With:
Mizrahi feminist theatre director, playwright, and facilitator. Founder and manager of the Frechot Ensemble-Hana Vazana.
Theater stage director, playwright, and senior acting and writing teacher. Artistic Director of Beer Sheva Theatre.
Playwright, screenwriter, and actress.
Theatre director, teacher and lecturer.
Theatre and War 1 – Doco-drama :
Guest host : International writer & journalist James Inverne.
A hard-hitting look at how conflict shapes the themes, styles, and voices in Israeli theatre. Featuring creators whose works directly grapple with unimaginable realities that were imposed on them, bringing life to the stage and then tossing it back to the audience, with no answers but many questions.
Theatre and War 2 It’s not funny!
Guest host: Lee Kern – Academy nominated writer.
A panel exploring the complex role of humor in times of conflict. Through theatre, creators find ways to use comedy to process the unthinkable, survive emotionally, and connect with audiences in turbulent times. With creators who know how to walk the fine line between laughter and pain, this discussion dives into the importance of humor to endure and make sense of challenging realities.
Pre-Panel Show: Karaoke, by Rachel Erdos – award-winning independent choreographer.
Songs play a huge part in our personal and collective memories. They can magically transport us back to key moments of our identity. In Karaoke, members of the audience are guests at a karaoke party, hosted by performers who sing through critical moments in their lives, the audience is invited to sing along, a song, or sit back and enjoy.
Part 1: https://vimeo.com/1144508518/054246dde1?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci Part 2: https://vimeo.com/1144508891/def898b328?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci
Souls was first published in Hebrew in 2020, and has since been reborn in English, Italian, Russian, and Ukrainian. Now, it takes on a new incarnation as theatre, with a new form and voice. My hope is that this life will be guided by kindred spirits toward rectification.
Rectification – so central to the theory of reincarnation – feels urgent today. The Jewish people know rebirth: rising from ashes, wandering between lands and tongues, seeking meaning. What fault requires rectification, and what happens once it is achieved? Perhaps it lies in the journey itself.
Grisha, the novel’s protagonist, claims to have reincarnated for 400 years. His mother, Marina, insists that life happens only once, and the rest is metaphor. Between them, I found space for history, imagination, and my own biography – family roots in Morocco, literary origins in Russian and Yiddish, theatrical ones in Purim spiel, and a future origin in Venice.
Reincarnation is not only mystical; it mirrors immigration, identity shifts, and metamorphosis in all our lives. True rectification, I believe, can only be found alongside kindred spirits – friends, strangers, even adversaries – who transform our journey into something shared.
Roy Chen is a writer, playwright, and translator based in Tel Aviv, Israel, with ongoing work in Italy and Germany. His most recent novel, Great Uproar, was hailed as prophetic for its final chapter foretelling the outbreak of war. The book has been newly translated into Italian and Russian. His previous novel, Souls, became an international success and has been published in multiple languages: Italian (Anime, Giuntina, 2022), Russian (Души, Phantom Press, 2021), Ukrainian (Душі, Dukh i Litera, 2025), and most recently English. An autodidact and polyglot, Chen translates from English, Russian, French, and Italian, with more than 50 plays and classic works to his credit. He has received numerous awards, including the S.Y. Agnon Prize (2023) and the Elliot Norton Award (2025).
Chen’s plays are staged worldwide. Recent highlights include Chi Come Me at Franco Parenti Theatre in Milan (also published by Giuntina), State of Affairs at Hamburg’s Thalia Theatre, The Dybbuk at Arlekin Players Theatre in Boston, and Souls at Gesher Theatre in Tel Aviv. Since 2017, he has been Gesher’s in-house playwright, producing original works, adaptations, and translations. His plays Floating Island, In the Tunnel, Anybody Here, and The Odyssey have toured internationally.
Itay Tiran is a graduate of Beit Zvi School for the Performing Arts, where his exceptional talent was immediately apparent, and gained him many scholarships and awards. Upon completing his studies, he joined The Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv, and is now part of the ensemble at Burgtheater in Vienna.
His had his directing debut in 2010 with Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck, in which he also played the title role. Tiran directed and adapted the book Kleiner Mann, Was Nun? by Hans Fallada. In 2015 he directed the open-air production Le Nozze di Figaro at Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre (The Israeli Opera). In 2018 he directed the world premiere of Die Banalität der Liebe at Theater Regensburg. In 2019 he directed Salome at The Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv.
In 2019 he opened the season of the Burgtheater, directing Vögel (All Birds) by Majdi Mouawad. In 2020 he directed Mein Kampf by George Tabori. In the 2021 season, at Akademietheater, he directed Moskitos by Lucy Kirkwood. In 2022 he directed Eurotrash by Christoph Kracht. In 2023 he directed Shakespeare’s Richard III (which was also presented at the Festwochen in Vienna in 2025), and again in 2025, and Souls (by Roy Chen) at Gesher Theatre in Tel Aviv.
Marcel is an adult puppet theatre musical that premiered at the Jerusalem Comedy Festival, and continues to perform at Habait Theatre. Marcel is a little boy, who has the most beautiful and colorful dreams imaginable. But no matter how hard he tries, his dreams never seem to come true.
And what about Jason and Meital? What became of their dreams? Is there still room for them in the endless loop of their schedules? Through Marcel’s story, they present the experiences that led them to their present stage: the glory of their twenties, failed romantic getaways, fantasies of happiness, roaring applause, true love, and the obsession with turning forty, all while remaining effortlessly photogenic.
