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THE SIEGE
WHO’S WHO
US PREMIERE OCTOBER 12-22, 2017
Nabil Al-Raee was born and raised in the Palestinian refugee camp Al-Arroub. He joined Theatre Day Productions in the 1990s and traveled to Tunisia and Europe before returning to Palestine. He joined the Freedom Theatre in 2007 as a trainer and went on to become Artistic Director, continuing co-founder Juliano Mer-Khamis’s work after his murder. Nabil has directed many notable productions, including The Siege and travels globally delivering workshops and participating in conferences.
CREATED AND DIRECTED BY Nabil Al-Raee and Zoe Lafferty WRITTEN BY Nabil Al-Raee CAST Faisal Abualhayjaa, Alaa Abu Gharbieh, Rabee Hanani, Motaz Malhees, Hassan Taha, and Ghantus Wael CREATIVE TEAM Andy Purves, Lighting Designer Anna Gisle, Set Designer Dror Feiler, Composer Mo Yousef, Costume Designer Nikola Kodjabashia, Composer Noor Al-Raee, Composer Joy Sarah Arab and Malek Bsat, Translation Mustafa Stati, Video Design Baraa Sharqawi, Skip Schiel, Photography PRODUCTION Mo Yousef, Production Stage Manager Adnan Naghnaghiye, Head Technician Ahmed Desouki, Video Collection Zoe Lafferty, Researcher Sami Saadi, Sound Engineer Paper Mache Monkey Art and Design Studio & Joe Silovsky, Set Build (US) ArKtype/Thomas O. Kriegsmann, Producer (US) Jonatan Stanczak & Mustafa Sheta, Producers (Jenin) Mo Yousef, Associate Producer (Jenin) Jenny Tibbels, Associate Producer (US) Matthew Covey/CoveyLaw, Immigration Services SPECIAL THANKS Jay Wegman, Amy Coombs, Jon Dunkle, Ronni Mandel and the amazing team at NYU Skirball, Institute for Middle East Understanding, Jewish Voice for Peace, Gary English, Oskar Eustis, Matthew Covey, Shanta Thake, Grady Barker, Annie Hamburger, Linda Chapman, Jim Nicola, Christopher Hibma, Rebekkah Magor, Gigi Kriegsmann, Mia Yoo, Leila Buck, Vallejo Gantner, Melanie Joseph, and all of the people who so generously shared their stories and contributed to the making of The Siege.
Zoe Lafferty is a writer, director and creative producer whose credits include Queens Of Syria (Young Vic/New London Theatre/UK Tour), The Host (National Youth Theatre/The Yard), And Here I Am (Shubbak Festival/UK Tour), The Siege (Nottingham Playhouse/UK Tour/The Freedom Theatre, Palestine), The Keepers of Infinite Space (Park Theatre), The Fear of Breathing (Finborough Theatre/Red Theatre, Tokyo), Concrete Jungle (Riverside Studios), Sho Khman? (Schaubühne Berlin/European Tour/The Freedom Theatre, Palestine), Gaza: Breathing Space (Soho Theatre), Adult ChildDead Child (Unicorn Theatre/Edinburgh Festival), Alice in Wonderland (Freedom Theatre, Palestine). Zoe spent a year as a director on attachment at The Old Vic as part of the Old Vic 12. Previously she was an Associate Director at The Freedom Theatre, Creative Producer at Ice&Fire, and an Associate Artist at The Red Room. Her work has taken her to Afghanistan, Yemen, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Haiti, the Syrian revolution and working at the heart of some of the most pressing issues in the UK. Zoe has developed work with the National Theatre of Wales, Wales Lab, Hammersmith Lyric and SOAS University and wrote and published The Fear of Breathing with Oberon Books. Zoe trained as a Director at Drama Centre, London, and at the Vaktangov Theatre School, Moscow. www.zoelafferty.com Faisal Abualhayjaa is a freelance actor/ director from Jenin Refugee Camp, Palestine. He was part of the first generation to train and graduate at The Freedom Theatre Acting School. As
resident actor/director (2011-2016), Faisal was in many productions that toured both Palestine and internationally. He played Momins el Kabeer in Lost Land, Jihad in The Siege, and Winston in The Island. He was a performer in TFT’s Playback Theatre Company. He projectmanaged The Freedom Bus, bringing cultural resistance to communities across Palestine. Faisal was also a tutor at The Freedom Theatre Acting School and directed Twani (tour) and Hamisha Saamida (India). Faisal has represented The Freedom Theatre across the globe and is an ambassador for Cultural Resistance. Since 2012 Faisal has been a Clown for Red Noses International, bringing laughter into children’s hospitals across the West Bank. He is responsible for training and supervising new clowns. He has received training at the International School of Humor. He forms a part of the Emergency Smile team, and in 2016 spent two months performing in Greek refugee camps. In 2016 Faisal founded the Palestinian Laughter Liberation (PLL). PLL is the first physical theatre and clown company in Palestine that uses politics as its inspiration. Our politics are simple: laugh about it, and you can change it. Alaa Abu Gharbieh was born in Jerusalem in 1991 and graduated from the Palestinian national theater Alhakawati in Jerusalem 2008. Since 2012 he has worked with local and international theaters including projects with Palestinian directors such as Kamel El Basha and Amir Nizar Zuabi, and French Egyptian director Adel Hakim in Roses and Jasmine and Antigone, performing it more than 120 shows around Europe. Alaa’s goal is to keep theater work active for the people of Palestine, especially the youth, and using the form to communicate at home and to the world. Rabee Hanani was born in Nablus, Palestine and moved to Ramallah in 2011 where he graduated with a bachelor of performing arts degree in acting from Drama Academy Ramallah, part of the German University Folk Wang. He is compelled as an actor by thoughtful, nuanced theatre in varied aesthetics. He firmly believes in the transformative power of theatre and cinema—as a social,
