Next Gen News

In April, activist and director Juliano Mer Khamis, was shot dead. Now, the theater group in the West Bank are back with a book about the impact fear, intimidation and psychological occupancy

Freedom Theatre has always been considered a family. Over the last six months has been a grieving family. On April 4, 2011, the charismatic founding director was shot dead outside the theater doors. Juliano Mer Khamis, was the driving force behind this ambitious project, which provides training in professional theater for young people in Jenin refugee camp, a sprawling city transformed the occupied Palestinian territories. Now, talking about his young recruits fear and intimidation in a new production entitled "Sho Kman?" Or "What ?".

What else? was the question facing Liberty Theatre after the death of Mer-Khamis, when the project's future seems to hold a thread. Their leader was killed because of his inflexible determination to challenge - through drama - and not only the rivalry of the Israeli occupation, but among the Palestinians and sexual taboos. The community of Jenin was an ominous silence of death, parents warned their children to stay away from the theater. "My mother told me that if I continued with the theater, which could be the next to be killed," said Faisal Abu Al Haija, a member of 22 years of age, "Sho Kman?" melted. The decision to join a new production was a brave man. For Faisal, however, was the only way imaginable. "Julian always brought gifts for us," the young actor says, "Now that's what I can do for Julien."

soon as he learned that the directors of Nabil Al Raee and Zoe Lafferty locked inside the theater to develop a new production, Faisal ran to join the group. Testing took the form of workshops in which young actors were invited to share their experiences, hopes and dreams. In Jenin, nightmares often take the form of memories: In 2002, the refugee camp became the scene of one of the bloodiest episodes of the intifada. Faisal was 13 at the time, and memories of "the battle of Jenin" became the opening scene of the play - a silent, slow motion representation of a city under bombardment. The violence in this production is everywhere. Not only the violence of the occupier, but the violence of the oppressed. "Not only the checkpoints, the wall, fighting," said Faisal, "became a part of my life, part of my mentality. "

in fragmentary form, with scenes from the dissolution of weakly connected, "Sho Kman" is described as a nightmare landscape of the mind, a projection of the psychological impact of the occupation in a densely populated area surrounded by checkpoints. "From the question of pain, losing the hope of being locked and closed," says the director Nabil Al Raee, "is very difficult, very difficult to imagine the future." Yet this is precisely what the theater is free. For Faisal, the use of theater to confront his past and present analysis has opened a "new space" which is free to dream "like any other person in the world."

The immediate challenge for the Theatre of Liberty is to hire women. The "Sho Kman" all male cast, and the actors are painfully aware of the need to diversify. At some point in the game, a teenager sparked a passion for rap in Arabic on the empowerment of women and the need for girls' voices to be heard. The recruitment of women to a Theatre Project of the sexes has always been problematic in Jenin, but after the murder of the Mer-Khamis challenge became greater. In a note published in the field in April, the Director provides a play about adolescent sexuality were cited as the main reason for his murder. In this context, to regain the support of the community will not be easy.