Surrounded by dozens of puppets, they uncover the great truths that are always hidden in silly songs, the nearly impossible challenge of aging gracefully, the undeniable fact that Lana Del Rey is a pretty great singer, and the ever-present reality that there will always, always be more dishes in the sink.
Jason Danino Holt is an interdisciplinary artist recognized for his roles as a theatre creator, writer, visual artist, teacher, and artistic director. With over a decade of experience as an independent theatre creator, his work formally transitioned into a theatre company in 2019, expanding its scope nationally and internationally. As the co-artistic director and founder of Habait Theatre in Jaffa, Jason’s interdisciplinary projects span various mediums, continuously exploring new modes of expression.
Primarily working as a writer and director, he challenges the boundaries of theatre, constructing immersive, emotionally charged experiences that actively promote inclusivity. His narratives delve into extreme scenarios, utilizing art as a powerful tool to explore complex dimensions of existence, with a distinct emphasis on queer narratives and underrepresented stories. Jason’s signature style combines autobiography with fiction, embracing diversity and fostering inclusivity in the pursuit of progressive ideals.
Meital Raz is a performer, director, and puppeteer, and is a graduate of the School of Visual Theatre (2010). Her stage works have been widely showcased in Israel and international festivals. She is a member of Michael Ensemble, creators of the cult theatre show and television series Michael. Raz is a puppeteer for various TV series, including operating Uza in the classic Israeli children’s show Parpar Nechmad. She won the Best Actress Award at the 2022 Kipod Hazahav Fringe Theatre Awards for her creation Little Death.
I created this show when the Russian army began bombing the Ukrainian power plants. Ukraine plunged into cold darkness, and the world started donating blankets and generators. This gave the show its name – Light. I wondered, like everyone else, what I could do to stop the war. It is quite simple: in order to overcome darkness, you have to turn on the light. Some do so with a match, a flashlight, a candle, a piece of coal; others think good thoughts or just smile. Laughter is my weapon. Laughter kills fear; laughter brings forth goodness and light. These are my good thoughts about a bad war.
Alexey (Losha) Gavrielov was born in Yakutsk (USSR), and studied Theatre at the Sophie Moskowitz School of the Arts. He directed numerous clown shows and received international awards for his work, including First Prize at the Toronto Fringe Festival for The Hag with a Bag. He tours internationally with his solo clown show for children, Apchee, performed over a thousand times and nominated for the Award for Best Children’s Theatre Show in Israel, and with the two-man show for children, That Round Thing, performed over three hundred times in Russia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Germany, Turkey, and elsewhere.
“Honored members of the Academy! You have done me the honor of inviting me to give you an account of the life I formerly led as an ape.”
Whatever the speaking creature in Franz Kafka’s 1917 A Report to an Academy may be – he is back! And he is going to actually meet you, and tell you something about reality today.
Peter is Back is a live meeting between the artist Amir Yatziv and a CGI avatar, brought to life using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Peter can follow a script while improvising and responding to the conversation as it unfolds. How apish someone can be – you’ll have to see for yourself. The artist and his intangible character talk about life, the journey into humanness, and post-humanness.
But you see, there is no magic here, the mechanism is exposed, and you are invited to take part in the cross-species conversation. Try to come as open and tolerant as possible, things could get wild, you know.
Amir Yatziv was born in 1972, and is a filmmaker, theatre creator, and visual artist based in Tel Aviv. His works deal with past narratives and their contemporary interpretation, exposing the impossibility of a single coherent historical truth. Yatziv collects fragments of stories and testimonies, reassembling them into poetic, yet critical, experiences.
In recent years, his practice has focused mainly on live theatre performances that combine technology, artificial intelligence, and new forms of narrative. Using these tools, Yatziv explores the human condition, creating unstable yet vital spaces where memory, technology, and presence collide. These works have been presented at theatres and festivals across Israel and Europe, including Germany, Poland, and Norway.
He is a graduate of Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem, and UDK Berlin, and his works and films have also been shown internationally in museums and film festivals.
A stage adaptation of Joseph Cedar’s award-winning film, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. A longstanding rivalry between father and son, both Talmud scholars at The Hebrew University, reaches a devastating climax when one of them is awarded the prestigious Israel Prize, threatening to tear their entire family apart. The father, a veteran researcher who has dedicated his life to the precise labor of philological study, waits in vain for institutional recognition that never comes. The son, by contrast, is a renowned scholar, and the recipient of wide acclaim, prizes, and popularity. The play deals with personal and professional identity, charged intergenerational relationships, the longing for academic justice, and the question of how far a person is willing to go in pursuit of recognition. It is a bittersweet story of family, ambition, and the importance of a single footnote in one man’s life.
Noga Ashkenazi is a dramaturg, playwright, and filmmaker whose works span both theatre and film. In 2024-2025, she served as the in-house dramaturg of Habima National Theatre. Her stage adaptations include Double Act, based on Jacqueline Wilson’s novel, at Mediatheque Theatre; Summer in Marienbad, adapted from a story by Shalom Aleichem, and Gulliver, inspired by Jonathan Swift’s classic, both at Gesher Theatre; All the Rivers, adapted from Dorit Rabinyan’s novel, at The Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv; and Footnote, based on Joseph Cedar’s prize-winning film, at Habima National Theatre.