political, emotional, and humanistic force. Above all, he is committed to a life in cinema and theatre as a means of participating in the artistic dialogue that is so vital to the health of any society. He was most recently seen as Hanna, a young restaurant owner, in Dandara an online series by the BBC Media Action. Other recent regional credits include Hazbara, a piece by the Al-Hara theatre and The Siege. Apart from that he was part of producing the Ghost Hunting film that won the best documentary of The Berlinale Festival Prize 2016. Rabee is currently establishing with his colleagues a theatre group in Palestine named Karka’a Ensemble. In their first project he wrote and directed Elements, which is currently touring as part of theatre festivals in the region. He is also preparing for a storytelling performance tour in Europe as an actor, in November 2017, with the Dutch theatre company BureauBarel. Motaz Malhees is a 23-year-old actor born and raised in Palestine, experiencing economic and political hardships under occupation. Actively interested in acting since age 9, he lives through theatre and believes in the potential of art to transform people’s ideas and lives. He received his professional training in Stanislavsky, Brecht, and Shakespeare at The Freedom Theatre and in Commedia dell’Arte at Theatre Hotel Courage in Amsterdam. Motaz has trained with internationally acclaimed directors such as Juliano Mer Khamis and Nabil Al-Raee, Di Trevis (Royal Shakespeare Company), Thomas Ostermeier (Schaubühne Theatre), and Katrien van Beurden (Theatre Hotel Courage). Stage credits with The Freedom Theatre include Return to Palestine (tours to West Bank, NAPA Festival, Pakistan and ICS, Jordan); Alice in Wonderland; What Else – Sho Kman?; The Caretaker; Suicide Note from Palestine; Courage, Ouda, Courage (with Theatre Hotel Courage); Power/Poison; Freaky Boy; and a multilingual adaptation of The Epic of Gilgamesh entitled Da Imortalidade (2015, Teatro da Cornucópia). Films include Think Out of the Box (2014, dir. Mohammad Dasoqe) screening in Palestine, Germany and Mexico; Past Tense Continuous (2014, dir. Dima Hourani) and with director Ameen Nayfe. Motaz produces and performs in short films on
social issues in Palestine which have received a wide following on social media platforms. Anna Gisle is a Swedish scenographer and costume designer. For over 30 years she has been creating sets for plays, operas, ballets and musicals across Sweden and Norway,The Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, the Gothenburg Opera, the Oslo National Theatre and many other stages large and small. Her collaboration with The Freedom Theatre began in 2011 with the set design for The Caretaker. Andy Purves is a lighting designer working in theatre, circus and educational projects. Lighting designs include projects made with: Common Wealth; Original Theatre; Royal Academy of Music; Giffords Circus; Theatre Royal, Plymouth; Old Vic; Royal College of Music; Tara; Hightide; Talawa; Watermill, Newbury; Frantic Assembly; Freedom Theatre, Palestine; Nuffield, Southampton; Unicorn; National Centre for Circus Arts; Sherman, Cardiff; Young Vic; Eastern Angles; New Perspectives; Inspector Sands; Spymonkey; Barbican, London; Sydney Theatre Company; Caroline Horton; Northampton Royal; Stan Won’t Dance; Tamasha; Brighton Festival; Tom Adams; Annie Siddons and the National Theatres of Wales and Scotland. Andy won a Knight of Illumination Award for his work on Frantic Assembly’s The Believers in 2014. www.andypurves.com Hassan Taha is a Palestinian actor, born in north Palestine in 1983. Before commencing his studies at the Department of Theatre at Haifa University, he had never stood in front of an audience. After graduating he made his debut at Al Midan Theatre in Haifa, then moved to other theatre companies in Palestine. He has appeared in many plays such as Everyone Wants to Live, The Odd Couple, Persona Non Grata, The Absent, Men in the Sun, and Blood Wedding. In 2008 he won the best actor award at Monodrama Theatre Festival in the Palestinian city of Akka. In 2015 he embarked on the highly successful UK tour of The Siege by The Freedom Theatre, the largest-ever touring production by a Palestinian theatre company.
