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.