Moshe Kepten is one of the most renowned directors in Israel, and was the artistic director of Habima National Theatre from 2016 to 2025. For three consecutive years, he was the artistic director of the Israel Festival in Jerusalem, an interdisciplinary celebration of art from around the world. Kepten directed numerous plays and musicals for all Israeli theatre companies, including Spring Awakening, Bent, Behind the Fence, Shakespeare in Love, Les Misérables, Love Love Love, Evita, Taken at Midnight, My Fair Lady, Fatal Attraction, Birthmark, Beaufort, The Dinner Game, Labor of Life, The One My Soul Loves, The Father I Could Have Been, The First Lady and Priscilla Queen of the Desert. He is the CEO and artistic director of Haifa Theatre.
An immersive, interactive performance, which transforms the audience into active participants in a high-stakes journey, inspired by the life of Alexei Navalny. Rather than watching passively, spectators become players in a theatrical game of resistance. Divided into teams, participants move through a series of stations, each representing a pivotal chapter in Navalny’s story: exposing corruption, organizing protests, surviving poisoning, facing trial, and enduring imprisonment. At each stage, the teams must complete tasks, make strategic decisions, and confront moral dilemmas that shape the course of the narrative. The format blends spy missions, role-playing, group discussions, and tactical challenges. The outcome depends entirely on the audience’s choices: will they build a resilient resistance network and mobilize support, or falter under the weight of systemic pressure? This is not just a play. It is a theatrical experiment that invites reflection on personal agency, collective responsibility, and the fragile power of solidarity. The experience is as unpredictable as it is urgent, echoing the real-life stakes of dissent.
Danielle Cohen Levy is an independent director, writer, performer, and educator, based in Tel Aviv. Her work spans experimental and repertory theatre, and has been showcased across Israel, as well as internationally. She is the recipient of the 2024 Rosenblum Performing Arts Award, and multiple Kipod Hazahav Fringe Theatre Awards, including Best Play and Best Direction for On the Way Home | Return Sign, selected for Isra-Drama 2024.
Her creative process is rooted in devised theatre, often deconstructing and reassembling traditional formats, drawing inspiration from autobiographical material and real-life stories. Her production Worst Case Scenario (2015), created with Namer Golan, won awards at the Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre and the Kipod Hazahav Fringe Theatre Awards, and toured festivals in England, France, Germany, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Estonia.
Cohen Levy serves as artistic director of Teatronetto Festival for Solo Performances, and is a member of the artistic committee at Tmu-na Theatre. She is co-founder of the WCS group, a collaborative platform for experimental stage work, founder of PostcardPlay, an independent publishing initiative, and co-founder and co-editor of Tmu-na Theatre’s play publishing project (T:M). She leads the Acting Preparatory Program at Kibbutzim College of Education, Technology and the Arts, where she also teaches in the Directing and Acting Departments.
On 7 October 2023, as Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon operated under rocket fire, the medical teams faced an endless flow of casualties and desperate families searching for their loved ones. Alongside the doctors and nurses stood the medical clowns. Ilya Domanov, a medical clown with the Dream Doctors Project and a member of the Barzilai staff for over a decade, interviewed medical teams, patients, and fellow clowns. From these testimonies he created the documentary performance My Red Nose.
Through the eyes of a clown, the play reveals the chaos of the war’s first days: the struggle, confusion, and fear, as well as rare moments of grace and hope. It is the story of those who became witnesses against their will, and of those who fought to save not only body, but also spirit. What is the role of a medical clown in a reality filled with pain and loss? How do you keep smiling when the world around you collapses? My Red Nose seeks answers – and invites the audience to share this journey.
Ilya Domanov is an independent artist and teacher, actor and medical clown. He is a graduate of the Academy of Eurhythmy and the Center for Dramatic Art (both in Moscow). He studied at GITIS/RATI (Moscow). He studied, among other things, acting, dance, Butoh, clowning, dance, and dance improvisation in Russia, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and Ireland. Since 2000, he has been involved in acting, dance, performing arts, and choreography in independent projects in Israel, Russia, and Europe.
Michael Teplitsky is a director and actor. He was born in 1968 in Baku, Azerbaijan, and in 1990 he immigrated to Israel. He is a graduate of the Academy of Theatre, Music and Cinema in St. Petersburg (Russia), and Beit Zvi School of Performing Arts. In 1997, together with his colleagues, he founded the Malenky Theatre, where he currently serves as the artistic director.
Army reservist and playwright Roee Joseph spent sixty days at Shura military base, taking part in one of the most difficult tasks imaginable – identifying fatalities of the massacre. Hour after hour, he and other soldiers searched for any small sign that could give a name to each body, and allow a proper burial. In the rare pauses, Joseph opened his laptop and wrote everything as it unfolded: what he saw and heard, the thoughts that passed in his mind, and the brief conversations with those around him. Shura is a deep and poetic testimony of endurance and truth. It understands that to bury something, you must first know what it is. Shura is a brave and open attempt to help us all understand what happened, and to let it come, at last, to rest.
