَحِيَّةِ, romanized: al-Maʿhad al-ʿĀlī li l-Funūn al-Masraḥīyah) (HIDA), was founded in Damascus, Syria, in 1977 by academics such as the playwright Saadallah Wannous, theatre critic Ghassan al-Maleh[1] and professor of theatre at Damascus University, Hannan Kassab Hassan.
[2] The institute initiated a new phase in the development of theatre in Syria through the preparation of a new generation of playwrights, theatre directors and actors in aspects of modern dramatic arts on an academic basis, including the actor Fares Al-Helou and playwrights Liwaa Yazji and Mohammad Al Attar.
[3] Mourad is also director of Leish Troupe, an ensemble for movement theatre that won the prize for best scenography in the Cairo International Festival of Experimental Theater in 2000.
[4] The institute has succeeded in making its mark on the theatre and dramatic arts scene of the Middle East, with performances in Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Germany and other countries.
[5][6] In his academic study on the social position of intellectuals and market forces, exemplified by commercial TV in Syria, Adwan Ziad, a former professor at the institute, "explores how the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus achieved an exceptional degree of prestige in Syrian cultural life.