Hassan Taha believes in the magic of the body. He works with different acting styles and specializes in masks theatre. He has also been involved as a storyteller and playback theatre actor in The Freedom Theatre’s Freedom Bus project, where people from across Palestine and abroad join communities in some of the key areas of oppression and resistance in occupied Palestine. In addition to acting, Hassan Taha writes and adapts text. Ghantus Wael was born and raised in the Upper Galilee, Northern Palestine, 1988. After finishing high school, Ghantus was not sure about the future of his education; he studied French cuisine and lived in Istanbul for one year until he finally found the drama academy in Ramallah where he finished his studies. Ghantus has participated in many theatrical and cinematic works – local and foreign. This includes: This Flesh is Mine, a play based on the Iliad (a British-Palestinian production) in collaboration with many international and Palestinian actors; Much Ado About Nothing, a play directed by Tawfiq al-A’ayeb – a Tunisian actor and director; The Crossing, a short film directed by Amin Nayfeh; The Golden Fish, directed by George Ibrahim. Mo Yousef is a freelance Production Stage Manager, and the first graduate in Palestine specializing in production and stage management. He is a graduate of The Freedom Theatre and trained at the National Theatre of Wales. He has production-managed and stage-managed theatre tours in Palestine, the UK, India, and the USA. For The Freedom Theatre his credits include: The Siege, The Lost Land, Enemy, Suicide Note From Palestine, Power/Poison, Hamisha Saamida. Other credits include: 150 (National Theatre of Wales) and Man to Man (The Millennium Centre, Wales). Yousef also has experience as a lighting assistant, costume designer and sound designer and specializes in creating theater in difficult circumstances. ArKtype is a curating, management and production company founded by producer Thomas O. Kriegsmann and specializing in new work development and touring. Over 12 years ArKtype’s work has grown to encompass renowned artists from twenty different countries,
multiple genres and commercial and non-profit support structures resulting in new work for a variety of spaces. His work includes projects with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Peter Brook, Daniel Fish, Victoria Thiérrée-Chaplin, Yael Farber, Annie-B Parson & Paul Lazar, John Cameron Mitchell, Lisa Peterson, Peter Sellars, Julie Taymor and Tony Taccone. He recently curated and premiered the American Democracy Series at Sibiu International Theatre Festival, produced the Ringling International Arts Festival in Sarasota, FL, and most recently served as Director of Programs at New York Live Arts. Recent productions include Big Dance Theater/Mikhail Baryshnikov’s Man In A Case, Byron Au Yong & Aaron Jafferis’ (Be)longing, the U.S. premiere of Nalaga’at Deaf-Blind Theater’s Not By Bread Alone (NYU SKirball), and Andrew Ondrejcak & Shara Worden’s You Us We All. Ongoing collaborations include 600 HIGHWAYMEN, 59 Productions, Ars Nova’s UNDERGROUND RAILROAD GAME, Nora Chipaumire, Bryce Dessner, Daniel Fish, Kaneza Schaal & Chris Myers, Aaron Landsman, Reverend Billy & The Church of Stop Shopping, Brent Green, Rude Mechs, John Cameron Mitchell, Jessica Blank & Erik Jensen, Sam Green, and Compagnia T.P.O. Upcoming premieres include Sam Green & Kronos Quartet’s A Thousand Thoughts, Bryce Dessner’s Perfect Moment on Robert Mapplethorpe featuring Roomful of Teeth, the Bay Area version of (Be)longing directed by Lisa Peterson, 600 HIGHWAYMEN’s Death of a Salesman, Kaneza Schaal & Christopher Myers’ Cartography I, Nora Chipaumire’s #PUNK100%*NIGGA and Jessica Blank & Erik Jensen’s How to be a Rock Critic based on the writings of Lester Bangs. www.arktype.org Facebook: arktypebk
DIRECTORS’ NOTES The idea behind the making of this play is the coming together of the known and the unknown: a sacred, historic landmark; an anonymous group of fighters; and a pivotal incident that received worldwide coverage but was soon lost in
