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January 15–30, 2011

Save The Date: One Night Only!Save The Date: One Night Only!

Brochu Bikel

Directed by Derek Goldman

Featuring Will GartshoreWith James Konicek, Tonya Beckman Ross,

Michael Russotto and Deidra LaWan Starnes

Vaudeville is in Vogue, Burlesque is Booming, And on Monday, February 28...

Tickets—starting at $150— are on sale now at (202) 777-3225 or theaterj.org

Academy Award NomineeCo-Founder of The Cameri Theatre

Recipient of Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actor

in a Non-Resident Production, 2010

&Theodore Jim

A Benefit Concert Reading of Neil Simon’s

StarringTHE SUNSHINE BOYS

THE CAMERI THEATRE OF TEL AVIV’S

RETURN TO HAIFA

January 15–30, 2011

Brochu

Featuring Will GartshoreWith James Konicek, Tonya Beckman Ross,

Michael Russotto and Deidra LaWan Starnes

Tickets—starting at $150— are on sale now at (202) 777-3225 or theaterj.org

Recipient of Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actor

in a Non-Resident Production, 2010

Jim

THE CAMERI THEATRE OF TEL AVIV’S

RETURN TO HAIFA

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From the Artistic Director I like to call The Cameri Theatre, “The Lincoln Center of Israel,” a sleek, white patina-clad campus in the heart of the cultural capital of the nation, flanked by an opera house and a performing arts library, offering to its 35,000 subscribers five performance spaces, from immense auditoriums to more intimate studios and a cabaret space, presenting work that spans the gamut from the finest in classical repertory to up-to-the minute, cutting-edge Israeli and international work. And so it is an immense honor to be able to host the Cameri troupe here in our nation’s capital for, what appears to be, their longest North American residency ever. And what a vital, important project they bring to us, allowing us to experi-ence an almost forbidden dialogue, between Arab and Jew, about 1948, critically examining a foundational narrative from when Israel became a state, triumphing in its actualizing of the Zionist dream, in all its legitimacy, while at the same time—whether by dint of circumstance, design, or the result of abject rejection—triggering the displacement of families and the unfolding of the Palestinian refugee crisis.

An Important Encountering Even to convene this examination of opposing versions of history is to invite criticism from those who would criminalize mention of the word “Naqba,” or “Catastrophe,” the name that Palestin-ians use to describe the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 (even some Arabs living freely within Israel), while Jews the world-over refer to it as “The War of Independence.” A similar discrepancy per-tains to the 1967 Six Day War (the period immediately following wherein the bulk of this story takes place); a war that to most Israelis is regarded as a heroic triumph that saw the reunification of Jerusalem, while to others—be they Arabs living within Israel, or in surrounding countries and territories—an episode of national humiliation. How can a land comprised of such competing terminologies and meanings—a land fostering competing national aspirations—ever give rise to a peace between its inhabitants; a peace founded on mutual recognition, and a right to exist, and the necessary acceptance of the others’ historical predicament? In short, how to fuse from these two distinct historical narratives, a single, interwoven tapestry?

This production offers a sober lesson in the intricacies of attempting to negotiate such an attempt in the creation of Dov, or Khaldun (even his name is contested), the child of Palestinian parents, raised by Jewish Israeli survivors of the Holocaust. Can Dov/Khaldun, the peace child, sol-dier and prodigal son, be both Palestin-ian and Israeli, and can his two families support such a synthesis? On the other hand—and what makes this story so hopeful and so human—is his identity cri-sis really any different than any adopted child’s quest to determine where he be-longs?

A Literary and Theatrical AchievementThe brilliance of Ghassan Kanafani’s no-vella is that it creates a modern fable that resonates with tactile meaning, hewing to a realism in its pungent characteriza-tions and specificity of perspectives. The brilliance of Boaz Gaon’s adaptation is in the moment-to-moment reality in which these encounters between families (and

within families) unfold. The liberation that our adapter established in writing freely through the plot-points of the novella—with full permission given by the Kanafani estate—allows for a realism in the dialogue which convinces us that emblematic events such as losing a child in the tumult of war, might actually, frighteningly, have happened.

Arab refugees crowding a British ship carrying them to Akko. May 1948. John Phillips

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And the brilliance of the Cameri Theatre production is in its creation of a definitive Israeli read-ing of this classic Palestinian text, without attempting to mimic the didactic anthems that char-acterized some of the soliloquies in the original, written in 1968, and published a year later. The show’s first production introduced the resonant plot and pulsatingly-real characters to an Israeli public celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel in 2008. In the most generous way possible, it allowed the story to speak fairly, even-handedly, thrusting the central question before the public to experience and debate in the finest tradition of socio-political drama. Now in the winter of 2011, the production hits our city with the force and novelty of a time capsule landing in a backyard. How faded do the hopes for finding mutual recognition and a fully integrated two-state solution now appear? How foreign to look upon a courtyard in an Israeli city and find travelers from Ramallah sitting down for tea with a suspicious yet curi-ous Israeli host? Less than three years after its premiere, this Israeli Return to Haifa is more poignant than ever for all the cross-cultural dialogue and mutual reckoning that seems hardly to be taking place at all.

Why Not in English?We are showing this play in Hebrew (and some Arabic) be-cause that is the only way the Kanafani family wished the play to be shared in North America; as an Israeli adaptation; not the definitive English language version. There have been other versions of this tale in the Arabic speaking world, and there will be others to come, perhaps, someday, in English. This is a landmark Israeli effort to better understand one of the most seminal narratives in Pal-estinian literature. May we live to see many more such efforts, on both sides; of each reading and adapting the stories of the other to yield ever-more ques-tions, brighter light, and deep-er understanding. At Last!We should note that a Cameri tour to Theater J was to have happened two years ago with a different show, as we’d an-nounced and planned for the production of Plonter, an ensemble-devised piece in 19 scenes about the Gordian knot that represented the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, hop-scotching between Palestinian and Israeli characters living on both sides of The Wall, or The Fence, or The Separa-tion Barrier; call it what you will. The 21 person touring troupe proved too big for us to afford in the fall of 2008 as the economy turned and we lost key subsidizing of plane fares and hotel ac-commodations. Our economy hasn’t improved all that much—but our producing fortunes have—this time, in addition to support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, we’ve received key funding from the Fisher Family Foundation, the law firm of Carliner & Remes which helped secure three different categories of travel visas, and a great deal from our good friends at the Carlyle Suites Hotel, as well as support for the Washington DCJCC’s Israel programming through the arts from the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and key support for much of the cost of airfare from the Israeli government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which helps to make available the fin-est in Israeli culture year after year. We’re grateful that this historic residency is able to take place. And we’re excited that this production will anchor a nine play Voices from a Changing Middle East Festival of readings and performance pieces exploring varying notions of home. Buy a Festival pass and take the entire journey with us. -Ari Roth

From the Artistic Director cont.

Jewish families leaving the old city through Zion’s Gate. June 1948. John Phillips

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Theater J Council

Washington DCJCC Leadership

President Mindy Strelitz Chief Executive Officer Arna Meyer MickelsonChief Operating Officer Margaret Hahn Stern

Chief Financial Officer Judith IanualeChief Development Officer Mark SpiraChief Programming Officer Joshua Ford

Marion Ein Lewin Co-ChairPaul Mason Co-ChairLois Fingerhut Vice-ChairCarolyn Kaplan Vice-ChairMara Bralove Treasurer Ellen Malasky Secretary

Natalie Abrams Patty AbramsonMichele G. BermanDeborah CarlinerMimi ConwayMyrna FawcettAnn Gilbert Cheryl GorelickYoav LurieJack MoskowitzElaine ReubenEvelyn Sandground

Hank SchlosbergAndy ShallalPatti SowalskyStephen SternManny StraussBarbara TempchinTrish VradenburgJoan WesselRosa WienerIrene WurtzelBernard YoungMargot Zimmerman

Theater J’s Passports Educational Program The Jacob & Charlotte Lehrman Foundation

The Arlene and Robert Kogod New Play Development Program Arlene & Robert Kogod

The Fisher Family Visiting Artists Program Robert M. Fisher Memorial Foundation

Theater J’s Angels This select group has provided generous support for RETURN TO HAIFANatalie & Paul AbramsAnne & Ronald AbramsonJoan & Peter AndrewsCarliner & Remes, P.C.Carlyle Suites HotelThe DC Commission of the Arts & HumanitiesLois & Richard EnglandLois & Michael FingerhutIsraeli Ministry of Foreign AffairsThe Jewish Federation of Greater Washington

Zena & Paul MasonMid Atlantic Arts FoundationJoel Wind & Al MunzerNational Endowment for the ArtsPatti & Jerry SowalskyMargaret, Sarah & Stephen Stern In memory of Saul SternMarvin WeissbergThe Abe & Kathryn Selsky Foundation, Inc.

Naomi & Nehemiah Cohen Foundation

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CastSaffiyeh Raida AdonSa’id Suheil HaddadDov Erez KahanaMiriam Rozina KambosArtzi Michael TeplitskyEphraim Nisim Zohar

Artistic & Production Team Scenic Designer Frida ShohamLighting and Projection Designer Klyph Stanford**Costume Designer Ofra ConfinoDirector of International Relations & Tour Manager Ifat TubiStage Manager Nissan ZehiraAssistant Director Jason SchlafsteinAssistant Stage Manager Jay ChiangSur-title Coordinators Lena Sulpovar, Nayab HussainMusic Mika DanyProperties Michelle ElwynWardrobe Jenny Bernson, Paula Wang Board Operators Elliot Lanes, Aaron Waxman

Theater J and The Cameri Theatre would like to extend Special Thanks to:

The Arlene and Robert Kogod New Play Development Program Arlene & Robert Kogod

RETURN TO HAIFA

The Jewish FederationOF GREATER WASHINGTON

January 15–30, 2011Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater/Morris Cafritz Center for the Arts

Patrons are requested to turn off pagers, cellular phones and signal watches, and to refrain from tak-ing photographs, text messaging, or making a recording of any aspect of this performance.

