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Follow Us on TwitterTHEATRE: “The Gaza Mono-Logues” September 21, 2010
On October 17th, The Gaza Mono-Logues will be performed in around 40 cities of the world.
Context
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. (World Health Organization, Gaza strip, Initial health needs assessments, Health Cluster, 16/02/2009.)
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.
The media were counting the casualties. The whole world was watching.
Did anybody hear?
In 2009, ASHTAR Theatre, through its Gaza trainer Ali Abu Yassine, started training youth in Gaza again with the support of UNICEF. In 2010, we 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 .
ASHTAR Theatre is mobilising its long-built global artistic network to produce recitals of The Gaza Mono-Logues with youth groups in 30 world cities, in as many languages, all opening on the same day: the 17th of October 2010.
October 17th:
Gaza will be the starting point; at ten in the morning the initial group will inaugurate the event by reciting their monologues on the sea shore and sending them out as paper boats to the world through the sea. The event will be covered by local and international media.
Each country will then start their own recitals, following international time zones until returning to Palestine where each Palestinian city will have its own event. Ramallah and Gaza will be linked through satellite with other partnering countries.
After this grand opening, the partners will continue performing the monologues as they wish. ASHTAR Theatre will encourage them and newcomers to program The Gaza Mono-Logues in world theatres and distribute the texts in a pocket book. ASHTAR will document the whole initiative in video and in an art book.
11/29/2011, Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people (to be confirmed):
In November, each partnering country will send one young actor to meet us in New York where we will put up a recital in all languages to be performed to the General Assembly of the UNITED NATIONS, in its annual meeting on The Question of Palestine.
ASHTAR is endeavoring for the group of Gazan youth to be permitted to leave Gaza, despite the blockade, and travel to the UNESCO headquarters in Paris to perform themselves on the Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people.
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Thank You.
