A Theatrical Summer in Gaza

The plays are being performed twice a day every day until mid-August for whoever is in Gaza and whoever can get to Gaza. All are welcome.

Special thanks to our friends at: This Week in Palestine

(GAZA CITY) - As soon as school ends, the entire Gaza Strip will begin the season of summer camps. There are plenty of options for kids, all organised by one group or another. Especially interesting is the Summer Games of UNRWA, now in its fourth year.

A scene from The Magic Grater - Beit Hanoun/Gaza

In 2007, UNRWA offered a wide range of activities, including swimming, crafts, kite-making and kite-flying, gymnastics for both boys and girls, and theatre, to name a few. Hundreds of thousands of kids participated, and Gaza, despite everything, was on the move all summer with presentations and a grand finale in the sports field in the centre of Gaza City.

In 2008 and 2009, Summer Games were also held and attracted thousands of kids who were involved in all activities. Beaches were full. Skies were full. And classrooms were magically turned into small theatres.

Theatre is not a typical summer activity. This year, Theatre Day Productions, hand-in-hand with UNRWA and their schools and kids, will create eight original plays that will be shown in 86 locations throughout the Gaza Strip. The plays will be followed by workshops and activities in free expression in order to make it possible for the children not only to watch but also to perform on stage.

The theatre project for UNRWA is called “Octet” and is a tetralogy of new plays created for these games. The plays look at what is good in Gaza: all the kids who are trying to make it by doing good; their parents who are trying to live normal lives in an abnormal situation; teachers who are making the best of things; members of a society who continue to find some kind of joy in their Gaza homes.

Four plays have been written: The Blue Play, The Red Play, The White Play, and The Black Play. The coloured titles are based on certain theories of colour and thinking. Each play will be rehearsed and produced twice by two different directors in Theatre Day Productions. And each play is about the best of Gaza.

The Blue Play is about a boy who cannot read and a boy who cannot talk and a friend who helps them through this. The White Play is about four girls, best friends, who try to make a wedding dress. The Red Play, although a little sad, is about family harmony. The Black Play is about four boys and The Man, all best friends trying to create a Number 1.

Obviously the plays are colour-coded and kids will have the chance to discuss with each other which colour play they saw.

The plays will reach 172,000 children throughout Gaza. Teams of directors, actors, assistants, technicians, designers, and volunteers have been recruited and trained. Production began in April and opening performances will be in June.

The plays are being performed twice a day every day until mid-August for whoever is in Gaza and whoever can get to Gaza. All are welcome.

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Jackie Lubeck has been writing youth plays since 1996 and is the author of the four plays that will be performed in the 2010 Summer Games.