Nazareth Fringe Theater Ensemble empowers local women by sharing stories
2013-09-10
A dynamic energy buzzed throughout the room filled with a group of around 30 middle-aged and elderly women who came to attend a performance by the Nazareth Fringe Theater Ensemble. What made the experience unique was that the women were active participants in the scenes taking shape before them, unlike mainstream theater where the audience often sits passively.
This performance is part of a series sponsored by I’lam and was hosted by the Women’s Group of Shikon al-Arab Neighborhood in Nazareth Illit. The director of the group, Fatina Bisharat, said, “I myself have not participated in the performance, but when the women benefit, so do I.”
The manager of the Nazareth Fringe Theater Ensemble, Hisham Suliman, asked questions that related to the women’s lives and provoked discussion among them. They shared personal stories, which the actors then portrayed through improvisational vignettes. The women’s anecdotes covered topics such as feeling forever young because of one’s grandchildren, the societal preference of having sons versus daughters, the complicated identity of the “1948 Arabs,” the bureaucracy of crossing borders, going to the wrong Jewish wedding by mistake, and feeling like one’s family is drifting apart when relatives live overseas.
Audience member Rose Houry pointed out that these issues are not easy to deal with. “The issues are not comfortable,” she said.
Luckily, the theater provides a place where the women don’t have to keep their experiences and emotions bottled up.
Suliman and his fellow actors - Mahmoud Murra, Sobhi Hosary, Nagam B’soul, and Rahiq Haj Yahia Suliman – played two games to help the women tell their stories. Suliman explained that the first game, called “Playback,” comes from Western theater and is also used in Jewish theaters in Israel; it involves the actors taking a story and “rewinding” it to show what might have happened.
The second game, called “Bahlool” refers to a character in Arabic folklore akin to the mad hatter, who can talk about any subject. A jester’s hat was placed on the floor in the center of the performance space, and Suliman invited the audience members to ask questions of the hat, such as “Why is there war?” or “Why does the iPhone affect so many aspects of our lives?” One of the actors then put on the hat and directed the other actors to express the emotion of a question or react to it using movement.
“It is very important for people to share their stories. It is the first time that these women are sharing. They feel better when they express themselves,” said Suliman.
