Center stage in a fire engine red dress, Tzipi Pines, Beit Lessin Theatre\u2019s general manager and artistic director, introduced the upcoming Open Stage Festival, saying that \u201cit came about by chance, not through any great vision.\u201d According to Pines, she was in Avishai Milstein\u2019s office, which \u201clooks like the trash bin of Tel Aviv \u2013 full of scripts. I said \u2018Let\u2019s do a public reading. If all this is accumulating anyway, why don\u2019t we hear it?\u201d In the ten years since its inception, the festival has become an opportunity to encounter new voices in Israeli drama, and, as festival artistic director Milstein adds, \u201ceven if it began casually, it has developed into a deeply visionary enterprise.\u201d<\/p>\n
Opening the 30 year anniversary of Beit Lessin with two weekends of 9 staged readings, 4 full productions and other special events, beginning September 3rd. Between 10 \u2013 15 plays are selected each year (from about 100 applicants) for readings, out of which 4 \u2013 5 plays are awarded grants for production. Among the plays which had their first exposure at \u2018Open Stage\u2019 are Hadar Galron\u2019s Mikveh (2004 production of the year at Israeli Theatre Academy Awards) and Reshef Levy\u2019s \u2018The Indian Patient\u2019 (2005 playwright of the year). This year\u2019s plays include: \u201cForeign Worker\u201d by Rachel Gil, \u201cWho Knows Amos Hefer\u201d by Tuviah Tzifin and \u201cPrincess Mary 7\u201d by Yoav Michaeli.<\/p>\n
The festival\u2019s 10th anniversary will be marked with a tribute to the actress Zahrira Harifai for her contribution to the festival throughout the years. Several special events are planned, including a panel discussion on the festival and its impact and a performance based on Anat Harari\u2019s book \u201c100 Mothers\u201d, an exploration of mother-daughter realtionships, that will feature Yona Elian-Keshet, Hana Azoulay-Hasfari, Miriam Zohar, Zahrira Harifai, Tehiya Danon, Tzofit Grant, Keren Tzur, Nina Kotler, Chen Danon, Hagar Danon and Irit Kaplan.<\/p>\n