A long way off Broadway

For better or worse, the Acre Festival of Alternative Israeli Theater has been violating theatrical conventions for the last three decades.

By ANDREW TOBIN
Theater Review 88 (photo credit: )
Theater Review 88
(photo credit: )
The earliest recorded theatrical event occurred in 2000 BCE with an ancient Egyptian passion play celebrating the god Osiris. In the interceding 4000 years, the basic structure of theater has remained relatively static. For better or worse, the Acre Festival of Alternative Israeli Theater has been violating theatrical conventions for the last three decades. This year, ten shows were selected from about 150 proposals to be featured in the city's excavated Crusader hall. There will also be more than 50 street shows from Israel and around the world performed throughout the city. Although the form and content of the performances vary considerably, they were all selected and designed to promote artistic expression and complement the place in which they will be performed. According to the event's artistic director, Daniella Michaeli, "The main goal of the festival is showcasing new and original artistic compositions through alternative languages of expression such as performance art." To this end, the artistic committee collaborated intensively with the creators of the ten selected shows for more than six months. "We supported them artistically and financially from the beginning," Michaeli says. The street performances are simply provided with a venue in which to present their independent work. Salto Mortale is one of the many avant-garde productions that the Acre Festival hosts this year. It is a collaborative work by Israeli and Polish theater groups. This symbolic circus from near the end of World War II is based on the historical event of the Soviet Red Army abandoning a consignment of confiscated pianos on a Polish riverbank. "It is a dark carnival-esque ceremony involving the dismantling of six grand pianos as an allegory for the collapse of culture, which war often brings," explains Idit Herman, artistic director of Clipa Theatre. Outside of promoting experimental theatre, Michaeli says, "The festival favors works which employ the unique sites of the Old City of Acre - recently designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Within the walls of this port town are the Crusader fortress, as well as khans, baths and houses of worship from its various inhabitants dating back to the Phoenician Period. The staging location of The Burial of a Donkey is particularly appropriate. The eclectic show, which creator and director Honi ha-Me'agel describes as "a funeral procession integrating theatrical language and the plastic arts," takes place in a crypt inside the Crusader Hall. The Acre Festival also hopes to improve the historically tense relationship between Arabs and Jews in Acre. "The festival supports Arabic plays and Jewish and Arab co-productions. These collaborations contribute to the artistic dialogue and cooperation between Arab and Jewish creators and audiences," Michaeli says. In this spirit, every evening during the event, a parade of Arab and Jewish teenagers from around the Galilee will careen through the streets of Acre on stilts. The producer of the performance, Sigalit Gelfand says, "The festival sees theatrical language as fostering the coming-together of hearts and minds, and creating a basis for cooperation." Although the Acre Festival of Alternative Israeli Theater refuses to be constrained by the theater of the past, it does celebrate its own history. For the last six years the staff has issued the award, Notable of the Acre Festival, to two individuals who have contributed generously to the event. At this year's opening ceremony, the honor is given to Dr. Shimon Shoshani and Professor Shimon Levy. Then, after this brief glimpse back, the festival will display the theatrical results of a lot of forward thinking. The 29th iteration of the Acre Festival takes place from October 15 to19 with the opening ceremony on October 14. Tickets and further information are available at Acrefestival.co.il.