Kholoud Sawaf was born and raised in Damascus, Syria. She has worked and trained in theatre and television in Syria, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and the United States. Recent credits include Much Ado About Nothing (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, T.Y.A), Vietgone, and 10,000 Balconies (TheatreSquared). 10,000 Balconies was conceived, written, and directed by Sawaf after having received a $250,000 grant from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art. A recipient of the Classical Directing Fellowship from the Drama League in New York, she collaborated with Tina Packer at Shakespeare & Company on Cymbeline. At the Manhattan Theatre Club (as a Jonathan Alper Directing Fellow) and at Oregon Shakespeare Festival (as part of the FAIR Program), she was the assistant director of Vietgone, both under the direction of May Adrales. Currently, she is co-devising and co-directing Curbside Theatre in collaboration with ARKANSASTAGED ensemble, while also collaborating with playwright Joe Claroco and actor/educator Mohamad Al Rifaie on a new work Rafiq (Onley Theatre Center). She was a lead on Producing in Pandemic with Calling Up Justice and the first recipient of a tech justice gift of a new computer. Sawaf holds an MFA in Directing from the University of Arkansas and a B.A in Mass Communication from the American University of Sharjah.

https://www.kholoudsawaf.com/