** Member of United Scenic Artists Local 829

NATIONALENDOWMENTFOR THE ARTS

Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Roz & Don CohenThe Foux and Sorkin Families for their generous donation to the original productionFilmmaker David Goldenberg for the documenting of this productionThe Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department of Scientific & Cultural AgreementsThe Embassy of Israel, Department of Cultural AffairsLee G. Rubenstein for his efforts on behalf of Theater J and this production’s success Robert A. Remes and Suerah Shirazi of Carliner & Remes, P.C.

Theater J presentsThe Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv’s Production of

RETURN TO HAIFAAdapted by Boaz Gaonfrom the novella by Ghassan KanafaniDirected by Sinai Peter

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From the Adapter, Boaz Gaon“There’s nothing to say. Words are powerless”.

- Saffiyeh to Miriam, Return to Haifa About ten years ago, in the fall of 2000, a short novella by Ghassan Kanafani came to my atten-tion. Dr. Ami Elad Buskila, one of Israel’s leading experts on Arabic literature, then based in Oxford, introduced the novella to me amidst a swarming group of Middle Eastern students at the School of Oriental and African studies, in London. My wife and I were living there at the time, and it is from there that we watched the Israeli-Palestinian peace process break down, burst into flames, de-volve into a political impasse—tragic and deadly—which has claimed the lives, so far, of thousands of Israeli and Palestinian men, women and chil-

dren. Hundreds of children have been killed since and more will perish in the future, which still—amazing as it may sound—does not seem bright-er than it seemed then, just before the breakdown of the Camp David peace talks which has plunged the region—or put differently, our lives and the lives of my children—into enduring dark-ness. Dr. Elad-Buskila was surprised: Had I really not heard of Ghassan Kanafani? And of “Return to Haifa” in particular, one of the most important texts in modern Arabic literature? Cleverly con-cealing the gist of the story, so as not to ruin the shock of the forthcoming artistic experience, he concentrated instead on Kanafani’s delicate and rare portrayal of a Jewish Holocaust survivor, in the novella. “Remember,” he said, “that Kanafani wrote the novella in 1968, only a year after the Six Day War, the fall of Pan Arabism, and the beginning of the occupation.” Kanafani was also, in our terms today, a militant: he was the spokesperson of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He was [allegedly] assassinated by the Israeli Mossad in 1972 together with his 14 year old niece. “Read it,” said Ami. And I did. Ten years later, I can still recall my reaction. Simply put, I was shattered. What do you do, asked Kanafani, when there’s nothing to be done? What do you say, when nothing’s to be said? What happens when two people are violently thrown against each other and a reality produces itself which is so insoluble, so devastating, so plainly cruel and murderous that the words themselves become powerless? “There’s nothing to say”, says Saffiyeh, the Palestinian mother of the lost Khaldun, to Miriam, the adoptive parent of the child raised as an Israeli—Dov. “Words are too weak.” Words will not bring back her son. Words will not bring back her house, which she built and bled for. And for Miriam, words will not revive her own lost son, who was murdered in Poland during the Holo-caust, nor will it relieve her aching fear of her losing her own house, her own child, without whom she has nothing. Better then, so it seems, to keep silent; to burn quietly in the fires of war; to watch, as Sa’id says later in the play, as Haifa becomes a tomb; a headstone, to the lives of thou-sands of children who turn to soldiers who turn to statues, silent and frozen and dead. As I am writing these words, my children are playing downstairs. One day they will become soldiers and perhaps one of them—two of them?—will be severely injured, perhaps kidnapped, shot, die. But there’s nothing to do; there’s nothing to say; the crackle of the fire of war is too holy to silence; too beautifully unstoppable. And still, they speak. Sa’id to Miriam, Miriam to Saffiyeh, Saffiyeh to Sa’id and Saffiyeh to Miriam, with an urgency and desperation that only the tragic twins of history—the Jews of Israel and the Palestinians of Palestine—can fully understand. No one can better understand Miriam than Saf-fiyeh, as a bereaved mother. No one knows what Saffiyeh had sacrificed better than Miriam, not even Sa’id. They talk because they cannot help talking; their need is too great and their pain so immense and the basic human needs of living, and loving, mothering and fathering so desperate to flourish, that they do what humans do when they bother to believe their hearts instead of their political leaders—which is to find themselves in the lives of others. Saffiyeh is Miriam, after all, and Miriam is Saffiyeh. My own mother, a Jewish Holocaust survivor from Greece, who lost an entire family, cried at the end of Saffiyeh’s monologue, describing her flight from Haifa in ’48 and of leaving Khaldun, her baby, behind. Pain is pain is pain, loss is loss is loss; a child buried is a child buried; the fires of war are not holy and they are not beautiful (and this from a former lieu-

Boaz Gaon reading from his poetry

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“There’s nothing to say. Words are powerless”.- Saffiyeh to Miriam, Return to Haifa

About ten years ago, in the fall of 2000, a short novella by Ghassan Kanafani came to my atten-tion. Dr. Ami Elad Buskila, one of Israel’s leading experts on Arabic literature, then based in Oxford, introduced the novella to me amidst a swarming group of Middle Eastern students at the School of Oriental and African studies, in London. My wife and I were living there at the time, and it is from there that we watched the Israeli-Palestinian peace process break down, burst into flames, de-volve into a political impasse—tragic and deadly—which has claimed the lives, so far, of thousands of Israeli and Palestinian men, women and chil-

dren. Hundreds of children have been killed since and more will perish in the future, which still—amazing as it may sound—does not seem bright-er than it seemed then, just before the breakdown of the Camp David peace talks which has plunged the region—or put differently, our lives and the lives of my children—into enduring dark-ness. Dr. Elad-Buskila was surprised: Had I really not heard of Ghassan Kanafani? And of “Return to Haifa” in particular, one of the most important texts in modern Arabic literature? Cleverly con-cealing the gist of the story, so as not to ruin the shock of the forthcoming artistic experience, he concentrated instead on Kanafani’s delicate and rare portrayal of a Jewish Holocaust survivor, in the novella. “Remember,” he said, “that Kanafani wrote the novella in 1968, only a year after the Six Day War, the fall of Pan Arabism, and the beginning of the occupation.” Kanafani was also, in our terms today, a militant: he was the spokesperson of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He was [allegedly] assassinated by the Israeli Mossad in 1972 together with his 14 year old niece. “Read it,” said Ami. And I did. Ten years later, I can still recall my reaction. Simply put, I was shattered. What do you do, asked Kanafani, when there’s nothing to be done? What do you say, when nothing’s to be said? What happens when two people are violently thrown against each other and a reality produces itself which is so insoluble, so devastating, so plainly cruel and murderous that the words themselves become powerless? “There’s nothing to say”, says Saffiyeh, the Palestinian mother of the lost Khaldun, to Miriam, the adoptive parent of the child raised as an Israeli—Dov. “Words are too weak.” Words will not bring back her son. Words will not bring back her house, which she built and bled for. And for Miriam, words will not revive her own lost son, who was murdered in Poland during the Holo-caust, nor will it relieve her aching fear of her losing her own house, her own child, without whom she has nothing. Better then, so it seems, to keep silent; to burn quietly in the fires of war; to watch, as Sa’id says later in the play, as Haifa becomes a tomb; a headstone, to the lives of thou-sands of children who turn to soldiers who turn to statues, silent and frozen and dead. As I am writing these words, my children are playing downstairs. One day they will become soldiers and perhaps one of them—two of them?—will be severely injured, perhaps kidnapped, shot, die. But there’s nothing to do; there’s nothing to say; the crackle of the fire of war is too holy to silence; too beautifully unstoppable. And still, they speak. Sa’id to Miriam, Miriam to Saffiyeh, Saffiyeh to Sa’id and Saffiyeh to Miriam, with an urgency and desperation that only the tragic twins of history—the Jews of Israel and the Palestinians of Palestine—can fully understand. No one can better understand Miriam than Saf-fiyeh, as a bereaved mother. No one knows what Saffiyeh had sacrificed better than Miriam, not even Sa’id. They talk because they cannot help talking; their need is too great and their pain so immense and the basic human needs of living, and loving, mothering and fathering so desperate to flourish, that they do what humans do when they bother to believe their hearts instead of their political leaders—which is to find themselves in the lives of others. Saffiyeh is Miriam, after all, and Miriam is Saffiyeh. My own mother, a Jewish Holocaust survivor from Greece, who lost an entire family, cried at the end of Saffiyeh’s monologue, describing her flight from Haifa in ’48 and of leaving Khaldun, her baby, behind. Pain is pain is pain, loss is loss is loss; a child buried is a child buried; the fires of war are not holy and they are not beautiful (and this from a former lieu-

From the Adapter, Boaz Gaon cont.tenant in the Israeli army): they are cruel and they are ugly and they aim to cheat us into thinking that Words Are Powerless.Eight years after reading the original novella, the He-brew adaptation of Return to Haifa opened at The Cameri Theatre in Tel Aviv. A small storm erupted, with protestors from the Israeli far right demanding that The Cameri Theatre shut down the play, blanket our words, sanctify silence or else. My mother came to the play and cried. School buses filled with Israeli and Palestinian schoolchildren came to the play and were transfixed. In July 2008 the Bereaved Parents Circle, an Israeli and Palestinian organization of mothers and fathers who have lost their children and siblings in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, came to the play, sat in silence, and at the end of the play, stood outside of the theater for another two hours with tears in their eyes and immeasurable longing in their hearts. All that I have learned, since the Fall of 2000, the fall of Peace and the blossoming of War, has been burned into their minds, their hearts, their skin; that the comfort of silence is a lie; that there is no such thing as “nothing to say;” that it is the resort of deceiving cowards, who have lost too much or too little, to convince us that all that we can do, as parents, as Humans, is to noisily add more children to the fire. Boaz Gaon, Tel Aviv, December 2010