the plethora of tragic events unfolding in Palestine then and now. We began to research the story in 2014. The freedom of a British passport meant Zoe could travel across Europe working with journalist Ismael Jabarine to collect the stories of the exiled fighters. They went from Ireland to Spain, Greece and Italy. In Palestine they met civilians and monks with no chance to enter Gaza, while Nabil would interview people on Skype, including one of his childhood friends. The Siege of The Church of the Nativity is one story out of thousands from the second intifada and Palestine. But it still rises in the collective memory of Palestinians not just because they were affected directly by it but because the situation for the exiled participants remains unresolved. For Nabil, growing up in Al-Roub Camp situated just outside Bethlehem, the story is a personal one. For people of Jenin, many of the experiences in the church were replicated in the Invasion of Jenin Camp. With The Siege we aim to tell the story behind the western propaganda, upending the dominant narrative of the time: ‘the terrorists have entered a holy place and have taken the priest and nuns hostage.’ It is not a story of victimization but one of resistance in a situation of complete power imbalance. In 2015, we opened The Siege in Jenin Refugee Camp at the 4th Anniversary of the murder of Juliano Mer Khamis, and from there has seen its share of challenges. The production went on to tour across the UK and despite death threats, protests and a backlash from right wing media saw sold-out runs across the tour. Postponements and cancellations from a number of institutions continue due to fiscal and political pressure, including here in New York which has witnessed a number of attempts to silence the Palestinian voice. We are excited and still in disbelief that we will perform in New York and are grateful to all the people who have fought to make this happen including ArKtype, The Friends of TFT and NYU Skirball. — Nabil Al-Raee and Zoe Lafferty
THE SIEGE CHRONOLOGY APRIL 1, 2002 In Israel’s military campaign to hunt down Palestinian terrorists, tanks surround the West Bank Palestinian town of Bethlehem. APRIL 2 Israeli warplanes, tanks, and troops launch a major ground and air attack on Bethlehem. Heavy fighting breaks out in the streets of the Old City behind Manger Square as Israeli soldiers enter homes and religious buildings in search of militants. Israeli soldiers pursue Palestinians through Manger Square. Approximately 200 Palestinians fleeing from Israeli troops break into the compound around the Church of the Nativity. Around 60 priests, monks and nuns who live in the church compound are trapped inside with Palestinian civilians and gunmen-among them, several heavily armed militia members, including Ibrahim Abayat and Jihad Ja’arie of the Al Aqsa Brigade. The militants had sought refuge in the Square near the church thinking Israel would not fight so close to a Christian holy site. (The fourth century Church of the Nativity was built over the site where Christians believe Jesus was born; it is one of Christianity’s most sacred places. Today the church compound is managed jointly by three different Christianbgroups: the Armenian Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Greek Orthodox Church.) APRIL 3 The standoff begins. The Palestinians holed up in the church are surrounded by Israeli forces. At first, the trapped Palestinians eat food stored by the monks and nuns who live there; over the next few weeks, conditions deteriorate as food and water run out and all but one line of electricity is cut off.
APRIL 4 Samir Ibrahim Salman, the church bellringer, is shot dead by Israeli snipers when he runs out of the church. An Israeli spokesman later says the sniper fired when Salman appeared to be ignoring shouted orders to stop; they feared that he might be a suicide bomber. APRIL 5 Four Franciscan priests come out of the church and leave Bethlehem under Israeli escort. Israeli army spokesmen say statements made by the priests indicate that the clergy in the church are being held hostage by the Palestinian militants; a spokesman for the Franciscan order told reporters that the clergy inside were “voluntary hostages” who were remaining in the church to show solidarity with the trapped Palestinians and because they believed that their presence in the church would help avoid further bloodshed. APRIL 8 The Vatican calls on Israel to respect holy sites and demands an explanation for the fighting around the church. Israeli President Moshe Katsav replies the next day with a letter to the Pope saying that Israel will continue the siege until the Palestinian gunmen surrender. Gunfire damages the exterior of the church and starts a fire in an adjoining building. One Palestinian is killed and two Israeli soldiers wounded in the gun battle; each side claims the other fired first. APRIL 10 An Armenian monk is shot and seriously wounded by the Israelis; the next day, an Israeli military official says the soldier mistook the monk for a Palestinian gunman. Israel ratchets up the pressure on the Palestinians. It sends a blimp fitted with surveillance cameras above Manger Square and sets off a number of loud but harmless explosions. Over loudspeakers, the Israelis call on Palestinians to surrender and broadcast sirens and other noises.