Roee Joseph is an award-winning playwright and theatre creator specializing in independent documentary theatre. His plays, performed at prestigious platforms like the Israel Festival and the Sibiu Festival in Romania, explore personal and political realities. With a universal appeal, his works are open to adaptation and translation for audiences worldwide
A loving wife sets on a journey to cure her husband, who returned from the battlefield dark and distant. A theatrical exploration of post-trauma through the eyes of a woman living with a veteran – a perspective that brings to light secondary trauma: the psychological toll experienced by those around trauma survivors. The performance is inspired by a Zen folktale, staged through minimalist Japanese puppetry. In the story, a woman asks the village healer for a remedy for her husband to regain the tenderness and love he lost. She embarks on a journey, discovering her strength, breaking points, healing instincts, and her own transformation. It is also the personal story of Dana, whose partner Gabriel, a trauma survivor, is in the audience. This piece gives voice to silenced struggles and the helplessness of living in the shadow of trauma. A tribute to the Sisyphean loop of love and survival – and the desperate hope that healing may be found in the power of love itself.
Dana Keila is an actress, theatre creator, and playwright. She graduated from the Performing Arts School of Acting, and holds a BEd in Directing and Theatre Education from Kibbutzim College of Education, Technology and the Arts. Keila has performed and created in theatres across Israel. She teaches theatre and improvisation in schools, high schools, and various groups, and also DJs.
Yarden Gilboa is a theatre director, actor, and educator. She studied acting and directing at the Sophie Moskovitch School of Performing Arts. She teaches and directs in the acting programs of The Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv and Kibbutzim College of Education, Technology and the Arts. Her directorial works have been staged at major theatres across Israel. Her independent performance, Freedom of Speechless, was an Israeli-Swiss collaboration, and performed throughout Switzerland and in Berlin. In the past decade, she has continued to professionally train and practice as a creative actress with Itim Ensemble, which was led by Israel Prize laureate Rina Yerushalmi.
Jacki Pearl is a multidisciplinary artist, visual theatre creator, director, and lecturer, specializing in puppetry for adults. She holds an MFA with honors from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, and is a graduate of the School of Visual Theatre in Jerusalem and the prestigious Mandel Program for Leadership in Culture. Her work has been presented in leading festivals and venues in Israel and internationally, and has received several awards and grants for artistic excellence. Pearl combines poetic imagery with autobiographical, political, historical, and mythological research to explore the wounds of body and society.
A widowed florist, a retired womanizer, an aging DJ, a street cleaner, and a man who lost his memory are just some of the 99 men filmmaker Hadas Neuman has documented over two years. She wanders through a neighborhood in the city of Givatayim, searching for one man in particular: her father, whom she never met. A single treadmill stands under a spotlight. She steps onto it and walks nonstop for an hour. Behind her, video portraits of the 99 men flicker across the screen. Addressing them directly, she engages in a dialogue that transcends time, reclaiming an opportunity to connect with the past, piecing together fragments of identity and memory. Meeting these men, her father’s contemporaries, who open their lives, homes, and hearts to her, reveals a broader portrait of masculinity, loneliness, regret, love and fatherhood. Blending film and stage, humor and drama, Neuman confronts the absence at the heart of her life. She takes the audience on an introspective journey along the paths of her life in an attempt to find the 100th man.
Hadas Neuman is a filmmaker, theatre-maker, and video artist in the field of documentary art, blending personal cinema, performance, and documentary theatre. She holds a BA in Film from Sapir Academic College and an MA from the Netherlands Film Academy.
Her stage work 100 Men, a poetic journey in search of an absent father via encounters with 99 strangers, was presented in the Storytelling Festival in Amsterdam and The Hague, and in the Israel Festival 2024. It was shortlisted for the 2025 Kipod Hazahav Fringe Theatre Awards (Best Show, Best Ensemble Work, Best Stage Language), and has been touring Israel successfully for the past year. A feature film based on the project is currently in development, supported by the Gesher Fund, the NFCT, and Kan 11.
Other works include A Place to Live (performer-creator, Otef HaNegev Theater), a multidisciplinary documentary-theatre piece that premiered at the Israel Festival 2024, and Two People Will Come, With Balloons, a short film that won the NEXT! Award at Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival 2021. She also co-directed The European Grandma Project, a European feature screened in cinemas across the continent. Her latest piece, Dancing at Every Wedding, will premiere at Tzavta Short Theatre Festival 2025, after being selected for Kundura DocLab (Turkey), and Platform Festival and Menofim Festival (Jerusalem).
Abigail is a far-too-young widow – still under forty. On the anniversary of her husband Nir’s death, she meets his best friend Tomer, who reveals Nir’s surprising will: before dying, he handpicked three potential partners for her, in hopes she might find love again. But Abigail’s life is already overwhelming: endless chores, debt, a ten-year-old son struggling with anxiety, and a difficult mother-in-law. Dating is the last thing on her mind. Still, determined to prove she is not consumed by grief, she reluctantly agrees to try. The dates lead to both absurd and moving situations, awakening emotions she has long suppressed. For the first time, Abigail confronts her loss directly, while grappling with the question of whether love can ever fill the void left behind. A bittersweet comedy about life after loss, resilience, and the healing power of humor. The play premiered at Beer Sheva Theatre in July 2024, and has been warmly embraced nationwide, offering audiences a cathartic response to the collective trauma after October 7th.
Noa Lazar-Keinan was born in Tel Aviv in 1977. She is a playwright, screenwriter, and actress. She holds a BA in Arts, Sociology, and Anthropology from Tel Aviv University, and studied at The Yoram Loewenstein Acting Studio. She is the author of the blog This Is Not What I Was Promised (Haaretz). Her plays include ‘Till Death Unites Us (Beer Sheva Theatre, 2024), Short Circuit (Beer Sheva Theatre, 2022; later staged in Munich, Zittau, and Austria), Bertold and Agnes (Habima National Theatre, 2019; Estonian Drama Theatre, 2022-2023), and The Memory Game (Habima National Theatre and Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, 2009). She also writes plays for young audiences, such as Dreams of Others and The Treehouse Kids.
