The Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip in December 2008 - January 2009 was extremely
violent and led in 22 days to the death of at least 1380 Palestinians, amongst which 431 were children. At least 5380 were wounded including 1872 children. An estimated number of 100, 000 people were newly displaced.
Houses, schools, hospitals, places of worship and cultural centers were destroyed. A year later, the blockade of Gaza remains and its separation from the West Bank has deepened since the West Bankers were completely impotent to stop the massacre or help their Gazan fellow Palestinians.
Ashtar Theatre Company's involvement in Gaza started in 1994 at a time when the area was accessible and when the Gaza theatre community expressed an initial desire of training to Ashtar. However, in 1995, as the PNA took its responsibilities in Gaza, Israel drastically restricted access to the strip for the West Bankers, notably Jerusalemites. The program continued through Dutch director Jan Willems for 2 years.
In 2009, the Ashtar Theatre, through its Gaza trainer Ali Abu Yassine, started training youth in Gaza again with the support of UNICEF. In 2010, they started training a new group aged 14 to 18 using drama therapy and creative writing. The first three months of work focused on the wounds of the Gaza attack of December 2008-January 2009, the youth's individual experiences, their dreams, fears and hopes.
This work led to the birth of The Gaza Mono-Logues.
No comments:
Post a Comment