Slimane Benaïssa

Slimane Benaïssa (in Arabic: سليمان بنعيسى), born on December 11, 1943, in Guelma in eastern Algeria, he is one of the pioneers of Algerian Popular Theater, but above all an internationally recognized director. Slimane Benaïssa's two sons, Mehdi Benaïssa and Khaled Benaïssa, also practice an artistic discipline.

However, his university career is not, a priori, that of a literary person, he began studying Mathematics before doing his military service in 1965 in Cherchell. The ruins of the Roman theater of ancient Caesarea in Mauritania (now Cherchell) will have more resonance in him than the bugle of the military barracks, he then began a career in theater in 1967. At that time, he wrote Boualem Zid El Goudem (Boualem goes forward), at the same time as he co-directed the first amateur theater troupe in Algeria, "Théâtre et Culture".

Close to Kateb Yacine, he adapted La Poudre d'Intelligence for the theater, this work will continue with the translation into dialectal Arabic of all his work, with in particular a collaboration for the dialectal formatting of Mohamed Prends Ta Valise (which will tour in France in 1970 and 1971), Palestine Trahie, Le Roi de l'Ouest and La Guerre De Deux Mille Ans.