APRIL 12 The Christian Franciscan order appeals to Israel to release the Palestinians and to provide water and power to the clerics trapped with them. APRIL 14 Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon says that the trapped gunmen have a choice of either facing trial in Israel or accepting permanent exile. The Palestinians refuse. More gunfire is exchanged. A Palestinian is shot and killed; an army spokesman says he was armed and preparing to shoot at the Israeli troops. APRIL 17 A Palestinian leaves the church and is shot and wounded by Israeli soldiers and later taken to a hospital for treatment. A sick priest is also evacuated to the hospital. APRIL 18 Israel cancels scheduled negotiations to end the standoff, according to Bethlehem Mayor Hanna Nasser. APRIL 20 A Palestinian negotiator tells reporters that food and water in the church have run out. Five Palestinians escape down ladders left leaning against a church wall by Israeli soldiers. APRIL 23 The first round of face to face negotiations to end the standoff begins in the Peace Centre across Manger Square from the church. The Israeli team is led by Lt. Colonel Lior, the Palestinians by former PLO commander Salah Taamri. The first day, it seems neither side will compromise: the Israelis reiterate Sharon’s demand that the gunmen on Israel’s wanted list face either trial in Israel or deportation, while the Palestinians insist that the wanted men should be sent to Gaza for Palestinian judicial proceedings. Three priests leave the compound.
APRIL 24 Two Palestinians inside the compound are shot by Israeli snipers; one later dies from his wounds. Two unarmed Palestinians surrender to Israeli forces, saying they are sick. Army spokesmen say the men are members of Palestinian security forces. In the second day of negotiations, the two sides forge their first deal. The Israelis agree that the decomposing remains of two Palestinians killed earlier in the siege may be removed from the compound; in exchange, the Palestinians will allow a group of teenagers to leave. APRIL 25 Nine Palestinian youths emerge from the church carrying the corpses of two Palestinian policemen in homemade coffins. Israeli forces question the youths and then release all but one of them to their homes. One was detained by secret security because he was suspected of planting explosives in Jerusalem, according to Israeli negotiator Lt. Colonel Lior. APRIL 26 Four Palestinian policemen surrender to Israeli troops; two Palestinians inside the compound are wounded by Israeli sniper fire and evacuated for medical treatment. APRIL 27 The Palestinian delegation returns from a meeting with Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and are ready to make a “food for people” deal. Palestinian representative Salah Taamri offers to go in and speak to those in the church about the fate of the men wanted by Israel and to try and convince those inside to release a group of innocent civilians in exchange for food. By this time, stocks of food inside the church are long gone and people now are eating plants growing in the courtyard. APRIL 29 In Ramallah, a similar siege on Yasir Arafat’s compound ends with six men on Israel’s wanted list released into Palestinian custody. Israeli negotiators realize that their mandate to fight for Israeli jail or deportation for the men wanted in Bethlehem is likely no longer in force.
This Ramallah agreement inspires Palestinian negotiators to call for a similar deal for the wanted men in the church. Palestinian militia leader Nidal Abayat — one of the men on Israel’s most wanted list — is killed by an Israeli sniper in the church courtyard. Palestinian negotiators break off talks. Israelis say Abayat was firing an automatic weapon from within the church. APRIL 30 Twenty-four Palestinians leave the church as part of the “food for people” deal brokered by Lt. Colonel Lior, but the food is not delivered. The authority of the Israeli negotiating team has been usurped by separate negotiations taking place between Israeli and American politicians. According to Lt. Colonel Lior, the Israeli strategy shifts “from negotiati[ng] to agreement as a primary tactic, to block[ing] the area and increas[ing] the pressure as a primary tactic.” Fire breaks out in buildings adjacent to the church compound after a heavy exchange of gunfire. The video is broadcast around the world. Both sides blame the other for starting the blazes, which are extinguished within the hour. The international press is invited back to Manger Square by the Israelis in an attempt to minimize PR damage. MAY 2 Dodging Israeli gunfire, a group of international peace activists bringing food, and a Los Angeles Times photographer, sneak into the church. Once inside, they describe the deteriorating conditions to reporters by telephone, saying people have only grass and leaves for food. Negotiations take on political urgency. There is mounting U.S. pressure for a deal prior to a scheduled meeting between U.S. President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The Israeli negotiating team on the ground is informed that their mission is over. Gun battles around the church continue. An armed Palestinian is shot dead by Israeli troops; two others are severely wounded.