On the adaptation of “Return to Haifa” for the Israeli stageEarly in the adaptation process, director Sinai Peter and I reached a decision about what it is that we would want Return to Haifa, the play, to achieve. We did not want an intellectual experience—but a heightened emotional one. We did not want lengthy manifestos during which each side—as if such a thing exists—would boldly and ecstatically represent one hundred years of achieve-ment, either Jewish or Palestinian. What we did want was to reproduce the experience that Sinai and I had when reading the original novella; that of a heart shat-tered, pain exposed, frustration revealed and truth(s)

exposed. For the Cameri production of Return to Haifa to work, for an audience mostly Jewish and Israeli to respond, we would need to concentrate on the almost unbearable tension which builds between the Palestinian parents who gave birth to Khaldun, and the Jewish parents who adopted and named Dov, leading up to the inevitable, fateful, tragic, heart piercing encounter. I shared this sentiment with the surviving members Ghassan Kanafani’s family (safe-guardians of the Kanafani estate) who currently reside in Beirut and Denmark. To my relief, they allowed me to proceed. And we did, remaining faithful to the original setting and spirit of the novella while changing several elements to heighten the dramatic tension.

In the original novella, Miriam loses a brother in the Holocaust. We felt that losing a son would raise the bar dramatically and worsen her fear of losing her only source of human comfort; her adoptive son whose name she takes from the murdered son. Furthermore, the original novella ends with Sa’id calling for arms; calling for another war, yearning for his other son, Khaled, to join the Palestinian Fedayin and repossess what has been stolen. But our play opened in 2008, four decades of war later, with thousands of Israelis and Palestinians paying the price of this endur-ing illusion; that War is the Solution. What was needed instead, we felt [interpreting Ghassan Kanafani’s most poignant plea], was a cry of pain and accusation; a call to put an end to cruelty and injustice; almost a plea. At the end of the play, an opportunity arises. Dov, formerly Khaldun, invites Sa’id and Saffiyeh to spend the night in their lost house in Haifa. What then happens, during that night, is anyone’s guess. Do the truths which are revealed to the characters blossom or die? Do they continue talking through the night or retreat back into silence? We do not know. We do know, though, what should happen, what must happen, what we would like the following morning to look like. Or so we hope.

Scene from the Cameri’s original production of Return to Haifa

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Plot Synopsis of Return to HaifaScene OneThe play opens in 1967 as a Palestin-ian couple, Sa’id and Saffiyeh, make their way from Ramallah to Haifa. They intend to visit the home they fled in 1948, just prior to the end of the British mandate and the start of the Arab-Israeli war. The couple is drawn by more than an abandoned house—in the chaos of escape they left behind their infant son, and do not know what happened to him.

As they near their old home, the scene flashes back to April 1948. Polish Jew Ephraim Goshen meets with an official from the Jewish Agency at the same house, recently abandoned. Having fled Europe after the war and then spending seven months in a refugee camp with his wife Miriam, Ephraim pleads for a house of their own. The clerk, Artzi, explains that only families with children will be given a house and since Ephraim and Miriam are child-less—their son died in the Holocaust—they won’t be approved. Ephraim per-sists, and Artzi admits he may have a solution.

Scene TwoWe return to 1967, as Saffiyeh and Sa’id arrive at the house. We return to 1948, as Ephraim is thrilled to show Miriam the house they have just been granted. She is overjoyed but anxious—

what happens if the Jewish Agency changes their mind? As the couple begins

to discuss possible renovations, a baby is heard crying upstairs. Ephraim struggles to explain to his distraught wife exactly what he agreed to in order to secure the house, and the scene flashes to 1967. Sa’id and Saffiyeh stand outside the door of their old home, hesitating to ring the bell.

The scene returns to 1948, as Ephraim explains that to earn the house he agreed to care for the orphaned child, whose parents—he has been told—are dead. Miriam, still haunted by the loss of her own child, falters. Ephraim assures her that this is God’s way of asking their forgiveness. Miriam agrees to keep the child, but “only until the morning.”When light comes, they will have to decide what they will do. Ephraim heads to the market for supplies while Miriam sings a Polish lullaby to the sleeping infant.

Scene ThreeIt is again 1967, and Sa’id and Saffiyeh remain on the doorstep. They discuss what has changed about the house and look for hints about its current residents. Finally, the door opens and Miri-am greets them. She tells them she knew they must be the house’s former residents; she could tell by the way they “stroked the soil.” Unable to resist any longer, Sa’id asks about their lost son, calling him by his original name—Khaldun. Miriam avoids the subject, and then lies about the boy’s fate, claiming he was killed by Arabs while serving in the IDF. Saffiyeh explains that they only want to see him, just once. They reach a standoff when Sa’id and Saffiyeh refuse to leave. Miriam retreats into the house and Miriam and Ephraim argue—each blaming the other for their current predicament. Finally Miriam invites Sa’id and Saffiyeh inside. She’s received worried calls from the neighbors and it’s getting dark. “We’ll all catch cold” she says. They will wait for her “Dubinka” inside.

Scenes from the Cameri’s original production of RETURN TO HAIFA

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Scene FourThe scene begins in a flashback to 1954. Ephraim is searching for his young son, now named Dubinka. An argu-ment between Miriam and “Dov” sent him fleeing to the woods surrounding their home, and Ephraim beseeches him to come home. “You’ve got a moth-er who loves you. And a father” he pleads, “And a home. Everything’s fine.”

Back in 1967, Sa’id, Saf-fiyeh and Miriam await Dov’s return. Sa’id and Miriam argue about what really happened in 1948, while Saffiyeh longs to know more about “Khaldun.” The argument reaches a climax, and Sa’id retreats to the porch. The two women are left alone to talk about the child they have both loved.

They hear someone outside. It is Artzi, from the Jewish Agency, who is now a senior official in the Haifa municipality. Miriam introduces the unknown couple as relatives of her gardener. Artzi reminds Miriam of the debt she owes for municipal taxes and encourages her to sell the house to a private contractor. She refuses, and he leaves in a huff claiming that “the house is killing her!” Sa’id storms outside again, still nursing his anger.

Saffiyeh and Miriam, alone again, learn more about each other. Saffiyeh, for the first time in the play, shares with Miriam the events of that fateful day in 1948: she was putting “Khaldun” to sleep when the war erupted, unexpectedly. As she ran to the street to quiet the shouting horde, she was swept away by hundreds of people fleeing their homes in the direction of the water. At the docks she was reunited with Sa’id and they were forced onto a boat. When they reached Beirut they begged the Lebanese soldiers to let them go back for their child, and were told they could return when the war ended. But they weren’t allowed back, until now. When Saffiyeh finishes, Miriam tells her own heart-breaking tale, of losing her only son in the Holocaust. Sa’id returns, frantic. A soldier is approaching the house. A voice is heard from outside: “Mom! Ima, are you there?”

Dov enters the house, dressed in his Israeli paratrooper uniform. Miriam tries to explain what has happened—to ease the shock. But Dov reacts with anger. He has grown to resent the biologi-cal parents who seemingly abandoned him, and accuses them of “taking the house keys, but the baby… me… you left behind.” Miriam is embarrassed by her son’s behavior and she repri-mands him for his conduct. He is chastened by his mother’s firm words. The group sits down for tea and as they talk, it becomes clear to Sa’id and Saffiyeh that Dov’s place is in Haifa, not in Ramallah. Too much has changed for their “Khaldun” to return to them and live as a Palestinian.

Sa’id asks if Dov will defend Israel in the next war. Dov answers that there will never be another war in the Middle East, but Sa’id speaks of a future filled with fighting. As they finally prepare to leave, Dov invites Sa’id and Saffiyeh to stay the night—a drive back to Ramallah, in the dark, would be a dangerous undertaking. He offers to drive them back himself, in the morning. Saffi-yeh and Miriam go to prepare an extra bed. Left alone, Sa’id breaks down, and begs Dov to come to him, just once. As they are about to embrace, Ephraim enters the stage.

We are now both in 1954 and in 1967. Both fathers speak to the boy that is both Dov and Khal-dun, and he, as a child, answers. Both swear to love the child, and to quell his boyish fears. Dov, the child, begins to fall asleep just as Miryam and Safiyeh enter the stage. They all watch the boy try to sleep. The future remains an unanswered question.

Plot Synopsis of Return to Haifa cont.

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About Ghassan Kanafani, Author of Return To Haifa“After a little while he realized that he was driving the car through Haifa with the feeling that noth-ing in the streets had changed. He used to know Haifa stone by stone, intersection by intersec-tion…Oh, he knew Haifa well, and now he felt as though he hadn’t been away for twenty years. He was driving his car just as he used to, as though he hadn’t been absent those twenty bitter years.”

- Ghassan Kanafani, “Return to Haifa”

Ghassan Kanafani, the famous Palestinian journalist, novelist, and short story writer, was born in Akko in the North part of Palestine on April 9, 1936 and lived in Jaffa until May 1948. When the Arab-Israeli war started, Kanafani fled with his family first to Lebanon and then to Syria, where they settled as refugees. After finishing his secondary education he studied Arabic literature at the University of Damascus, during which time he joined the Arab Nationalist Party (later, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.) Kanafani worked as a teacher in Kuwait for a few years, then returned to Beirut in 1959 and became a spokesperson for his party, writing prolifi-cally in both literature and journalism. He died in 1972 when his booby-trapped car exploded, killing him and his niece in Beirut.

