Naomi Dekel, a recent divorcee from Eilat, a city in the south of Israel, has to move to Metula, a town near Israel’s northern border, a six-hour drive, for her new job, caring for Norma: a lonely and bitter old lady, a former lawyer who has recently fired one caregiver after another. When Ethan, Naomi’s ex-husband, discovers that Naomi has left their daughters with a friend, he calls social services and threatens to take full custody. Naomi, fearing she could lose custody of her daughters, has no choice but to hurry back to Eilat, dragging a reluctant Norma along. Their journey, which starts out as a power struggle between the two protagonists, develops into a surprising, funny, and powerful relationship that will completely change the lives of both women.
Irit Kaplan is a leading stage and screen actress, as well as an award-winning playwright. For the past twenty-five years, she has been a member of the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv, and has appeared in a wide variety of roles, ranging from world classics to contemporary Israeli plays, films, and TV series and films. Presently, she can be seen worldwide on the Netflix series The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem. Kaplan co-wrote with Yoav Bar-Lev the plays Genius Bound and Naomi and Norma, for which they won the Cameri Theatre Award for Playwrights of the Year in 2021 and 2024. Kaplan’s prestigious awards include Best Leading Actress at the Israeli Academy Awards for the film A Matter of Size (2009), and Best Supporting Actress at the Israeli Television Academy Awards for The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem.
Yoav Bar-Lev graduated from Nissan Nativ Acting Studio, and is a playwright, director, and actor (theatre, film, television). Writing for the stage: Genius Bound, The Witch Next Door (with Irit Kaplan), The Farewell Party, Take the Dog Out (with Shlomit Arnon), Ach Ach Boom Trach (with Norman Issa), A Trip to the Cheese Star, Bialik 22, and The Brothers (with Hanoch Reim).
Directing: The Three Musketeers and The Witch Next Door (Mediatheque Theater), Romeo and Juliet in the Square (The Jerusalem Khan Theatre), On Stage (an independent production), A Trip to the Cheese Star (Orna Porat Theater for Children and Youth), and Improv 2021 (Haifa Municipal Theatre). Alongside his writing and directing, Yoav has been a leading actor for the past thirty years at Haifa Municipal Theatre, The Cameri Theatre, The Jerusalem Khan Theatre, and Habima National Theatre, among others.
Tamar Keenan is a theatre director, playwright, translator, dramatist, and winner of the Yosef Milo Award for Best Director in 2022 and 2023. Fresh out of Nissan Nativ Acting Studio, Tamar joined the world-famous Gesher Theatre. She was a prominent member of the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv for eighteen years before embarking on her directing career. Since 2016, she has directed over a dozen plays in Israel’s leading theatres. Tamar also serves as artistic director at Tzavta Theatre in Tel Aviv, and as co-artistic director of the theatre’s celebrated One Act Play Festival.