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Biography

Overview:

Sami Ismat is a Research-Practitioner in Performance & Theatre from Damascus, Syria. His practice is interdisciplinary like Total Theatre his work integrates performance art, physical theatre, visual storytelling, devising techniques, documentary, puppetry and digital media. Sami is a multi-hyphenated artist and academic who contributed as a director, producer, actor, writer, collaborator, filmmaker, dramaturge, and cultural consultant on a variety of projects from theatres to museums to galleries to street performances to unconventional spaces. He is one of the co-founders of Chicago SWANA Collective that focuses on creating SWANA cultural performances and live events. Additionally, Sami is a professionally licensed soccer coach and sports administrator with winning a couple of trophies at a regional and state level with Edgewater Castle Football Club.

Artistic Bio: 

Select theatre directing, Muzzled by Reza Shirmarz (Chopin Theatre/Gwyndion Theatre), Was Dinner Good, Dear Sister? (Steppenwolf LookOut), Mihbaj by Riad Ismat (Stratford East, London), Picnic Summit (Collaboraction), and Ghosts of Freedom (Greenhouse Theatre).

Select new play development & stage readings: Pureland by Mehdi Moradpur (Goethe-Institut Chicago with Silk Road Cultural Center), OFF WHITE or the Arab House Party by Alyssa Haddad (Backstitch Story Arts), Uzbek by Talgal Batalaov (Silk Road Rising).

Select Performance Art project: Every Time I Step Towards Freedom (Dfbrl8r Art Gallery/Zhou B Art Center). Veni, Vedi, Vici (SAIC), the activism performance Sitting in Our Lap & Plucking Our Beard, and By a Shore Rests a Body (New Blood Festival at Links Hall). Collaborations also include acclaimed works such as New Normal by Jonas Becker (Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago), Atlas Unlimited by Karthik Pandian and Andros Zins-Browne (Logan Center Exhibitions & the Graham Foundation).

Select Film & Video work: Transfixed premiered at Collaboraction's Peacebook Online. Lemon & Oil (Pivot Arts Festival),

Select Dramaturgy & Cultural Consulting: Siluetas by Erlina Ortiz & Robi Hager staring Tony award winner KO (Northwestern University), POTUS by Selina Fillinger (Steppenwolf Theatre), Bald Sisters by Vichet Chum (Steppenwolf Theatre).

In addition to the above Sami’s work participated in a dozen of festivals and he worked on hundreds of various projects including acting in several films, TV series, theatre productions, commercials, and performance art pieces.

Teaching Philosophy: 

My teaching philosophy is rooted in creating a classroom environment that prioritizes the four C's = Community, Care, Collaboration, and Culture. I am a firm believer that a successful classroom strives to dismantle traditional hierarchies through fostering a communal space where learning is dynamic, collaborative yet strategic. I experiment with a multitude of pedagogical practices such as un-grading, critical response process, and various models that encourage different modes of participation within a creative, emphasizing a process-based learning, rather than a results oriented module. I encourage students to take ownership of their work and approach it with a creative curiosity using their own impulses as a springboard to grow and expand upon. I focus on supporting students bring their cultural aspects and to connect through an intercultural and polycultural aspect. I try to balance play, self-express, and intellectual discourse through game-like activities, physical exercises, field trips, and academic discourse. I believe that students learn best not just by reading but by also doing field research and embodied research connecting to their physical, emotional, and spiritual parts of themselves. Ultimately, my goal is to empower students to become cultural producers, innovators, and holistic leaders in their respective fields no matter what careers they choose to take.

Research Focus: 

Sami’s research explores Arab culture and identity, grief, forced exile, war, diaspora stories, and Arab representations in media with a specific focus on Syria. Sami is interested in examining the relationship between Islam, ritual, performance, storytelling and healing but with awareness of the dynamics of presentation and representation in a multicultural environment. Sami’s academic writing includes several essays, book chapters and reviews.

Academic Writings: 

Ismat, Sami. (forthcoming 2027/28) “The Architecture of Terror & the Digital Performativity of Syrian Prisons”. Architectural Heritage in War and Displacement, edited by Tasoulla Hadjiyanni, University of Minnesota.

Ismat, Sami. “Syrian Artist Najah Al-Bukai Visualizes Unutterable Realities”. Arab Art and the Geography of Post-Imperialism, edited by Sultan Al Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi & Patrick M. Kane, Barjeel Art, Sharjah (expected 2027)

Ismat, Sami. “Embodied & Socially Engaged Dramaturgical Forms Inspired by Contemporary Ethnography & Cultural Studies”. Decolonizing Dramaturgy in Global Context, edited by Dr. Jimmy Noriega: Bloomsbury, London (expected 2027)

Ismat, Sami. "Beyond Ruins: Exploring Architectural Nostalgia in Syrian Diaspora Art and the Resilience of Utopian Imaginings." Mizna, August 16, 2025.

Ismat, Sami. The Cave by Sadieh Rifai, Arab Stages, (expected fall 2025)

Ismat, Sami. Little Syria by Omar Offendum, Ronnie Malley, Thanks Joey, Arab Stages, volume 14, 26 November, 2023.

Ismat, Sami. Layalina written by Martin Yousif Zebari, directed by Sivan Battat. Arab Stages, Volume 14, 17 March 2023.

Ismat, Sami, “Deconstructing Myths via Performance Strategies: Experiences of a Contemporary Practitioner.” , edited by , Xenia Gazi, Sam Bowker: Routledge, March 21, 2022, pp. 199-212

Degrees

B.A., Mass Communication American University of Sharjah 2013
M.F.A., Theatre Directing University of Essex 2016
M.F.A., Performance Art School of The Art Institute of Chicago 2020