MAY 3 Three sick and exhausted Palestinian policemen emerge from the church and are taken into Israeli custody. MAY 5 Negotiations intensify when American representatives, as well as top aides to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, join the talks. CIA agents arrive in Manger Square accompanying a delegation of high ranking Palestinians under orders from Yasser Arafat to release a list of those in the compound. Israeli troops shoot and kill an armed Palestinian in the compound. MAY 6 A tentative deal, brokered by the U.S., is reached: the Palestinian fighters will be released, with those considered by Israel to be the most dangerous going into exile in Europe, most likely in Italy, those less wanted released into Palestinian custody in Gaza. The rest would go free. MAY 7 Italy refuses to take all the exiles, thwarting the deal. MAY 9 Cyprus says it will take the 13 men on Israel’s most wanted list temporarily while a decision is made on their ultimate destination. MAY 10 The siege ends; all Palestinians leave the church. The 13 most wanted men, including Ibrahim Abayat, are flown to Cyprus; 26 others, banished from the West Bank, are taken to Gaza. MAY 22 European Union negotiators finalize the arrangements for 12 of the exiled Palestinians: three will go to Italy, three to Spain, two each to Greece and Ireland, and one each to Belgium and Portugal. They will initially receive a one year temporary residence permit in their host countries. The thirteenth Palestinian, believed by Israel to be the most dangerous and the leader of the militants during the siege, will remain in Cyprus until a country is found that will accept him. Source: Frontline: The Siege of Bethlehem pbs.org
INDEFINITE ARTICLE THE SIEGE BY OSKAR EUSTIS The very essence of the drama is empathy, the act of seeing through the eyes of someone different than yourself. The first extant drama we have in the western canon is Aeschylus’ The Persians, which tells the story of the Greeks entirely unexpected victory over the Persians in the second great invasion of Greece in 480 BC. Greek forces triumphed over Xerxes’ army, thus proving for the Greeks that free men fought better than slaves and mercenaries, and that democracy was more resilient than a dictatorship. A mere eight years later, Aeschylus retold this story — from the Persians point of view. The audacity of this act is breathtaking, even 2500 years later. Aeschylus was asking his audience to take a huge empathic leap, to sympathize with their enemies. We only know two things about the reception of The Persians: it didn’t win any prizes that year, but it made so strong an impression that many people wrote it down, passed it from hand to hand, and it became one of the very few Greek tragedies to survive the collapse of the classical world and come down to us today. The Freedom Theater of Jenin was founded by Juliano Mer-Khamis as a way of using art rather than violence to create political change. He understood that only by seeing each other as people, looking at seemingly intractable dilemmas from all sides, could change really come to his society. He was a brilliant actor, a courageous leader, and a hero: a man who gave his life in attempting to change the world. His friend and pupil, Nabil Al-Raee, has taken the theater Juliano founded to even greater heights. His play The Siege is a thoughtful, powerful look at his hometown, Bethlehem, and the siege of the Church of the Nativity in the spring of 2002. He gives us a great gift
by dramatizing, in brilliant and visceral terms, what it felt like to the Palestinians who were holed up in the Church for over a month — their despair and passion, their anger and vulnerability, their arguments and their struggle. The Siege is necessary theater, doing what theater does best: opening the world up to us by seeing it through the eyes of someone else. Oskar Eustis is an Arts Professor in NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ Art and Public Policy Program. He has been the Artistic Director of the The Public Theater since 2005.
SUGGESTED READINGS Augusto Boal, Theatre of the Oppressed (New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1993). Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman, Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation (San Francisco: Harper Perennial, 2017). Matan Cohen and Tala J. Manassah, “The Freedom Theatre: Lessons from a Refugee Camp” in Not Just a Mirror: Looking for the Political Theatre of Today (Berlin: Alexander Verlag, 2015). Ismail Khalidi and Naomi Wallace, Editors, Inside/Outside: Six Plays from Palestine and the Diaspora (New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2015). Ari Shavit, My Promised Land (New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2013). Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003).
