Four-day Acre Festival opens Sunday (original) (raw)

The 28th Acre Festival of Alternative Israeli Theater opens Sunday and runs through to Wednesday.The festival combines theater performances by Jewish and Arab producers in competitive and creative settings and gives young artists an opportunity to perform in front of the public.

The four-day event will include a number of fascinating productions, including one which takes place in passing cars on the Acre roads; a production staged by a resident of the city who lost his two brothers in the Second Lebanon War; a performance based on the lyrics of songwriter David Avidan; and an appearance by Israel's first Arab rapper duo, comprising social and political texts.

Competing theater performances include "Be'aluyot" by Sharon Paz, which combines a video presentation; "Tranquilla" – which brings together an aerial circus, dolls, dance and clowns and which is produced and directed by Avital Dvori and Alit Webber; "Like destroying, only the opposite," by Rona Sagie and Shai Pitovski; "Mr Universe" – a fictional fantasy by Lior Waterman and Yonatan Levy; "Hitler, the robot and the knife", stories of adolescence with video footage by Boaz Debbie and directed by Yael Tilman; "The last field", by Nahad Bashir directed by Hashem Sulieman, which will be staged in Arabic and will tell the story of a general, a woman, a scarecrow, and an artist in the last field on earth; and "Yoshvim" (Sitting) by Rinat Moscuna who examines the swearing-in ceremony. Visitors will also get the chance to see the fascinating "One-hundred-and-thirty" performance by Ari Remez, which is dedicated to David Avidan's unique music. "Come over, we'll see," written and directed by Or Azoulay takes place in six passing vehicles and focuses on relationships, fears and dreams of six characters who converse via their car cell phones. Special note should be given to "Icha," by Motti Taman, who lost two of his brothers in the Second Lebanon War (Roi Rashkas assisted with the writing). Moreover 11 dance troupes from Poland, France, Germany and Italy will also be appearing at the festival alongside the more traditional street performances.