Malka (Queen), an original play written and directed by Jason Danino Holt, billed as “a pop legend for grown ups” will be performed by the third year students of the Nissan Nativ Acting Studio.
Nissan Nativ Acting Studio on the play: “Malka the Queen had everything: a nation that admired her, a man willing to die for her, a son who was a source of pride and a pair of legs that any woman would kill for. But like in any juicy legend, a fateful spell shook up the plot and …

Gesher Theater will host their 7th Annual International Theatre Festival from June 20 – 29, 2013. Three new plays fresh from the Russian stage will be performed in Israel, offering  the perspective of Russian directors on the works of Hanoch Levin,  Meir Shalev and Arthur Miller. The plays will be performed in Russian with surtitles in Hebrew.
Hanoch Levin’s Suitcase Packers will open the festival. A production of the Mayakovsky Theatre in Russia, staged by  Alexander Koruchekov,  the play revolves around several neighboring families, living out the cyles of life: birth, …

Bawdy, poetic, incisive and scathingly witty, the late Israeli playwright Hanoch Levin is a powerful presence  on the Israeli and international stage. The Cameri Theatre presents the first International Hanoch Levin Festival, paying tribute to this great writer, with events taking place at the Cameri, Habima and Gesher Theatres from June 17 – 26, 2013.
Six international productions and eleven Israeli productions of Levin’s plays will be presented, as well as discussions, staged readings of plays that have not been produced, and an exhibition of photographs of Levin’s plays by Gadi …

The 2012 Israeli Theatre Prizes were awarded yesterday, May 10, 2012, in a ceremony at the Holon Mediatheque and broadcast on IBA Channel 1.
Dvora Kedar was honored with a lifetime achievement award. Entertaining and moving audiences in the many roles she has portrayed on stage and screen over the course of a long and prolific career, Kedar still graces the stage of Habima National Theatre, even as she approaches her 90th birthday. Uri Ofer, former Director of the Cameri Theatre and co-founder and Director of the Israeli Opera in its …

What could be farther from contemporary Israeli experience than a bunch of guys separated by geography, ethnicity, class and outlook, bunking together in Biloxi, Mississippi as they train to join the allied forces fighting in World War II. What could be closer. The military is perhaps the quintessential Israeli experience, whether or not one serves, every Israeli is familiar with the set, costume, dialogue, action and characters of the IDF, and every Israeli knows how she or he feels about it.
It’s a rite of passage in Israeli life, a defining …

The celebrations of Verdi’s bicentenary continue at the Israel Opera, and since this season aims to focus on operas inspired by great literary works, none is more fitting than Otello, a labor of love written not by a young man working for commission, but by a mature, experienced composer who came of out retirement to write what would be his penultimate work.
After the grand triumph of Aida in 1871, Verdi considered himself officially retired, wanting nothing more than to return to his beloved farm at Sant’Agata. Over the following decade, …

The Israel Festival will take place in Jerusalem from May 23 – June 22, 2013. Inspired by the city, its thousand years of history, breathtaking landscape and unique architecture, the locations chosen for festival events form a narrative of Jerusalem, past and present. The Tower of David, the Jerusalem Lepers Colony, the old train station, the Sultan’s Pool and Ein Kerem, as well as the Jerusalem Theatre, the Gerard Behar Center, Mamilla, the YMCA and Beit Shmuel – the festival venues reflect the vibrant diversity of Jerusalem’s cultural life, and …

All theater is political, an agent and artifact of its time. Although one might analyze the political themes, the work itself does not function in the same way as other political actions, existing as it does onstage, within a structure that has a different relationship to truth and accountability.
Shakespeare’s play depicts Richard III as a “deformed” villain who murders his two young nephews. In staging the play, some directors choose to interpret this as a physical deformity, presenting Richard as a limping hunchback, others prefer to present Richard as a …

Rowdy, raunchy and boisterous, the Israeli Improvisation Championship at Tzavta was one of the noisiest and friendliest competitions ever! Amid the hubbub of laughter, hugs and shouting (Goodman theatre students, yes, I mean you!) cool host Amitai Yaish sent free chasers and franks out to audience members as rewards for creativity, while the contestants flaunted their spontaneity onstage.
I caught up with the competition for the final round, with the two finalists in each category (amateurs, students & professionals) taking the stage together to strut their stuff before a panel of …

The Israel Opera triumphs once again with Modest Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov. World-renowned bass Paate Burchuladze’s professionalism adds depth to the unfortunate Tsar, whose complex nature is explored through interactions with his family, his people and his God.
The opera is based on Pushkin’s “dramatic chronicle” of the same name, which, at certain points, resembles Shakespeare’s histories. Those who are unfamiliar with Russian opera will have no trouble following the plot: the action unfolds at a steady pace, with short, bitterly humorous scenes scattered throughout the music for occasional comic relief.

The story …