By the time of his untimely death, Kanafani had published 18 books and written hundreds of articles on culture, politics, and the Palestinian people’s struggle. His books were re-published posthumously in several editions in Arabic. His novels, short stories, plays and essays were also collected and published in four volumes. His writing has been translated into 17 different lan-guages and published in more than 20 countries; and has been adapted for film, radio plays and theatrical performances. His novella “Men in the Sun” (1962) was made into a film and trans-lated into several languages, including English. The film was banned in many Arab countries for pointing an accusing finger at the treatment of the Palestinian refugees. Another of Kanafani’s novellas, “All That’s Left to You,” is considered one of the earliest and most successful modernist experiments in Arabic fiction.

WASHINGTON DCJCC PARKING LOT Limited parking available.

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About HaifaHaifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a popu-lation of over 265,000.The city’s name first appeared in third cen-tury Talmudic literature and, although its ori-gin remains obscure, it’s been suggested that “Haifa” is related to the Hebrew words hof yafe, which mean ‘beautiful coast’.Haifa’s history has been set around its strategic location on a natural harbor on the Mediterra-nean Sea. Haifa’s historical roots can be traced back to the 4th Century CE when a small fishing and trading port was built there. The Persian occupation during the 6th Century CE acceler-ated the development of Haifa’s costal area. In 1099 the Crusaders laid siege to the city and sacked it, destroying the docks and shipyards. The city was later attacked again by the Mam-luke invaders. Haifa flourished again under Ot-toman rule in the 16th Century.

By the early 19th Century, Haifa’s Jewish community began to increase in tandem with the rise of Zionism. In 1898 Theodore Herzl visited Haifa and imagined what lay ahead for the fledgling city: “Huge liners rode at anchor…a serpentine road led up to Mt Carmel,” and “at the top of the mountain there were thousands of white homes and the mountain itself was crowned with imposing villas.” His predictions have proved amazingly accurate.

Haifa’s modern revival truly got under way with the construction of the Hejaz railway between Damascus and Medina in 1905, and the later development of lines to Akko and the south of the country. Land was reclaimed from the sea to create a neighborhood of offices and warehouses, and Haifa rapidly became the country’s shipping base, naval center and oil terminal. Much of this development took place during the British Mandate—the British were the first to exploit Haifa’s naturally sheltered position as a harbor, bucking the ancient trend of favoring Caesarea and Akko.As the country’s major new port, Hai-fa was the first sight of Israel for ship-loads of immigrating Jews. Prior to the British withdrawal from Palestine, Haifa became a Jewish stronghold and it was the first major area to be secured by the newly declared State of Israel in 1948. The city earned a reputation for liberalism, which, to a certain extent, it still maintains. The mostly secular Jewish community enjoys a better than average relation-ship with the local Arab population, who are mainly Christian.In recent years Haifa has shifted its economy from heavy industry to technology. This culminated in 2004 when two professors at Haifa’s Tech-nion were awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry after describing the manner in which cells destroy unwanted proteins. IBM also maintains a strong presence here, with a research labora-tory staffed by 600 people.

Source: Adapted from the Lonely Planet Guide to Israel and the Palestinian Territories

Haifa, 1948

Jewish immigrants arriving in Haifa following World War II.

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VOICES FROM A CHANGING MIDDLE EAST: PORTRAITS OF HOMEAdditional Readings & Performances Complementing RETURN TO HAIFA

ARGENTINA by Boaz Gaon Friday, January 21, 2:00 pm (Tickets $5*)A new work by the adapter of RETURN TO HAIFA •Directed by Sinai PeterFeaturing Noa Baum, Jenifer Deal, Rick Foucheux, Erez Kahana, Michael Kramer, Alexander Strain and Michael WillisThe Israeli daughter of a “disappeared” Argentinean Jew visits the former Ambassador to Argentina hoping to discover what became of her father 20 years earlier during the junta’s rise to power.

TO PAY THE PRICE by Peter-Adrian CohenSaturday, February 5, 8:00 pmDirected by Robert Kalfin Featuring Frank Anderson, Roger Clark, George Kareman, Dan Sickles and Grace ZandarskiA theatrical biography of Jonathan “Yoni” Netanyahu (brother of Benja-min), the only Israeli fatality of the 1976 rescue of Jewish hostages at the Entebbe airport in Uganda.

A RAILWAY TO DAMASCUS by Hillel MitelpunktMonday, January 24, 7:30 pmBy the acclaimed author of THE ACCIDENT • Directed by Sinai PeterFeaturing Dan Crane, Lindsay Haynes, Erez Kahana, Michael Kramer, Jennifer Men-denhall, Jay Saunders and Michael Tolaydo Haifa, 1942. With the German army approaching and tensions between Jews and Arabs on the rise, the British contemplate retreat. Sara is caught in a swirl of betrayal, fanaticism, and fear.

THE PROMISE by Ben BrownMonday, January 31, 7:30 pmDirected by Jason SchlafsteinFeaturing Norman Aronovic, Conrad Feininger, David Bryan Jackson, Michael Kramer, Mark Krawzyk, Jason Lott, Paul Morella, Marni Penning, Bob Rogerson and Jerry WhiddonEngland, 1917. Chaim Weizman entreats Lord Arthur Balfour and battles with Edwin Montagu in this “even-handed look back at history...As welcome as it is quietly fascinating” (The Telegraph).

I’M SPEAKING TO YOU CHINESE by Savyon LiebrechtMonday, February 7, 7:30 pmBy the author of APPLES FROM THE DESERT • Directed by Allison StockmanFeaturing Noa Baum, Stephen Patrick Martin, Helen Pafumi and James WhalenAt the Israeli Embassy Tickets must be purchased by February 4. Must have photo ID. The story of an Israeli family’s struggle after the Holocaust. Dark desires, secret love affairs, and the price of real estate make up the landscape of this funny, heart-breaking memory play.

All Readings and Performances $10* or Buy a Festival Pass for only $50!

For more information or to purchase, Call (800) 838-3006 or visit theaterj.org

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VOICES FROM A CHANGING MIDDLE EAST: PORTRAITS OF HOMEAdditional Readings & Performances Complementing RETURN TO HAIFA

THE ADMISSION by Motti LernerSunday, February 27, 7:30 pmFrom the acclaimed author of BENEDICTUS •Directed by Sinai PeterFeaturing Dan Crane, Lindsay Haynes, Stephen Patrick Martin, Jennifer Mendenhall, Jay Saunders, Salma Shaw and Michael TolaydoGiora, a battle-wounded professor, is engaged to Neta but still in love with Samia. Searching for truth about his father’s recently revealed war-time past, he threatens to break the family apart.

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Peace Café ! VIA DOLOROSA by David Hare Saturday, February 19, 8:00 pmOriginally directed for Theater J by Nick OlcottFeaturing David Bryan Jackson A reprise of our acclaimed production of master playwright David Hare’s journey to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. As relevant as it was a decade ago when it launched our Peace Café forum.

WRESTLING JERUSALEM by Aaron Davidman Saturday, February 12, 8:00 pmDirected by Aaron PosnerFeaturing Aaron DavidmanThis tour-de-force solo performance depicts one man’s journey from a summer camp in upstate New York to the Middle East; from S’derot to Ramallah; from idealism, to despair, to new hope.

THE HOUR OF FEELING and URGE FOR GOINGTwo plays by Mona MansourMonday, February 14, 7:00 pmDirected by Lise BruneauFeaturing Rasha ZamamiriIn 1967, a Palestinian academic arrives in England where he delivers a career-defining lecture. Presented with its sequel (pre-sented last spring) depicting family life in a Lebanese refugee camp.

All Readings and Performances $10* or Buy a Festival Pass for only $50! For more information or to purchase, Call (800) 838-3006 or visit theaterj.org

The 2011 Voices From a Changing Middle East Festival: Portraits of Home is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts and a grant from The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington to support Israel Programming through the Arts. This engagement of The Cameri Theatre is a DC Performing Arts Presenters Initiative project, made possible through funding by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation with support from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. The Cameri The-atre’s Residency is also supported by the Fisher Family Foundation Visiting Artist Endowment Fund.

The Jewish FederationOF GREATER WASHINGTONNATIONAL

ENDOWMENTFOR THE ARTS

VOICES FROM A CHANGING MIDDLE EAST: PORTRAITS OF HOMEAdditional Readings & Performances Complementing RETURN TO HAIFA

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Raida Adon (Saffiyeh) has degrees from the Art Department of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, as well as the Academy of Dance and Music in Jerusalem. Her acting credits include Snow White, Cinderella, the Red Shoe etc. at the Arab Chil-dren’s Theater Z’Beni; The Diwan and Pasatine at the Acre Alterna-tive Theater Festival, where she was singled out as an outstanding creator and actress; Jericho at Year Nought and The Something at The Alternative Theater Festival in Egypt and The Eyes that See at The Palestine Al-Chakawati Theater in Jerusalem. At The Cameri Theatre,

she performed in Plonter, Witches and Hebron. Her television appearances include “Neigh-bors,” “Army Training,” “Zinzana,” “Tranquility,” “The Block,” “Magen David Adom 101,” “Timrot Ashan” and “Hashiva Lachaim.” She has also acted in the Palestinian films The Three Lost Diamonds and The Olive Season which won first prize in the Egyptian Film Festival in 2003. Other films include Yellow Asphalt, which won first prize at the Haifa Film Festival in 2000, and first prize in Germany; The Trumpet in the Wadi, which won first prize at the Haifa Film Festival in 2001; The Ninth Month, Islands on the Beach; Whispering Embers and the Documentary film Yasmin which won First Prize at the Jerusalem Film Festival.