EVENTS BEYOND THE STAGE
ABOUT THE FREEDOM THEATRE
ART AND/AS RESISTANCE: A SYMPOSIUM IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE SIEGE OCT 15, 3 PM Join us on for two roundtables that bring together scholars, artists, and activists whose work focuses on the art of resistance, broadly construed. These roundtable discussions take the Freedom Theatre’s advocacy of Palestinian art and culture as a starting point to consider the work of cultural resistance in local and global contexts – particularly alongside contemporary US art, politics and activism. Speakers include Rula Jebreal, Natalia Kaliada, Helga Tawil-Souri, Rashid Khalidi, and Sarah Schulman. More information and RSVP at nyuskirball.org. At NYU Tisch’s Burrows Theatre 721 Broadway RSVP Required: nyuskirball.org
My dream is that The Freedom Theatre will be the major force, cooperating with others in generating a cultural resistance, carrying on its shoulders universal values of freedom and justice. — Juliano Mer Khamis
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SIEGE OCT 15, 6 PM NYU’s Taub Center for Israel Studies presents a showing of the PBS Frontline documentary The Siege of Bethlehem, followed by a discussion with Col. Lior Lotan, the former Israel Defense Forces chief hostage negotiator who was involved in the 2002 siege. At NYU Taub Center’s Screening Room 53 Washington Sq South RVSP Required: rsvp.taub@nyu.edu SKIRBALL TALKS: TONY KUSHNER & OSKAR EUSTIS OCT 16, 6:30 PM Tony Kushner and Oskar Eustis join Nabil Al-Raee, author and co-director of The Siege and former artistic director of the Freedom Theatre, and Zoe Lafferty codirector of The Siege. At NYU Skirball. RSVP Required: nyuskirball.org More readings and digital humanities may be found at nyuskirball.org/ beyond-the-stage.
The Freedom Theatre (TFT) is a cultural center in the heart of Jenin Refugee Camp in the northern part of occupied Palestine. For Palestinians, artistic expression is an integrated part of the struggle for justice, equality and freedom. TFT contributes to this struggle by creating a platform for cultural resistance. For TFT, cultural resistance means using creativity as a tool for liberation. Cultural resistance begins with giving space for people to discover themselves, to define their identity - who they are, not who others want them to be. Art allows us to unveil the essence of who we are. When we know who we are we can tell our own story – through theatre, writing, photography, filmmaking, painting, or any other medium – and create change, in our lives, in our society, or in the world. The Freedom Theatre draws its inspiration from a unique project: Care and Learning, which used theatre and art to address the chronic fear, depression and trauma experienced by children in Jenin Refugee Camp. Set up during the first Intifada the project was run by Arna Mer Khamis, a revolutionary who devoted her life to campaigning for freedom and human rights, together with women in the refugee camp. The fierce and energetic humanity of this woman, who was born to a Jewish family and who had chosen to live and work among the Palestinians, inspired children with possibilities for an alternative reality. Arna was awarded the Right Livelihood Award also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize in 1993 for her “passionate commitment to the defense and education of the children of Palestine.” With the award money she built a children’s
theatre named The Stone Theatre, which was later destroyed in the Israeli invasion of the refugee camp in 2002. Arna’s work is documented in the internationally awarded film Arna’s Children directed by Juliano Mer Khamis, Arna’s son who in 2006 co-founded The Freedom Theatre. Juliano was the General Director of the theatre until 2011, when he was brutally assassinated by an unknown enemy of culture and freedom. The Freedom Theatre offers workshops and training in acting, community theatre, photography, filmmaking and creative writing. TFT produces theatre performances, runs a three-year professional theatre school and arranges solidarity events in communities across the West Bank. Since opening its doors in 2006 more than 100,000 people from Jenin, other parts of Palestine and the world, have come together in the theatre to create, learn from each other and join forces in a mutual struggle for freedom — be it personal or collective. TFT’s work raises questions. That is in fact our main responsibility, inviting a multitude of voices, ideas and experiences and open windows to new worlds. But we do not offer solutions. The questions will by themselves inspire thoughts, ideas and ultimately change. And the answers will come from within each human being. Website: www.thefreedomtheatre.org Email: info@thefreedomtheatre.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/ thefreedomtheatre Twitter: @Freedom_Theatre Instagram: thefreedomtheatre
FROM THE FRIENDS OF THE FREEDOM THEATRE We are thrilled to welcome The Freedom Theatre’s production of The Siege, coming directly to you from the Jenin refugee camp in Jenin, Palestine. For decades the
