This workshop is an immersive three-day experience led by acclaimed Lebanese actress Manal Issa, designed for performers seeking to deepen their craft through emotional truth and embodied presence. This is not an acting class in the conventional sense, it is a transformative space where participants are invited to strip away performance habits and reconnect with the raw, instinctive impulses that make us human.
Drawing from her extensive experience in both theater and international cinema, Issa brings a unique blend of discipline and vulnerability, creating an environment where actors can safely challenge their emotional range, confront personal barriers, and develop a visceral relationship with the material.
Rather than focusing on surface-level techniques, the workshop centers on presence, active listening, and the courage to feel fully in front of others. Through scene work, physical exercises, improvised monologues, and deep conversations about the realities of the industry, participants are encouraged to explore what it truly means to be seen, heard, and felt, not just as performers, but as whole beings.
Schedule
Day 1: Listening & Presence
- Theme: “The body knows before the mind does.”
- Physical warm-up: walking, stopping, listening
- Group introduction: name, age, and what’s going on in your head
- Scene work: short neutral scene played in different emotional tones
- Camera vs. audience: what changes? what stays true?
- Talk: What makes a good actor? myth vs. reality
- Partner exercises: mirroring, tension-release, eye contact
- Closing circle
Day 2: Emotion & Memory
- Theme: “Nothing is fake if you truly feel it.”
- Warm-up: breath, body, voice release
- Scene work: same scene, different characters—how emotion lives in the body
- Camera experiment: watching yourself—what is too much? what is not enough?
- Talk: Do I need to suffer to act?
- Emotional memory exercise (guided visualization into a past moment)
- Improvised monologues from memory triggers
- Closing circle
Day 3: Conflict & PowerDay 3: Conflict & Power
- Theme: “Saying no is a complete performance.”
- Group movement: confrontation exercises
- Scene work: a scene with conflict (anger, fear, silence)
- Talk: Power on set — directors, casting, red flags, protecting yourself
- Role reversal work: playing both sides of a conflict
- Group improv: the moment before everything explodes
- Partnered silent scenes (only physical reaction)
- Closing circle
Day 4: Final Presentation
- Presentation and filming of the final project
- Distribution of Certificates of Completion
You Will Also Get:
- A video to add to your portfolio
REGISTRATION
Level: Intermediate
Date: 5,6,12, & 13 July 2025 (4 Sessions total)
Time: from 11:00 to 18:00 (with a 1-hour break)
Place: Solo Films, Monot, Beirut
Tuition: $250/Person full workshop
OR: $75 for single-day sign-up
Instructor: Manal Issa
Register now, and pay on the first day of the workshops.
INSTRUCTOR
Manal Issa
An award-winning French-Lebanese actress known for her emotionally raw and compelling screen presence. She was first discovered in 2006 while studying industrial engineering in Angers, when director Danielle Arbid cast her in the lead role of Peur de Rien. Her performance earned her the Best Actress award at the Festival des Arcs, launching her into the international spotlight.
Her breakout led to a collaboration with Bertrand Bonello in Nocturama, which premiered at major international festivals including Toronto and San Sebastián. In 2017, splitting her time between Paris and Beirut, Issa appeared in five diverse films: The Bra by Veit Helmer, Ulysse et Mona by Sébastien Betbeder, Deux Fils by Félix Moati, Une Jeunesse Dorée by Eva Ionesco, and My Favorite Fabric by Gaya Jiji, which was selected for Un Certain Regard at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
In the following years, she continued to take on bold and challenging roles. In 2019, she starred in Memory Box by Khalil Joreige and Joana Hadjithomas. In 2020, she led The Sea Ahead by Ely Dagher, which premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, and appeared in Follia by Charles Guérin Surville. In 2021, she co-starred with her sister in Netflix’s globally acclaimed The Swimmers by Sally El Hosaini, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. That same year, she played the lead in The Anger by Maria Surae.
Her 2022 performances included the lead in Black Box, directed by Asli Özge. In addition to these, she starred in Le Quatrième Mur by David Oelhoffen, La Dame Blanche by Maryanne Zehil, and Manal Issa 2024, a unique portrait film by Elisabeth Subrin.
Now based in Beirut, Manal Issa continues to work on a variety of film projects while also completing her own screenplays. Her career is defined by fearless choices, a deep commitment to the art of acting, and a powerful blend of vulnerability and strength that has earned her international acclaim.
