1. Israeli-Palestinian
Children’s Theatre Project
Sharon Gershoni (Art Director) 2010!
In 2010, I joined a theatre project that brought together Israeli children from
the Jerusalem area and Palestinian children from Beit Jala (adjacent to Bethlehem
and Jerusalem), ages 9-14. The group worked on a play that the children wrote
together, based on the peaceful prophecy of the biblical prophet Micah about the
end of times, when Jerusalem will be open and welcoming to all people and
nations.!
!
In order to work together, both Palestinian and Israeli children had to
overcome a language barrier, as well as their traumas of war and fears of the other,
who represented the violence around them. They shared their stories and those
fears through activity with photographs, drama and play to initiate trust and
personal contact.!
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2. !
Once, due to a terror attack followed by a closure, the kids from Jerusalem
could not travel across the checkpoint to visit their Palestinian peers. This
reminded everybody how fragile the existence of this group really is, but was
overcome with a skyped art workshop during which each child made two
drawings of an object - one with a negative usage of the object and one with a
positive usage of it. The children drew planes, guns, hand grenades, knives and
stones.!
!
The kids learned the biblical passages of the prophecy, and chose their
characters, which was an incredibly funny and surprising event. None were kings,
soldiers or spiritual leaders. Instead, they included a corrupt taxi driver, who
would take his passengers to the wrong place, a grumpy hotel owner, an orphan
child who lost all her family, an old man who lost his son at war, a beautiful singer
and a thief. These would be the protagonists of the play, who would bring the
peaceful prophecy to Jerusalem. !
!
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3. The stage elements included a wall size landscape drawing of Jerusalem, a
hotel facade (with the separation wall on its other side), mock building stones, and
a taxi. !
!
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