Suheil Haddad (Sa’id) has performed at the Jerusalem Khan Theatre and the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv. He is one of the founders of the Arab-Hebrew Theatre of Jaffa, where he has also performed. He won the Critics Prize at the Locarno Film Festival for his performance in Avanti Popolo; an award at the Valencia Film Festival for his leading role in The Milky Way; and an award at the Akko Festival of Alternative Theatre for his monodrama Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran. He is currently performing at the Al-Midan Arab Theatre in Haifa. He is an editor and producer at Israel’s Educational Television channel. His works include a documentary for the Arab audience, We

Were There, on the visit of an Arab-Jewish delegation to the Auschwitz death camp.

Erez Kahana (Dov) participated in acting and directing workshops at London’s Drama Centre and Actors Centre. He has performed in the Theater for Children and Youth, The Kibbutz Theater, Goshen Theater, and the Arab-Hebrew Theater of Jaffa, where he appeared in Peer Gynt Goes on a Journey. At the Teatro dell’Orologio in Rome he appeared in Isabel Allende’s House of Spirits, and spent five seasons in the city. In London he appeared in Close to Home, and as a dancer-actor was a member of the Cargo Dance Ensemble that performed all over Europe. Television and cinema credits include Sabbaths and Festivals and Skirt of Tears (First Prize at the Haifa Film Festival). He made a

guest appearances in “It’s All Honey,” “Our Song,” “Altalena” and “Cause for Concern.” He has appeared in 20 commercials in Israel and abroad. He has also appeared in Games in the Backyard and as Raffi in Johnnie Walked. In Israel, he appears in a TV series, and hosts a weekly radio program.

Rozina Kambos (Miriam) born and studied in Romania. Among her roles: Lady Macbeth, Hecuba in The Trojan Women, Jenny in The Threepenny Opera and Toinette in The Imaginary Invalid. Ms. Cambos immigrated to Israel in 1983. For the Beersheva Theater, she has played Hella in The Master and Margarita, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Katharina in The Taming of the Shrew, Titania and Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Fania Fénelon in Playing for Time. Among her roles at Habimah National Theatre are Dunyasha in The Cherry Orchard, Grusha in The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Fraulein Kost in Cabaret, Anita in A Small Family Business, The Mother in Nights

of Honey and Terror, Gorgeous Teitelbaum in The Sisters Rosenzweig, Serafina in The Rose Tattoo, Anna in Anna Weiss (1997 Klatchkin Prize), Veronica in Veronica’s Room, Ella Margolin in Along the Walls (Outstanding Actress Award, 1997 ) and Agonizing Mother in Walkers In The

About the Artists

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Dark (Best Actress, Israeli Theatre Awards 1998). She has recently won the Best Supporting Actress Award for her role in the film The Human Resources Manager. Since 1997, she has performed at The Cameri Theatre. Among her favorite roles are The Aunt in Dona Rosita the Spinster, Lily Chatterton in Two Into One, The Baroness in The Italian Straw Hat, Her Ladyship in The Dresser, Matilda in Caviar and Lentils, Margaret the governess in The Father, as well as many leading roles in Israeli plays, television series and films.

Michael Teplitsky (Clerk) is a graduate of the St. Petersburg Academy of Theatre, Music and Cinema, and the Beit Zvi School of the Perform-ing Arts in Israel. He has performed at the Orna Porat Theatre for Chil-dren and Youth, Habima National Theatre, the Yiddishspiel Theatre, the Malenki Theatre, Gesher Theatre, Tmuna Theatre, and the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv. International projects include The European Shake-speare, A Midsummer Nights’ Dream at the Dusseldorf Municipal Theatre; Courage at the London Aspect Theatre; Don Quixote at the Bochum Municipal Theatre in Germany; and an Israeli-Russian project, The Immigrant Position. He gained first prize for his monodrama Con-

trabass at the Teatronetto Theatre Festival, and has acted in films and commercials.

Nisim Zohar (Ephraim) started his acting career with the Haifa reper-tory company and at the Haifa Theater Club. Upon receiving a grant for most promising young actor, he lived for some years in New York where he attended the H.B. Professional workshop and studied film-making at the N.Y.U. At the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv he appeared in King Henry the Fourth, Ubu Roi, Live Like Pigs, The Visit, Coriolanus, and Julius Caesar. In recent years he has performed mainly at the Beit Lessin Theatre, including Bianca, The Odd Couple and Born Yester-day. He has recently performed at the Cameri Theatre in A Flea in Her Ear, Return to Haifa, and Fiddler on the Roof. He has also written/

translated/performed scripts for cinema and three mono-dramas: As I Like It, Lenny Bruce, and My Mother’ s Soup, which he also performed in the United States, England, Scotland, and Holland. He is the author of two books: Aubergines and Okra ,a collection of short stories and recipes, and a novel My Mother’s Soup.

Boaz Gaon (Playwright) received an Msc in Media and Communica-tions from The London School of Economics and Political Science. He received his BA in Theatre Studies from Tel Aviv University. He is currently a Dramatic Writing professor at the Minshar Arts School, in Tel Aviv and Head of Drama and Story department at HSCC, a leading TV production company. Boaz formerly served as Senior writer and New York and London correspondent for Ma’ariv Israeli newspaper and an Investigative reporter for Channel 2 television. His dramatic writing includes Traitor, an adaptation of Ibsen’s Enemy of The People for the Be’er Sheva Theater; Mismatch, for the Haifa Theater and

Branja at the Beit Lessin theater. He was the Winner of the 2009 festival for new Israeli plays. Other plays by Gaon include Family package, The Israeli Family, a comedy for the Haifa Theater (nominated for Best Entertainment Show, 2004 and read at Theater J in 2007). Gaon’s work has also been seen at The Odessa Branch Denver Arts Center, Theatrefest 2002. His play Dress Rehearsal, won the Best Play Award at Akka Israeli fringe Festival. He recently published the non fiction book Where America Ends – my life as an Israeli in New York. Other work in-cludes Gymax’s yellow bus, a novel.

Sinai Peter (Director) is a graduate of Tel Aviv University’s Drama Department. He has acted in the Haifa Municipal Theater, in Beit Les-sin and in the at Children and Youth Theater. Together with The San Francisco Mime Troupe’s team, he wrote the play Seeing Double (Re-cipient of the Obbi prize in 1990). As a director, he has to his credit The Swan, Arturo Ui, Clearing, The Graduate and Chimps at the Haifa Theater. He directed the American play Machinal at The Khan Theater of Jerusalem and Unsung Heroes in Haifa Theater—a theater project

About the Artists cont.

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based on civilians’ experience during the recent Lebanese war. In 2007 he directed Pangs of the Messiah by Motti Lerner (an American premiere) at Theater J. In 2008 he directed Return To Haifa at the Cameri Theatre. In 2009 he returned to Theater J where he directed the Ameri-can premiere of Hillel Mitelpunkt’s The Accident. From 1984 through 1986, Peter served as Artistic Director of Neve-Tzedek Theater in Tel Aviv. From 2000 through 2004, he was Artistic Director of the Haifa Municipal Theater. Since 1990 he has taught drama at the Kibbutzim Seminar’s School of Performing Arts in Tel Aviv.

Frida Shoham (Scenic Designer) is a graduate of the Design Program at the Tel Aviv Univer-sity School of Theatre Arts. She has designed sets for more than 100 productions, including Southern Australia, The Free City, Good American Boy, Saturday Sunday Monday, Guys and Dolls, The Silence, and Unlikely Heroes at the Haifa Municipal Theatre; Sonia Mushkat, Love Letter, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Forgiveness, Then We Embraced, Oscar and Aunt Rosa, Abandoned Property, Autumn Sonata, and Driving Miss Daisy at the Habima National Theatre; New Song, Downpour, The Master of Two Servants, Juno and the Paycock, and Stolen Water at the Beersheba Municipal Theatre: The Anchor, Marvin’s Room, and Holy Water at the Beit Les-sin Theatre; The Investigation, and Light and Shadow at the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv; What We Talk About When We Talk About Love at the Fringe Theatre; Mezritch at the Tzavta Theatre; and a variety of theatre productions for children and youth. Monodramas include, The Child Behind the Eyes, Lea Goes Out On The Streets, The Pessoptimist, The Anchor, Visitor in the Cherry Orchard, A Little Soul Searching, Jacques, Julie Christie’s Eyes, and Berta and the Art of Maintenance. At Mediatheque: The Mother-of-Pearl Color, and design of the Derech HaTeatron [Through Theatre] project (arts wall, through props). She is also director of the Stage Design Program at the Kibbutzim College of Education School of Performing Arts.

Klyph Stanford (Lighting and Projection Designer) is delighted to be back at Theater J where he was Projections Consultant for last season’s Mikveh. Other recent design work includes scenery for A Girl’s Guide To Washington Politics at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, scenery for Black Nativity, scenery and lighting for Five Flights, and scenery, lighting and Projections for The Woman Who Amuses Herself at Theater Alliance, lighting for Henry VIII at Folger Theatre, scenery for The Piano Lesson at Hangar Theatre, lighting and projections for El Bola, Cuba’s King of Song, and lighting for El Retablillo de Don Cristobal at Gala Hispanic Theatre, and scenery and projections for Hysteria (Helen Hayes Nomination) at Rep Stage. Mr. Stanford is a proud member of United Scenic Artists.

