A World I Loved: The Story of an Arab Woman

Written by Mariam C. Said and Vanessa Redgrave and directed and narrated by Vanessa Redgrave, A World I Loved is a one-of-a-kind theatrical event based on the memoir of Said’s mother, Wadad Makdisi Cortas, an Arab woman who lived through and chronicled one of the most tumultuous periods in recent history.

Beginning in Lebanon in 1917 and spanning over half a century, through the creation of Israel to the Lebanese Civil War, A World I Loved interweaves Cortas’ personal experiences as a student, teacher, and then principal of the Ahliah School for Girls in Beirut with the wider political and historical narrative of Lebanon throughout the 20th century.