Daphna Silberg is a director, and holds an MFA in Theatre Directing and a BA in Film (Screenwriting) from Tel Aviv University, both with honors. She is a graduate of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab (2014), and won the Kipod Hazahav Fringe Theatre Award for Best Director (2018). She taught at Goodman Acting School, and lectures at Tel Aviv University. Her works include ‘Till Death Unites Us (Beer Sheva Theatre, 2024), His Name Precedes Him (Habima National Theatre, 2024), Rain Man (Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv, 2023), Welcome to Hell (Beit Lessin Theatre, 2022), Military Psychiatrist (Habima National Theatre, 2020), Demonstrate (2017), and The Doctrine of the Seed (international festivals, 2014).
“A home is the place where a person ‘feels at home,’ where nothing is foreign to him. Therefore, it is also the proper place to begin the history of being-in-the-world” (Dr. Boaz Neumann, historian). What makes a place a home? Where can a person feel at home? What happened to our joint home? The group of actors and creators of Otef HaNegev Theater, which also includes survivors and evacuees, developed this piece to explore the personal journeys of residents of the Gaza Envelope. Through WhatsApp messages, first-hand testimonies, and the actors’ personal experiences, a multi-layered stage piece is created that includes movement, video, and live music. An original production that was born out of that Saturday morning, and seeks to delve into the feelings and thoughts that have accompanied us since then: to take them in, observe them, and look for the way back home. Otef HaNegev Theater’s focus is on documentary theatre.
Amitai Yaish Ben Uzilio, artistic director of Otef HaNegev Theater. He is an Israeli actor, director, playwright, and acting teacher, and has been active in theatre, film, and television for more than three decades. He began his artistic journey with the Rehovot Youth Stage and graduated from Beit Zvi School of Performing Arts in 1991. He performed in numerous productions at leading Israeli theatres, including Habima National Theatre, Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem Khan Theatre, and Haifa Theatre. His notable stage roles include The Execution (directed by Hanoch Levin), Alice in Wonderland, Antigone, and Six Characters in Search of an Author. On screen, Yaish Ben Uzilio appeared in films such as Zohar, Close to Home, and Incitement. His television appearances include series such as Shemesh, Zaguri Empire, and The Good Cop. As a creator and director, he has written and staged Don Quixote, Uno Momento, Death in Slippers, and Home, A Place to Live – an original work exploring life and community resilience in Israel’s Gaza Envelope region, following the events of October 7, 2023.
Since January 2023, he is the artistic director of Otef HaNegev Theater, dedicated to promoting theatrical creation in Israel’s southern geographical periphery, and strengthening local communities through art. He taught acting at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Yoram Loewenstein Acting Studio, and Goodman Acting School of the Negev.
A son takes his mother out of her nursing home with the goal of teaching her to read and write. He seals the house, and immerses himself in the role: to re-educate his mother. The twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet in one week. But she shows no interest. She wants something else: to tell the story of her childhood, the reason she never learned to read and write: “Hebrew is not the first priority – life is the first priority”, she says, and between them develops a mythical, intergenerational struggle, which moves between Morocco and Israel, between a government-subsidized apartment and a library hall in Haifa, between what is written and what is spoken. A story of love and rejection between an old immigrant and her native-born son.
Sami Berdugo is an Israeli author. He is the winner of numerous awards, including the Sapir Prize for Literature in 2020. His books include A Black Girl, This Is How I Speak to the Wind, Orphans, These Are the Things, The Last Child of the Century, A Story of the Present on Earth, Ki Gi, Donkey, and All Five of Us.
Alex Fasberg is a dramaturg and playwright. He has worked on many projects in Israel and abroad, and is the winner of the Austrian Drama Prize 2017 and the German Playwriting Prize Münchner Förderpreis für deutschsprachige Dramatik 2021.
Hana Vazana-Grunwald is an Israeli Mizrahi feminist theatre director, playwright, and facilitator. She received the Rosenblum Prize for Outstanding Theatre Artists (2022), and the 2023 Minister of Culture Award. She is the founder and artistic director of Frechot Ensemble-Hana Vazana. The group has been active for over 13 years, focusing on Jewish Mizrahi identity, class, and gender. She directed Papagina (first collaboration with Morocco, 2022), Frecha is a Beautiful Name, Pearl Paper Heart, Eeny Meeny, Maternity (Edinburgh Festival, 2020), Whistle (performed in 20 countries around the world), Block 30, A Consensual Homicide (Best Actress Award, Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre, 2021) Repairs, and Grandma Turbo and the Thousand Crocodiles.
A delicate relationship within a family – a mother and two daughters. As the play begins, we meet Huvi, the eldest and melancholic daughter, at her carpenter’s atelier, and Dikla, her younger sister, who is a successful lawyer. Both lack real love: Huvi looks for a partner at one of Israel’s mass demonstrations, while Dikla lives in hopes that her married lover will finally divorce. The mother was a rising star in the Israeli Rock‘n’Roll scene, but had to give up her career – and motherhood – when she publicly denigrated one of Israel’s “justified” wars during a TV show. She moved to the US, attempting a new career. Her daughters were extremely damaged by their mother’s narcissistic act, but took care of each other, and ignored the existence of their “crazy” mother. When she turns up at Huvi’s place after being invited to perform in a nostalgic TV show, the daughters have to deal with their mother’s return, this time for a longer sojourn in Israel, maybe for good.