Ofra Confino (Costume Designer) is a graduate of the Design Program at the Tel Aviv Universi-ty School of Theatre Arts. She holds a MFA in set and costume design from New York University. She has designed costumes for various theatres in Israel. Her work includes designs for the Jerusalem Khan Theatre: The Seagull, The Love of Don Perlimplín, Belisa in the Garden, The Illusion and The American Princess; for the Beit Lessin Theatre: Tyre and Jerusalem, I’m Speak-ing To You Chinese, Apples from the Desert, and Driver-Artist; for the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv: Oil Town (a coproduction with the Haifa Municipal Theatre), Antigone (a coproduction with the Habima National Theatre), The Glass Menagerie, The Father, The Ketuba, Thrill My Heart, The Servant of Two Masters, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Grocery Store (a coproduction with the Beit Lessin Theatre), Festen (a coproduction with the Habima National Theatre) and His Reputation Precedes Him (a coproduction with the Haifa Municipal Theatre); for the Habima National Theatre: The Spotted Tiger, and The Policeman Azoulay and for the Haifa Municipal Theatre: Every Good Boy Deserves Favor.

Mika Dany (Music) studied theater at Tel Aviv University and the Body Politic studio in Chicago, Illinois. She studied composition with Shosh Reisman, Reuven Sarussi, and Prof. Julet Sarai (The Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest), and at the Rimon School of Jazz and Contem-porary Music; she studied voice training with Prof. Chana Hacohen. Between 1981 and 1992 she performed in a variety of theatre productions.

Michelle Elwyn (Properties) has designed the properties for Theater J’s The OddCouple, Lost in Yonkers, Something You Did, Mikveh, Pangs of the Messiah, Accident, The Seagull on 16th Street, Honey Brown Eyes, David, Speed the Plow, Either Or, Sleeping Arrange-ments, Picasso’s Closet and The Disputation. Other props design projects nclude: The Picture of Dorian Gray, Permanent Collection, Camille, A Prayer for Owen Meany at RoundHouse The-atre; Hamlet, Arcadia, A Winter’s Tale, Henry IV Part I, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Measure

About the Artists cont.

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for Measure at Folger Theatre; Two-Bit Taj Mahal at Theater of the First Amendment; Meet John Doe, Jitney at Ford’s Theatre; Assassins at Signature Theatre; Afterplay, The Life of Galileo; The Shape of Things, Privates on Parade, Hambone at Studio Theatre. Her work includes costume crafts at Washington National Opera and Asolo Theatre in Sarasota, FL, as well as scenic paint-ing and sculpture at Shakespeare Theatre Company, Theater of the First Amendment, Folger Theatre Group, Arena Stage, Asolo Theatre, Playwrights’ Horizons, NYC, McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ, Long Wharf Theatre, New Haven, CT And Opera Theatre of Rochester. She has also codesigned stage sets for Marsha Norman’s Getting Out at Florida Studio Theatre and the Ringling Museum of Art’s Medieval Fair.Jason Schlafstein (Assistant Director) is thrilled to return to Theater J as the Assistant Direc-tor of Return to Haifa and Associate Producer for the Voices of a Changing Middle East Festival. Outside Theater J, he is the Assistant Director for If You Give a Cat a Cupcake at Adventure Theatre and is currently directing a staged reading for Doorway Arts Ensemble. He most re-cently co-produced and co-directed Become What You Are at the Writer’s Center. Other recent credits include directing The Hunchback Variations and Suburban Motel: Featuring Loretta for 1st Stage, serving as Casting and Associate Director for Freud Meets Girl by Wayward Theater, Assistant Director and Interim Production Manager for The Odd Couple at Theater J, and As-sistant Director for If You Give A Pig A Pancake at Adventure Theatre. He was the assistant to the Artistic Director at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company for the 2009-2010 season. Thanks to Delia, and love to Kelly.

Ari Roth (Artistic Director) is enjoying his 14th season as Artistic Director at Theater J where, together with a dedicated staff, he has produced 95 full productions, including 33 English language world premieres, and many more workshop presentations. Also a playwright, Mr. Roth has seen his work produced across the country, as well as at Theater J, where produc-tions include Goodnight Irene, Life In Refusal, Love & Yearning in the Not-for-Profits, Oh, The Innocents, and a repertory production of Born Guilty, originally commissioned and produced by Arena Stage, based on the book by Peter Sichrovsky, together with its sequel, The Wolf in Peter (recently presented as The Born Guilty Cycle by the Epic Theatre Ensemble). His plays have been nominated for five Helen Hayes Awards, including Best Resident Production, and two Charles A. MacArthur Awards. He is a 1998 and 2003 recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts playwriting grant, three-time winner of the Helen Eisner Award, two-time winner of the Avery Hopwood, four-time recipient of commissions from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture and recipient of the Mertyl Wreath Award from Hadassah. He was recently named one of The Forward 50, a recognition from The Forward newspaper honoring fifty nationally promi-nent “men and women who are leading the American Jewish community into the 21st century.” He has taught for the University of Michigan for 14 years, currently for their “Michigan in DC” program, as well as for Brandeis, NYU and Carnegie Mellon Universities.

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About the Artists cont.

Theater J StaffArtistic Director Ari RothManaging Director Sarah RayerAssociate Producer Delia TaylorDirector of Marketing & Communications Grace OverbekeDirector of Community Outreach & New Media Becky PetersDirector of Literary & Public Programs Shirley SerotskyDirector of Patron Services Tara BradyDevelopment Associate Gavi YoungCasting Director Naomi RobinTechnical Director and Master Carpenter Tom HowleyMCCA Technical Operations Director Daniel RisnerConstruction Crew Ellen HouseknechtLoad-in Crew Ellen Houseknecht, Kevin Laughon, Cathryn Salisbury-Valerien and Meaghan Toohey Front of House Raha Behnam, Bonnie Berger, Elizabeth Heir, JauNelle Hugee and Hadiya Rice For a full list of Theater J staff bios, visit theaterj.org and click on “About Us”

is honored to have arranged the performer visas on this production for Boaz Gaon, Sinai Peter and the distinguished actors and staff of The Cameri Theatre.

Robert A. Remes, Suerah Shirazi

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Theater J is, at its core, a playwrights’ theater and as such, we have named our giving levels in honor of Jewish playwrights and two of their director/producers. We gratefully acknowledge our current donors who have support-ed us for the 2010–2011 season to date. We ask our many long-time supporters and new friends of the theater to join them in underwriting this exciting season. (This list is current as of January 3, 2011.)

Next Up At Theater J

Adapted and Directed

by Aaron Posner from the novel

by Chaim Potok

“Stunning! A great universal work!”-Robert Aubrey Davis, Around Town

Presented by Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater on the Fichandler Stage

THE CHOSEN

March 8–27

PHOTOGRAPH 51

March 23–April 24

A New Play By Anna Ziegler Directed by Daniella Topol

Featuring Elizabeth Rich With Clinton Brandhagen, James Flanagan, Tim Getman, Michael Glenn and Alexander Strain

“A fascinating scientific suspense story!”-CurtainUp, Los Angeles

DISCOVERY. DESTINY. DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID.

Originally commissioned for Active Cultures Theatre

Featuring Rick Foucheux, Edward Gero With Aaron Davidman,

Joshua Morgan and Derek Thompson

For Tickets, Call (202) 488-3300or visit theaterj.org

For Tickets, Call (800) 494-TIXSor visit theaterj.org

19

Friends Of Theater JTheater J is, at its core, a playwrights’ theater and as such, we have named our giving levels in honor of Jewish playwrights and two of their director/producers. We gratefully acknowledge our current donors who have support-ed us for the 2010–2011 season to date. We ask our many long-time supporters and new friends of the theater to join them in underwriting this exciting season. (This list is current as of January 3, 2011.)

Executive Producing Show Sponsor($25,000 and above)The Robert M. Fisher Memorial FoundationThe Jewish Federation of Greater WashingtonNational Endowment for the ArtsThe Shubert Foundation

Wendy Wasserstein Grand Angel($15,000 - $24,999)Charlotte & Hank SchlosbergPatti & Jerry SowalskyThe George Wasserman Family Foundation

Harold Clurman Champion Angel($10,000 - $14,999)Carolyn & Warren KaplanThe Jacob & Charlotte Lehrman FoundationTrish & George VradenburgIrene & Alan Wurtzel Tony Kushner Collaborating Angel($7,500 - $9,999)Esthy & James AdlerDeborah Carliner & Robert RemesThe Max & Victoria Dreyfus FoundationMarion & Larry LewinEvelyn Sandground & Bill PerkinsEllen & Bernard Young

Joseph Papp Producing Angel($5,000 - $7,499)Patty Abramson & Les SilvermanAnne & Ronald AbramsonJoan& Peter AndrewsMichele & Allan BermanNaomi & Nehemiah Cohen FoundationLouie & Ralph DweckLois & Richard EnglandKovler Foundation-Judy & Peter KovlerZena & Paul MasonFaye & Jack MoskowitzThe Omega FoundationElaine ReubenMargaret Hahn Stern & Stephen SternNatalie Wexler & James FeldmanRosa D. WienerMarvin WeissbergJudy & Leo Zickler

Lillian Hellman Supporting Angel($3,000 - $4,999)Natalie & Paul AbramsThe DC Commission on the Arts and HumanitiesLois & Michael FingerhutDr. Kenneth & Cheryl Gorelick FundAl Munzer & Joel WindDiane & Arnold PolingerLoretta RosenthalThe Abe & Kathryn Selsky FoundationJoan Wessel

Arthur Miller Mentor($1,500 - $2,999)Susan & Dixon ButlerMimi Conway & Dennis HoulihanLisa Fuentes & Thomas CohenMid Atlantic Arts FoundationMarjan & Andy ShallalMargot & Paul Zimmerman