Palestinian voice has been largely absent from American stages, academic circles, and intellectual and cultural life. We believe we need this voice of resistance now more than ever, and hope The Siege will be one of many Palestinian cultural efforts seen and heard in the months and years to come. The Friends are the U.S. support group for The Freedom Theatre and its mission to bring the power of the arts to the Palestinian resistance. Despite arrests, Israeli army break-ins, and the assassination of Juliano Mer Khamis on April 4, 2011, the Theatre has survived and persisted in producing 25 original plays and adaptations before more than 100,000 children and adults, and touring 15 countries. We are deeply grateful to Tommy Kriegsmann of ArKtype and Jay Wegman of NYU Skirball for their exceptional work on this project, Jim Nicola and Linda Chapman of New York Theater Workshop for their support and advice, and Oskar Eustis, Kathleen and Henry Chalfant, Dinky Romilly and Terry Weber for their outstanding generosity. Huge thanks to our generous underwriters who helped make this tour possible: Patricia Ann Abraham, Laurie Arbeiter and Jennifer Hobbes, Nesbitt Blaisdell, Robert and Rhea Brooks Family Fund, Inea Bushnaq, Judith Butler, Matthew and Helene Byrnes, Alexandra Chasin, Mary Patricia Davis, Eleanor Friedman, Jill Kirchner, Yoram and Felice Gelman, Nizar and Valerie Ghoussaini, Jeannette Grauer, Howard Horowitz and Alisse Waterston, The Marquit-Grieser Fund, James Ottaway, Jr., Karen Ranucci, Harold Samhat, Anas and Marjan Shallal, Helen Schiff, The Sparkplug Foundation, Jean Stein, Anthony and Margo Viscusi, Anonymous and many more. Our work is made possible by the generous financial, administrative and logistical support of many. Please consider supporting The Freedom Theatre by donating online: thefreedomtheatre.org/make-a-donation Or via US tax-exempt partner MECA: mecaforpeace.org/meca-projects/ jenin-freedom-theatre
WHAT’S NEXT ... MORTON SUBOTNICK: SILVER APPLES OF THE MOON NOV. 3 Pioneering American electronic music composer and NYU faculty member Morton Subotnick presents a rare concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of his groundbreaking record Silver Apples of the Moon, the first electronic album ever to be commissioned by a classical record label. Often called the “founding father” of electronica, Subotnick’s work “Silver Apples” has become a modern classic and was recently entered into the National Registry of Recorded works at the Library of Congress. DJ SPOOKY: REBIRTH OF A NATION NOV 4 A reimagining of director D.W. Griffith’s infamously racist 1915 silent film The Birth of a Nation, DJ Spooky’s Rebirth of a Nation is a controversial and culturally significant project that examines how exploitation and political corruption still haunt the world, but in radically different forms. The project was DJ Spooky’s first large-scale multimedia performance piece and has been performed around the world. THE SACHAL ENSEMBLE NOV. 5 CO-PRESENTED WITH WORLD MUSIC INSTITUTE In the early 2000s, a devoted group of surviving Lahore musicians gathered privately to rehearse and revive their tradition. They made recordings of classical and folk music at first; but, with local listeners for the music having dwindled away, the group began to make music for a global audience outside Pakistan. Fast forward to May 2016, when Universal Music Classics released the album Song of Lahore, a fully integrated East-meetsWest companion album inspired by the sounds and story of the film. Come experience this incredible ensemble live.
ADRIENNE TRUSCOTT: ASKING FOR IT NOV 10 Radical comedian, activist and performance artist, Adrienne Truscott’s Asking for It … mixes humor, dance, video and puppetry, while undoing the rules and rhetoric surrounding rape. Truscott straddles the world of stand-up and performance art, dressed only from the waist up and ankles down. With commentary from George Carlin, Louis C. K. and Robert De Niro, Truscott takes on ducks, mini-skirts, rape whistles, Cosby and #45. Heavy at its core but light on its feet, Truscott makes jokes about rape all night long…even if you ask her to stop. JUSTIN VIVIAN BOND NOV 11 Mx Justin Vivian Bond presents a raucous and seductive evening of songs and stories. Declared a “cabaret messiah” by Time Out/London, Bond is a transgenre artist living in New York City. As a performer, both on and Off-Broadway, Mx Bond has received numerous accolades, winning an Obie (2001), a Bessie (2004), a Tony nomination (2007), the Ethyl Eichelberger Award (2007). V authored the Lambda Literary Award winning memoir TANGO: My Childhood, Backwards and in High Heels (The Feminist Press, 2011). THE HYPOCRITES: PIRATES OF PENZANCE NOV 29-DEC 10 Swimming pools, twinkly lights, a wellstocked Tiki Bar and beach balls welcome the audience to this raucous and utterly zany beach party adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance. The entire audience joins the cast on the stage-beach, immersed in the action alongside sappy pirates, dewy-eyed damsels, bumbling bobbies and one very stuffy Major General. It is a spunky model of a (post)modern major musical. FOR TICKETS AND MORE INFO: nyuskirball.org