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 Ms. Sawaf having received a $250,000 grant from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art. A recipient of 2020 - 2021 National Directing Fellowship, 2017 'Classical Directing Fellowship' from the Drama League in New York where 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 ArkansasStage Ensemble, while also collaborating with playwright Joe Calarco and actor/educator Mohamad Al Refai on a new work Rafiq (Olney Theatre Center). Kholoud is an Associate Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), and a member and at the Nhna Cultural Club in Damascus, Syria,(providing artistic, educational, and cultural exchange between Syrian artists). Ms. Sawaf holds an MFA in Directing from the University of Arkansas and a B.A in Mass Communication from The American University of Sharjah.