Hillel Mittelpunkt is a prominent Israeli playwright and director, known for his sharp social commentary and rich character-driven narratives. Mittelpunkt was born in 1949 in Tel Aviv, and studied theatre and literature at Tel Aviv University. Mittelpunkt has written more than 70 plays, many of which he has staged and directed in major Israeli theatres, such as Habima National Theatre, the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv, and Beit Lessin Theatre (as writer in residence). His works often explore themes of identity, politics, and the complexities of Israeli society, balancing humor with poignant critique. Notable plays include Gorodish, The House Mother, Mammy, Ismailia, Grocery Store, and Anda. Each play showcases his ability to blend personal drama with broader social issues. Mittelpunkt’s plays have gained international recognition, and have been translated into English, French, and German, and performed overseas. In addition to his work in theatre, Mittelpunkt has also contributed to television and film. He received numerous awards for his contribution to Israeli culture, including the prestigious Prime Minister Prize for Hebrew Literature Works.
First person – me, deaf. Second person – you, hearing. Third person – interpreter. I rely on her. You rely on her. She relies on both of us. One moment she is you. The next moment she is me. Who is she? Is she being accurate? Do the movements of her hands convey the nuances of your language, your tone of voice, the pauses between the words? Does she manage to transform the rich expressiveness of sign language into speech? She is my ear, my voice. If only I could do without her! She calls and speaks for me in a government office. She interprets for me the instructions and words of encouragement from the midwife during childbirth. She interprets for me the Kaddish prayer my brother is saying for our father. The psychologist’s questions, she signs to me. Is this therapy session a dyad or a triad? The psychologist speaks to her, explaining “what HE needs to be doing”. “HE” is me. Now, the third person is me.
Atay Citron is an emeritus professor of theatre, and former chair of the Theatre Department at the University of Haifa, where he founded the pioneering academic training program for medical clowns in 2006. His directing career includes the outdoor performance En Zo Ben Zo at the Israel Festival (first prize in the street theatre competition), its sequel, Yanti Parazi at the Jerusalem Khan Theatre, and several devised pieces that were performed in Israel, Canada, the USA, and France. His research interests include shamanism, ritual clowning, medical clowning, and the history of avant-garde performance. He is co-editor of Performance Studies in Motion (Bloomsbury, 2014), and was artistic director of the Bat-Yam International Street Theatre Festival, the Acco Festival of Alternative Theatre, and the School of Visual Theatre, Jerusalem. In 2004, he was awarded the Rosenblum Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts. In 2014, he formed the Ebisu Sign Language Theatre Laboratory as part of the Grammar of the Body research project led by Professor Wendy Sandler at the University of Haifa, and funded by the European Research Council. Today, Ebisu is an independent theatre company that devises performances combining physical theatre with sign language, for deaf and hearing spectators alike.
Kafka is an intimate adaptation of two of Franz Kafka’s seminal works: Letter to His Father and The Metamorphosis. By interweaving a raw personal confession with a surreal narrative, the production reveals the inner fracture that shaped Kafka’s voice and his suffocating relationship with his father.
At its center there are two voices: Kafka, the son, writing a desperate letter to grasp the roots of his fear and self-doubt, and Gregor Samsa, who wakes up one morning as an insect, a grotesque image of alienation within his own home.
The adaptation creates a dialogue between father and son, text and body, the human and the estranged. The original music by Tomer Yizraely deepens the emotional texture, revealing Kafka not only as a literary icon, but as a son, a fragile mirror to the timeless human struggle with power, identity, and existence. Through the precise performances of Eyal Nahmias, Anatoly Shenfeld, and Adi Bar, and with minimal yet striking theatrical means, Kafka unfolds as a story of pain, longing, and the fragile search for love.
Yossi Yzraeli was born in Jerusalem in 1938, and is an Israeli theatre director, playwright, poet, and educator. He is considered one of the most influential figures in Israeli theatre. He is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, holds a BA from the University of Bristol, and earned his PhD from Carnegie Mellon University, where he focused his research on the work of Yevgeny Vakhtangov, particularly the production of The Dybbuk.
In 1965, upon returning to Israel, Yzraeli directed Utz Li Gutz Li at The Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv, which became a major success, and was performed 267 times. Over the course of his career, he directed plays in leading Israeli theatres, including Waiting for Godot (1969), The Bridal Canopy (1972), and A Simple Story (1979) at Habima National Theatre, presenting original and innovative interpretations of both classic and Jewish texts.
Yzraeli served as artistic director of Habima National Theatre from 1975 to1977, and of Jerusalem Khan Theatre from 1984 to 1987. He was a full professor in the Department of Theatre Arts at Tel Aviv University, and also taught at Carnegie Mellon University. He published several volumes of poetry, including The City Engineer (2001) and Migraine Siren (2002).
Throughout his career, Yzraeli received numerous awards, including the Kinor David Prize for Directing, and the Ibsen Medal from Norway. His contribution to Israeli theatre is marked by a unique blend of teaching, directing, writing, and artistic innovation.