David Mamet Muse($1,000 - $1,499)Mara Bralove & Ari FisherThe Center for Cultural Judaism, Inc.Myrna FawcettAnn & Frank GilbertMarjory GoldmanLaine & Norton KatzBetsy Karmin & Manny StraussRona & Allan MendelsohnJanet Solinger

Neil Simon Stage Benefactor($500 - $999)Steven des Jardins Ina GinsburgIra Hillman & Jeremy BarberLinda & Steven HirschRachel Jacobson & Eric Olsen In Memory of MJ BearTrudy & Gary PetersonAnne & Richard SolomonBarbara & Stanley Tempchin Betty L. UstunBeverly WalcoffJulie & David Zalkind

Sholom Asch Admirer($350 - $499)Iris & Michael LavYoav Lurie Ellen & Gary Malasky

Paddy Chayefsky Champion($175 - $349)AnonymousRonald Bleeker Goldie BlumenstykRosalind & Donald CohenPeter & Shelly DreifussPaula Seigle GoldmanGayle & David GreeneShoshana & Peter GroveNeal KrucoffDianne & Herbert LernerTina Martin & Mita SchafferSue MorssBarbara RappaportErica & Douglas RosenthalMs. Terry SchubachBeverly & Harlan SherwatSandra & Dale SteinMarjorie & Allan WeingoldT. Michael Wight

Ben Hecht Booster($75 - $174)Susan ApterSharon BernierKaren & John BurgessWallace Chandler Helen Darling & Brad GrayRabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb & Ms. Minna Scherlinder MorseStuart FischerAnne & Al FishmanKit Gage & Steven MetalitzRenee GierMorton GorenJack HahnMorton HalperinCarol & Robert HausmanPeggy HellerHelene & Allan KahanDana & Ray KochAdrienne Kohn & Garry GrossmanBeth KramerMartin KrubitMichael LewisFaiga G. LevineHannah & Tim LipmanMadeline & Gerald MalovanyNoreen Marcus & Jay SushelskyNancy & Richard MillsteinCaroline & Michael MindelMona & Leonard MitnickTena Nauheim & David HarrisonJoan & Ludwig RudelFroma & Jerome SandlerAnne & Barry SchenofMargaret Sohn & Harvey CohenVirginia & James VitarelloMindy & Sheldon WeiselStephen Werner

PHOTOGRAPH 51

March 23–April 24

A New Play By Anna Ziegler Directed by Daniella Topol

Featuring Elizabeth Rich With Clinton Brandhagen, James Flanagan, Tim Getman, Michael Glenn and Alexander Strain

“A fascinating scientific suspense story!”-CurtainUp, Los Angeles

DISCOVERY. DESTINY. DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID.

Originally commissioned for Active Cultures Theatre

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$100,000 +Ann Loeb BronfmanThe Robert M. Fisher Memorial FoundationThe Jewish Federation of Greater Washington

$50,000 - $99,999The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz FoundationDC Office on AgingMelanie Franco Nussdorf & Lawrence NussdorfHoward & Geraldine Polinger Family FoundationServeDC - The Mayor’s Office on VolunteerismDavid Bruce SmithUnited Jewish Endowment Fund

$25,000 - $49,999Jamie & Joseph A. Baldinger Diane & Norman BernsteinDC Commission on the Arts & HumanitiesLouie & Ralph DweckBrenda Gruss & Daniel HirschTamara & Harry HandelsmanStuart KurlanderNational Endowment for the ArtsThe Shubert Foundation, Inc.Robert H Smith* Family FoundationPatti & Jerry Sowalsky

$15,000 - $24,999Lisa & Josh BernsteinRyna, Melvin, Marcella & Neil CohenGinny & Irwin EdlavitchSusan & Michael GelmanAlexander GreenbaumMartha Winter Gross & Robert TracyCarolyn & Warren KaplanBarbara & Jack KayArlene & Robert KogodJacob & Charlotte Lehrman FoundationCharlotte & Hank SchlosbergSchoenbaum Family FoundationGeorge Wasserman Family Foundation, Inc.

$10,000 - $14,999Patty Abramson & Les SilvermanEsthy & Jim AdlerMichele & Allan BermanSusie & Kenton CampbellDeborah Carliner & Robert RemesDebra Lerner Cohen & Edward CohenLois & Richard England Family FoundationRena & Michael GordonSusy & Thomas KahnJudy & Peter Kovler

Washington DCJCC Donors

Thelma & Melvin LenkinMarion & Larry LewinFaye & Jack MoskowitzDiane & Arnold PolingerDeborah & Michael SalzbergRhea Schwartz & Paul WolffThe Abe & Kathryn Selsky FoundationFrancine Zorn Trachtenberg & Stephen Joel TrachtenbergTrish & George VradenburgNatalie Wexler & James FeldmanCarolyn & William WolfeIrene & Alan WurtzelJudy & Leo Zickler

$5,000 - $9,999Academy of Motion Picture Arts and SciencesAmerican Jewish World ServiceThe Family of H. Max & Josephine F. Ammerman & Andrew AmmermanMelinda Bieber & Norman PozezMax N. BerryAnn & Donald BrownNaomi & Nehemiah Cohen FoundationSara Cohen & Norman RichRose & Robert CohenCrossCurrents FoundationThe Max & Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.Embassy of IsraelLois & Richard EnglandFederal Emergency Management AgencyMarilyn & Michael GlossermanCheryl GorelickDeborah Harmon & Robert SederG. Scott HongHumanities Council of Washington,DCWilliam KreisbergJacqueline & Marc LelandJoy Lerner & Stephen KelinElyse & Jeffrey LinowesLinda Lipsett & Jules BernsteinMAZON: A Jewish Response to HungerLinda & Sid MoskowitzKathy & Thomas RaffaRenay & William RegardieElaine ReubenRae Ringel & Amos HochsteinBeth Rubenstein & Evan MarkiewiczLynn & John SachsEvelyn Sandground & Bill PerkinsEmily SchoenbaumTina & Albert Small Jr.Barbara & Michael SmilowMindy Strelitz & Andrew Cornblatt

Lori & Les UlanowJoan WesselRosa D. WienerEllen & Bernard YoungRory & Shelton Zuckerman $2,500 - $4,999AnonymousRabbi & Babs AbramowitzNatalie & Paul AbramsAmy & Stephen AltmanLarry AxelrodJoan & Alan BermanElizabeth BerryRita & David BrickmanNicholas ChocasCyna & Paul CohenMargery Doppelt & Larry RothmanExxon Mobil CorporationMyrna FawcettLois & Michael FingerhutJoanne FungaroliMarsha Gentner & Joe BermanDebra Goldberg & Seth WaxmanThe Aaron & Cecile Goldman FoundationRoberta HantganHorning Brothers CorporationBetsy Karmin & Manny StraussConnie & Jay KrupinBarbara KurshanSusan & Samuel LehrmanSandra & Arnold LeibowitzEdward LenkinGeoffrey MacklerZena & Paul J. MasonAlfred Munzer & Joel WindPNC BankPoints of Light InstitutePosner-Wallace FoundationToni RitzenbergLoretta RosenthalDebra & Jonathan RutenbergSandra & Ivan SabelCharles & Lynn Schusterman Family FoundationSanford SchwartzSprint FoundationSaul I. Stern*Katherine & Thomas SullivanTheatre Communications Group, Inc.The Washington Post CompanyMatthew WatsonDiane Abelman WattenbergJudith & Herbert Weintraub

$1,000 - $2,499Sandy & Clement AlpertAmerican Technion SocietyAgatha & Laurence Aurbach

The Washington DCJCC wishes to thank all those who made contributions to the 16th Street J to help support our programs during the 2010 fiscal year (July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2010). Your support has been invaluable in allowing us to create and sustain programs of excellence throughout the year.

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Washington DCJCC Donors cont.Rachel Jacobson & Eric Olsen JCC AssociationSally KaplanLaine & Norton KatzAviva KempnerCeceile KleinLinda KleinBette & William KramerLisa Landmeier & Hugo RoellSandra & Stephen LachterDianne & Herbert Lerner The Samuel Levy Family FoundationSteven LockshinSteven LustigEllen & Gary MalaskyPeter MancollCathryn & Scot McCullochRona & Allan MendelsohnMid Atlantic Arts FoundationLindsay & Aaron MillerPatrice & Herbert MillerShirlee OrnsteinGlenna & David OsnosPeggy ParsonsRuth & Stephen PollakToby PortRavsak: The Jewish Community Day SchoolHillary & Jonathan ReinisCarol Risher

Paula & Bruce RobinsonJoan & Barry RosenthalChaya & Walter RothJane Nathan RothschildSharon Russ & David RubinVictor ShargaiMichael SingerAnn SislenRichard SollowayJane & Daniel SolomonMargaret Hahn Stern & Stephen SternMarsha E. Swiss & Ronald M. CostellEmbassy of SwitzerlandTabard CorporationTikkun Olam Women’s Foundation of Greater WashingtonRita & David TrachtenbergUnited Way of the National Capital AreaMarion & Michael UsherLise Van Susteren & Jonathan KempnerCynthia Wolloch & Joseph ReidMargot & Paul Zimmerman

Due to space limitations, only donors of $1,000 or more are listed. The Washington DCJCC would like to thank all of our many donors for the important impact they have on our work.

