Photo by: AFP

Nidal al-Ashkar, a well-known figure in the Arab world, roped in popular movie and theatre actress Nada Abu Farhat and a bunch of energetic amateurs for the production, entitled "It was a long night in front of the embassy's gate. The play does not just discuss the emigration of the young, but also addresses the problems that push them to emigrate," said Askar, who is also a human rights activist. "The state is impotent. It has failed in over 60 years to bring about an open-minded, non-sectarian citizen," Ashkar told AFP.

The musical is now playing at Beirut's Al-Madina Theatre. Ashkar said she decided to write the play after her two sons and their friends moved abroad. "All of a sudden, I had an empty house," she said.

Emigration has been a common phenomenon in Lebanon since the 19th century. However, economic hardship, a 1975-1990 civil war and a devastating war with Israel in 2006 has seen emigration increase.
According to Guita Hourani, associate director of the Lebanese Emigration Research Centre at Notre Dame University in Beirut, some 1.2 million Lebanese citizens left the country between 1975 and 2007. The total population of the country stands at about four million.