Molière’s beloved classic comedy returns in a new and surprising adaptation in sign language! Argan, a tireless hypochondriac, is convinced that he suffers from every possible illness, and that his days are numbered. Despite showing no signs of sickness, he lives his life surrounded by enemas, endless checkups, prescriptions, and blind obedience to doctors. When Argan decides to marry off his daughter to a doctor – not out of love, but so he has a free private doctor at hand – his family’s patience runs out. The rebellion that erupts shakes his sheltered and ridiculous world, and leads him to ask himself: in his desperate attempt not to die, has he forgotten how to live? A lively comedy packed with tricks and unforgettable characters – about the health of the body, the heart, and everything in between.
Yair Shapira is a director, playwright, and content creator, and is active in Israel’s leading theatres and cultural institutions. He studied acting at Kibbutzim College of Education, Technology and the Arts (2017), and is currently pursuing a BA in Psychology at Tel Aviv-Yafo Academic College.
His artistic work bridges classical repertoires and contemporary adaptations and original plays, always with a strong focus on human stories and emotional depth. His directing and writing credits include Leviathan (Tel Aviv LGBTQ Center and The Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv), The Strange Odyssey of Lapapa Isle (Haifa Theatre, winner of the Haifa Festival Directing Award), Oh Deer! (Tmu-na Theatre), Narrative (The Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv, and later Habima National Theatre), Avner Shoulders (Tzavta Theatre), God of Carnage (Nissan Nativ Acting Studio), Fiddler on the Roof (Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts), and an adaptation of Molière’s The Imaginary Invalid at Na Lagaat Theatre (2024).
Shapira creates television content for Kan 11, including Tnu La’avod and Taboo. He is the recipient of multiple awards and grants, including the Rabinowitz Foundation, the Pais Fund, the Independent Creators Fund, and Tel Aviv Municipality’s Future of Theatre Prize
Mickey, a young ISA agent and Israeli patriot, is sent on a top-secret mission: to travel in a time machine back to November 1995, and save the life of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Unexpectedly, in mid-1990s Tel Aviv, Mickey meets his future parents, and tries to prevent the betrayal that will ruin their marriage – only to discover a deeper and darker betrayal that he could never have imagined.
After the success of Ringo, playwright Yaron Edelstein, director Amit Apte, and the Cameri | New Generation Group collaborate once again, in a political sci-fi comedy.
Yaron Edelstein was born in 1979, and is an Israeli playwright and theatre director based in Tel Aviv. His plays have been staged internationally, including in Germany, Finland, and Italy, and have been translated into English, French, Polish, German, and Italian.
Edelstein received numerous awards for his work, including The Cameri Theatre’s Playwright of the Year Award in memory of Tamar Rudich for Mickey Saves the Day (2024) and Ringo (2021), the Israeli Fringe Award for Best Director and Best Dramatic Adaptation for The Creature (2010), and the Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre Prize for Best Original Show for Pfffffff (2013).
His play Mountain was selected for the prestigious Heidelberg Stückemarkt, and premiered in 2011 at Theatre & Orchester Heidelberg. Ringo was recently translated into German by Litag Verlag (Munich), and his children’s play Sticky Petit-Phasme was translated into French and published by Éditions Théâtrales (2025).
Amit Apte is manager of The Cameri Theatre’s Artistic Department, and The Cameri | New Generation (2020-2025), the Cameri’s young actors and artists group. Apte holds a BEd in Theatre and Theatre Direction from Kibbutzim College of Education, Technology and the Arts. At The Cameri Theatre he directed Genius Bound, Ringo (Yosef Milo Prize for Best Director, 2021), Mickey Saves the Day (Yosef Milo Prize for Best Director, 2024), Dear Evan Hansen (Yosef Milo Prize for Best Director, 2025), and Somebody Sang it Before Us. At Orna Porat Children’s Theatre he directed Ronnie and Tom and Parpar Nechmad. For Fresco Dance Company he directed The Tale of the Fisherman and the Goldfish, and at Haifa International Children’s Theatre Festival he directed The Legend of the Girl and the Raven. Apte has directed plays at The Cameri Theatre’s Here and Now Festival, at Tzavta Theatre’s Playwrights Project, and at Beit Lessin Theatre’s Open Stage Festival. He was also the associate director and stage manager of several productions at The Israeli Opera.
A group of residents at the Neve Harim retirement home is faced with a dilemma. A dear friend is diagnosed with a terminal illness, and pleads with them to help him achieve a peaceful end. Harnessing all the sharp minds around them, they manage to construct a machine for self-euthanasia that will help him fulfill his wish. But the scheme takes an unexpected turn, as more and more elderly people learn about the machine, and approach them seeking a “good death” for themselves. A bittersweet comedy about friendships and farewells, and the thin line between morality and love.
The play is based on an Israeli film, The Farewell Party, which was released in 2014, and won critical acclaim and four Ophir Awards (Israeli Film Awards). The film was directed and written by Sharon Maimon and Tal Granit.
Shlomit Arnon Barlev is an Israeli playwright, director, and actress. She co-wrote and adapted for the stage works such as The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, The Farewell Party, Life According to Agfa, and Taking the Dog Out. As a director, she created numerous productions for Orna Porat Children’s Theater, Yoram Loewenstein Acting Studio, and other companies, spanning contemporary drama and youth theatre. Her work has been recognized with several awards for excellence in writing and direction.
