Musician in Residence, 2022-2023
Lama El Homaïssi (she/her) is an immigrant performer and writer from Lebanon currently based in Brooklyn, New York.
Born to a family of artists in Beirut, Lama grew up behind-the-scenes witnessing the inspiring works of her father, Faek Homaïssi, including his original musicals and mime plays that he would write, produce, direct, and often front. She would assist him on his productions, while developing and honing her performance skills on the side, knowing she would eventually follow a similar path as a creator-performer.
Lama’s professional career started as a television writer and producer for several years on regional formats produced by Sony Pictures Television Arabia and Talpa Middle East such as The Voice: Ahla Sawt, The Voice Kids, So You Think You Can Dance: Yalla Norkos, as well as an original, award-winning concept she developed with the Talpa ME team titled Ana Zahra Jr., aimed at empowering girls age 8-14.
Alongside her television career in reality and talent shows, Lama continued her passion of writing fictional screenplays, while also performing as a singer in Beirut venues. It wasn’t until she pursued her MFA in Musical Theater in the U.S. at Boston Conservatory at Berklee in 2017 that she began to marry her love of writing and performance into one.
There, Lama’s interests came together as she wrote and fronted her first one-person show Article 534, a verbatim piece about the law that bears the same name and targets the LGBTQIA+ community in Lebanon.
Most recently, Lama was an artist-in-residence at SHIM:NYC, a residency program spearheaded by a coalition made up of Artistic Freedom Initiative, Tamizdat and Joe’s Pub. Throughout the two year residency, she developed two original pieces: her second cabaret show Not Harem Material about her experience as an immigrant performer in the U.S. (premiered at Joe’s Pub in 2023), and her first musical play Radio Beirut which is still in workshop. Lama is extremely grateful for the additional support she received from Joe’s Pub Working Group (which she was a member of 2022-2023), Westbeth Artist Housing and SPACE on Ryder Farm to work on these pieces.
Website: lama-elhomaissi.com | Instagram: @lama.elhomaissi
