[1][2] Some scholars, such as Abdulatif Shararah, have divided Lebanese theatre into three historical phases centered on 1) translations of European plays, 2) Arab nationalism, and 3) realism.
[6] On a visit to Italy in late 1846, Maroun Naccache was exposed to theatre and upon his return to Lebanon, he wrote an Arabic adaptation of L'Avare (Al Bakhil).
[7] The increase of theatrical productions is evident in advertisements for plays and critical reviews that appeared in the publication of the arts magazine, Thamrat Al Funun, starting in 1875.
[9] Le Théâtre de Dix-Heures, focusing on comedy, was established in 1962 by Gaston Chikhani, Pierre Gédéon, Abdallah Nabbout and Edmond Hanania.
[6] Mahfouz is credited for sparking the creative elements of many playwrights and actors, such as Raymound Gebara, Jalal Khoury, Nidal Achkar, and Antoine Courbage.
A series of plays that centered around the folkloric character, the fool of Chanay, were produced by Nabih Abou Al Hosen and staged at the theatre of Casino du Liban.
Also, Romeo Lahoud continued to produce musicals with Salwa Al Katrib[15] and so did the Rahbani brothers who introduced new singers to the public, the sisters Ronza and Fadia Tomb.
The majority of theatres in Lebanese are based in the capital[16] The sons of Mansour Rahbani continued in the tradition of their father and have produced several musicals[17] that were staged in Baalbeck, Byblos and overseas.
[21] Théâtre de Beyrouth, a vestige of pre-war Beirut,[22] was a small theatre known for its cutting-edge productions and performances[23] in various languages, Arabic, French, and English.
[26] Lebanese dancer-choreographer Georgette Gebara was conferred with the new honorary membership of the International Theatre Institute at the 33rd ITI World Congress that was held in China in 2011.