Yoav Barlev is a playwright, director, and actor (theatre, film, television). He is a graduate of Nissan Nativ Acting Studio, Tel Aviv, 1990. Writing for the stage: The Farewell Party and Take the Dog Out – both with Shlomit Arnon Barlev; Naomi and Norma, Genius Bound, and The Witch Next Door – all with Irit Kaplan; Ach Ach Boom Trach with Norman Issa; A Trip to the Cheese Star, Bialik 22, and The Brothers – all with Hanoch Reim
Directing: The Three Musketeers (Mediatheque Theatre), Romeo and Juliet in the Square (Jerusalem Khan Theatre), The Witch Next Door (Mediatheque Theatre), On Stage (independent production), A Trip to the Cheese Star (Orna Porat Children’s Theater), and Improv 2021 (Haifa Theatre). Acting: for the past thirty years, Barlev has played major roles in Haifa Municipal Theatre, The Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem Khan Theatre, and Habima National Theatre.
Udi Ben Moshe is the artistic director of Jerusalem Khan Theatre. He graduated from Nissan Nativ Acting Studio, where he teaches acting, and performed at Haifa Theatre.
Directing at Jerusalem Khan Theatre: The Summer by Roman Weingarten, Marriage by Gogol (Israel Theatre Award for Best Comedy), The Fire Raisers by Max Frisch, Madame’s Late Mother and A Flea in Her Ear by Georges Feydeau, The Great Magic by Eduardo de Filippo, The American Princess by Nissim Aloni (Israel Theatre Award for Best Revival Production), Scapin the Schemer and The Imaginary Invalid by Molière (both of which won the Award for Best Comedy), Twelfth Night and The Merry Wives of Windsor by Shakespeare, Napoleon – Dead or Alive! by Nissim Aloni, Antigone by Sophocles, Adieu Mr. Haffmann by Jean-Philippe Daguerre, and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui by Bertolt Brecht.
At The Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv: Make My Heart Flutter by Hanoch Levin (Awards for Best Play and Best Director), The Good Person of Szechwan and The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht (Award for Best Translated Play), Suitcase Packers by Hanoch Levin (Yosef Milo Prize for Best Director), School for Wives by Molière, Mother Courage by Bertolt Brecht, Everyone Wants to Live by Hanoch Levin (Yosef Milo Prize for Best Director), The Bourgeois Gentleman by Molière, and As You Like It and Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare.
Awards: Rosenbloom Award 2008; Joseph Milo Award 2008, 2010, 2014; The Rabinovich Foundation Award 2017.
A musical theatre show that delves into the story of two women who find solace, comfort, and adventure in their burger-shaped beds. Within this setting, they embark on a journey through their implosive fears, visions, and fantasies. Mirroring each other’s experiences, they navigate the complexities of their close friendship. As they confront the full spectrum of themselves, they also compose the narrative of their future together through a rehearsal that is trying to be the medicine for the violent triggering chaos of their experience. The show becomes a poignant love letter to the essence of true friendship. Hamburgirls celebrates the myth of “being together”, and seeks to romanticize a renewed appreciation for the beauty and resilience of connections.
Maya Landsmann is a theatre and television actress, creator and performance artist, poet, and musician. Her latest roles in theatre since graduating from Nissan Nativ Acting Studio (2016): Peter Pan and Angels in America directed by Gilad Kimchi, The Constant Mourner directed by Ari Fullman, and God of Vengeance directed by Itay Tiran.
On television, she appeared in Dismissed, Sad City Girls, The Lesson, and Bear, among many others. Maya collaborated as a creator and actress with Ariel Brown in the show Zola 2000 and in The Water Boy and the Water (Hazira Performance Art Arena).
In her works, Landsmann explores the medium of live performance and the human encounter that theatre enables in a post-internet world, and is interested in topics such as fringe culture and rave culture, poetry, technology, and politics. She is a drummer for the band Power Strangers, whose album Apes Together was released in 2023. Awards include the Directors’ Award for Zola 2000 (Acco Festival for Alternative Israeli Theatre, 2018); and two Academy Awards for a leading role in The Lesson, (Best Actress at the Canneseries International Series Festival, and at the German International Series Festival).
Hila Gluskinos is a multidisciplinary performing artist, theatre maker, musician, and poetic psychonaut. With a background in acting and movement, she graduated from the Sadna Professional Dance Program in Kibbutz Ga’aton (2009), and from Nissan Nativ Acting Studio (2016). Since then, Hila has engaged in a range of experimental collaborations, including choreographing, performing, and composing for hakahaLahakah – Mythos of Company under the direction of Ido Feder, alongside collaborators Dudi Maayan, Michal Helfman, and Jonathan Omer Mizrahi (2020). She also contributed to Sacred Servixx, a project with vocalist and healer Faye Shapiro (2022), exploring the intersections of sound expression and healing. Her theatre work includes performances in Birthday by Danny Neymen at Hazira Theatre (2024), Name Drop by Jason Danino Holt at the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv (2023), and A-hole Fucking Loser by Ariel Sereni Brown at Habait Theatre (2017). Hila’s artistic practice emphasizes the exploration of her experience and the deepening of personal connections through performance. Additionally, she has collaborated with musicians such as Daniel Neshama Itach, Avshalom Ariel, Gilbert Broid, and Haim Vitali Cohen. Her solo musical piece Troubadour premiered at the Diver Festival in 2021, reflecting her commitment to merging mystery with meaningful expression.