Al Midan Theater (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

: مسرح الميدان) is the

Arabic-speaking Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

theater in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

History

The theater was founded in 1994 by group of Arab Israeli Palestinian Theatre Artists like Yousef Abu Wardeh ,

Fouad Awad Fouad Awad (born October 7, 1956; Arabic: فؤاد عوض; Hebrew: פואד עווד) is an avant-garde Israeli-Palestinian theatre director, and a prominent figure in the Palestinian theatrical movement. Biography Awad was born on October 7, 19 ...

and others, receiving a full support by the

i Minister of Education

Shulamit Aloni Shulamit Aloni ( he, שולמית אלוני; 29 December 1928 – 24 January 2014) was an Israeli politician. She founded the Ratz party, was leader of the Meretz party, Leader of the Opposition from 1988 to 1990, and served as Minister of Ed ...

during

Israeli Prime Minister The prime minister of Israel ( he, רֹאשׁ הַמֶּמְשָׁלָה, Rosh HaMemshala, Head of the Government, Hebrew acronym: he2, רה״מ; ar, رئيس الحكومة, ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief exec ...

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; he, יִצְחָק רַבִּין, ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77, and from 1992 until h ...

's government and with the assistant of then Haifa mayor

Amram Mitzna Amram Mitzna ( he, עמרם מצנע, born 20 February 1945) is an Israeli politician and former general in the IDF. He is a former mayor of Haifa (1993–2003) and Yeruham (2005–2010) and led the Labor Party from 2002 to 2003. In 2012 he joine ...

, through the Council for Culture and Art in Haifa, by chairman Isaac Rubin and

Ouriel Zohar Ouriel Zohar (born 1952), is an Israeli and French theater director, playwright, poet and translator from French to Hebrew. Professor at the Department of Humanities & Arts at the Technion University, created the Technion theater in 1986. Has be ...

who then chaired the Council's theater committee. At the beginning it was named "The Arab-Israeli theater", but after a few years it was renamed to its current name. The theater serves as the artistic community of Arabs in Israel. Productions of the theater run throughout the country. The theater consists two halls, one hall with 292 seats, and the second with 112 seats. The second hall is named after theater director Mazen Ghattas who died in 2005. In its early years the theater wandered between

Nazareth Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...

and Haifa and eventually received a professional hall, 300 seats, at Migdal HaNeviim in Haifa. The theater runs plays only in the Arabic language, and employs fresh new Arab actors graduating from Israeli

drama school A drama school, stage school or theatre school is an undergraduate and/or graduate school or department at a college or university; or a free-standing institution (such as the Drama section at the Juilliard School); which specializes in the pr ...

s, along with well known first-class actors of Israel's Arab artists. The initial budget with the opening of the theater was four million

Shekel Shekel or sheqel ( akk, 𒅆𒅗𒇻 ''šiqlu'' or ''siqlu,'' he, שקל, plural he, שקלים or shekels, Phoenician: ) is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly —and became c ...

, funded from the budget of the Israeli Ministry of Culture and the Municipality of Haifa. Over the years, the share of budget from the Ministry of Culture had decreased, and the share of the municipality has increased. In March 2011, the theater announced it was in danger of closure, following a cumulative deficit due to the non-transfer of budget promised by former Culture Ministry Director Yoav Rosen.

"A Parallel Time" controversy

During 2014, the theater started running the play "A Parallel Time" based on the life of an Arab citizen of Israel, Walid Daka. Daka is a prisoner serving a life sentence, who was convicted of being part of the group that abducted and killed

Israeli soldier The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

Moshe Tamam, though he denies it and says that he is a pacifist. Following a protest by bereaved families, local public figures and others, Haifa Municipality decided to freeze the funding for the theater and to establish a committee to examine further steps. Since the show started running, about 900 students in Junior year and Twelfth grade had watched the show. Education Minister

Naftali Bennett Naftali Bennett ( he, נַפְתָּלִי בֶּנֶט, Transliterated: , ; born 25 March 1972) is an Israeli politician who served as the 13th prime minister of Israel from 13 June 2021 to 30 June 2022, and as the 3rd Alternate Prime Minist ...

convened the National Cultural Cart Committee to examine the cancellation of further show orders. On June 8, 2015 the Culture Committee unanimously decided not to remove the show from the National Cultural Cart funding, however, the minister used his authority to order its removal and the show had been removed from the Culture Cart.

References

{{Arab citizens of Israel footer, uncollapsed Arab Israeli culture in Haifa Palestinian culture Theatres in Haifa