* of blessed memory

Dorothy Bennett Linda & Michael BergTracy & Adam BernsteinSuanne & Richard BeydaLynn & Wolf BlitzerFrances & Leonard BurkaSusan & Dixon ButlerJane & Calvin CafritzRuth & Mortimer CaplinMimi Conway & Dennis HoulihanToby DershowitzFaith DiamondNava & Mark ElyDiana EngelGayle & John EngelLaura & Michael FainoJane & Charlie FinkSusan & Jay FinkelsteinLinda & Jay FreedmanGeico Philanthropic FoundationRichard GerberGerman EmbassyDonna & Jon GerstenfeldSarah & Bernard GewirzCathy & Michael GildenhornCarol & Henry GoldbergMarjory GoldmanPaula Seigle GoldmanShoshana & Peter GroveErwin GudelskyIstituto Italiano di Cultura

The Washington DCJCC wishes to thank all those who made contributions to the 16th Street J to help support our programs during the 2010 fiscal year (July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2010). Your support has been invaluable in allowing us to create and sustain programs of excellence throughout the year.

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About the Cameri Theatre of Tel AvivThe Cameri, Tel Aviv’s Municipal Theatre that was founded in 1944, is Israel’s biggest theatre and one of the country’s six public theatres. Each year The Cameri stages up to ten new productions, together with 20 productions from previous years, that are performed before audiences totaling more than 1,000,000 in Tel Aviv, throughout Is-rael and all over the world—some 1,700 performances every year. The Cameri has 40,000 subscribers. So far, The Cameri has produced some 500 productions on its various stages. The theatre’s company in-cludes 100 of Israel’s finest actors, and its plays are directed by celebrated directors

from Israel and abroad.

In 2003 The Cameri moved into its new and sophisticated home in the Tel Aviv Perform-ing Arts Center complex, adjacent to the New Israeli Opera, the Municipal Library and the Tel Aviv Museum. The new Cameri Theatre’s five auditoriums constitute a modern, vibrant and active theatrical center.

Six years ago, in a step almost unequalled for an institution of the arts, The Cameri The-atre was awarded the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement and Special Contribution to So-ciety and the State of Israel. In their decision the judges noted: “The sixty-year-old Cameri Theatre is a young, involved, responsive, socially-oriented theatre that is attentive to the reality in which we live and responds to current needs. The Cameri Theatre is engaged in fostering and de-veloping original Israeli drama and strengthening ties with the finest culture and modern drama in the world. The Cameri Theatre strives towards excellence on the level of artistic performance in all its branches: acting, directing, sets and music. It nurtures individuality in terms of content, spirit, and character, fosters and encourages young actors and advances them.

The Cameri Theatre strives to broaden the circle of audiences and reaches out to new audi-ences, including performances in the periphery and on the confrontation line, and in its new home it constitutes an artistic and cultural attraction to all social strata and age groups in Israeli society.”

In the theatre’s productions—original Israeli plays and plays from world drama—emphasis is placed on social, value and political issues that are at the center of the Israeli public’s life. Even the classical plays included in the Cameri’s repertoire are selected because their subjects are close to our heart and on our public’s agenda.

The theatre has a Society of friends headquartered in Tel Aviv with branches in London and New York. In its activities, The Society supports the theatre’s wide-ranging activities and assists in advancing projects such as “The Peace Foundation”—bringing young Israelis and Palestinians to-gether to see one of the theatre’s productions; “Theatre in Education”—bringing high school and university students to see plays; helping bring special needs audiences to the theatre; subsidiz-ing tickets for senior citizens and assisting with the simultaneous translation of our productions into foreign languages (English, Russian and Arabic).

The Institute of Israeli Drama is also part of The Cameri Theatre. The Institute, founded by the Cameri’s director general Noam Semel, aims to advance Israeli drama in Israel and abroad, and to deepen awareness of the importance of original drama for the emergent Israeli culture. The Institute holds international conferences, at which the works of Israeli playwrights are presented to conference participants.

Director General: Noam Semel Artistic Director: Omri Nitzan

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About Theater J

Washington DCJCC1529 Sixteenth Street NWWashington, DC 20036Info: (202) 777-3210 ortheaterj@washingtondcjcc.orgtheaterj.org

Photos by Stan Barouh

Josh Lefkowitz and Maureen Rohn in The Rise and Fall of Annie HallRobert Prosky in The PriceAlexander Strain and Michael Tolaydo in New JerusalemHolly Twyford in Lost in Yonkers

Hailed by The New York Times as “The Premier Theater for Premieres,” and nominated for over forty Helen Hayes awards, Theater J has emerged as one of the most distinctive, progressive and respected Jewish theaters on the national and international scene. A program of the Washington DCJCC, the theater works in collaboration with other components of the Morris Cafritz Center for the Arts: the Washington Jewish Film Festival, the Ann Loeb Bron-fman Gallery, and the Literary, Music and Dance Department.

Theater J produces thought-provoking, publicly engaged, personal, pas-sionate and entertaining plays and musicals that celebrate the distinc-tive urban voice and social vision that are part of the Jewish cultural legacy. Acclaimed as one of the nation’s premiere playwrights’ theaters, Theater J presents cutting edge contemporary work alongside spirited revivals and is a nurturing home for the development and production of new work by major writers and emerging artists exploring many of the pressing moral and political issues of our time. Dedicated above all to a pursuit of artistic excellence, Theater J takes its dialogues beyond the stage, offering an array of innovative public discussion forums and out-reach programs which explore the theatrical, psychological and social elements of our art. We frequently partner with those of other faiths and communities, stressing the importance of interchange among a great variety of people wishing to take part in frank, humane conversations about conflict and culture.

Performing in the 240-seat Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater in the vibrant Dupont Circle neighborhood, Theater J works with some of the world’s most distinguished authors for the stage. It has produced world premieres by Richard Greenberg, Thomas Keneally, Robert Brustein, Joyce Carol Oates and Ariel Dorfman, with many debuts from emerging writers like Stefanie Zadravec and Sam Forman. The late Wendy Wasserstein’s play Third, which began at Theater J, received its New York premiere at Lincoln Center Theatre, while Neena Beber received an OBIE for her New York production of Jump/Cut. Theater J’s diverse body of work features thematically linked festivals including its ongoing “Voices From a Changing Middle East” series. In 2009 Theater J received a special citation in The Washington Post recognizing Theater J’s Israel-related programming. With hit productions ranging from Talley’s Folly and The Disputation to Pangs of the Messiah, The Price, Honey Brown Eyes (Winner of the 2009 Helen Hayes Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play), Sholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears, The Rise and Fall of Annie Hall, Zero Hour (for which Jim Brochu won the 2010 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a non-resident production) In Dar-fur, Mikveh and New Jerusalem, it’s no surprise that Washingtonian Maga-zine notes, “Theater J productions keep going from strength to strength.”

Winner of the 2008 Mayor’s Arts Award for Excellence in an Artistic Dis-cipline, Theater J offers a number of additional programs including Artis-tic Director’s Roundtables, Peace Cafés, Tea at 2 (a monthly reading se-ries) and the Passports Educational Program. Theater J has garnered support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Theatre Communica-tions Group (TCG) and The Shubert Foundation. Theater J is a member of the Cultural Alliance, the League of Washington Theatres, TCG and the Association for Jewish Theatre.

The Cameri, Tel Aviv’s Municipal Theatre that was founded in 1944, is Israel’s biggest theatre and one of the country’s six public theatres. Each year The Cameri stages up to ten new productions, together with 20 productions from previous years, that are performed before audiences totaling more than 1,000,000 in Tel Aviv, throughout Is-rael and all over the world—some 1,700 performances every year. The Cameri has 40,000 subscribers. So far, The Cameri has produced some 500 productions on its various stages. The theatre’s company in-cludes 100 of Israel’s finest actors, and its plays are directed by celebrated directors

from Israel and abroad.

In 2003 The Cameri moved into its new and sophisticated home in the Tel Aviv Perform-ing Arts Center complex, adjacent to the New Israeli Opera, the Municipal Library and the Tel Aviv Museum. The new Cameri Theatre’s five auditoriums constitute a modern, vibrant and active theatrical center.

Six years ago, in a step almost unequalled for an institution of the arts, The Cameri The-atre was awarded the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement and Special Contribution to So-ciety and the State of Israel. In their decision the judges noted: “The sixty-year-old Cameri Theatre is a young, involved, responsive, socially-oriented theatre that is attentive to the reality in which we live and responds to current needs. The Cameri Theatre is engaged in fostering and de-veloping original Israeli drama and strengthening ties with the finest culture and modern drama in the world. The Cameri Theatre strives towards excellence on the level of artistic performance in all its branches: acting, directing, sets and music. It nurtures individuality in terms of content, spirit, and character, fosters and encourages young actors and advances them.

The Cameri Theatre strives to broaden the circle of audiences and reaches out to new audi-ences, including performances in the periphery and on the confrontation line, and in its new home it constitutes an artistic and cultural attraction to all social strata and age groups in Israeli society.”

In the theatre’s productions—original Israeli plays and plays from world drama—emphasis is placed on social, value and political issues that are at the center of the Israeli public’s life. Even the classical plays included in the Cameri’s repertoire are selected because their subjects are close to our heart and on our public’s agenda.

The theatre has a Society of friends headquartered in Tel Aviv with branches in London and New York. In its activities, The Society supports the theatre’s wide-ranging activities and assists in advancing projects such as “The Peace Foundation”—bringing young Israelis and Palestinians to-gether to see one of the theatre’s productions; “Theatre in Education”—bringing high school and university students to see plays; helping bring special needs audiences to the theatre; subsidiz-ing tickets for senior citizens and assisting with the simultaneous translation of our productions into foreign languages (English, Russian and Arabic).

The Institute of Israeli Drama is also part of The Cameri Theatre. The Institute, founded by the Cameri’s director general Noam Semel, aims to advance Israeli drama in Israel and abroad, and to deepen awareness of the importance of original drama for the emergent Israeli culture. The Institute holds international conferences, at which the works of Israeli playwrights are presented to conference participants.