Serving Palestine’s children and youth through theater

BEIT JALA, West Bank — Marina Barham, the general manager of the Al-Harah Theater in the West Bank, who twice has been an International peacemaker visiting mid councils in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), hosted the PC(USA) delegation to Jordan and Israel-Palestine earlier this month. Alongside her speaking to the delegation was Nicola Zreineh, Al-Harah’s deputy general manager and artistic coordinator.

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Al-Harah’s vision is of “a free Palestinian society that uses culture and arts to consolidate the concept of citizenship, freedom of expression and mutual respect.” According to its website, Al-Harah believes that bringing the performing arts for children and young people to see and experience “is a way of resistance to the Israeli occupation. Through our drama and theater training programs, we help children and young people overcome trauma that they go through because of the violence” that many have experienced under occupation.

“We think that the performing arts is an alternative tool to redirect the energy of young people in an innovative and creative way,” Al-Harah says on its website. Al-Harah is Arabic for “the neighborhood.” It’s the place where “we want to get our inspiration,” Barham explained.

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“We have been communicating with the PC(USA) for many years,” Barham told the delegation, led by the Rev. Jihyun Oh, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly and Executive Director of the Unified Agency. “For us it’s very important for people to come see what the situation is and to be in connection with people on the ground.”

Grants from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance helped to fund the Palestinian International Theater Festival for Children and Youth, Barham said. That biennial gathering brings together local and international groups for an eight-day event in the West Bank and Jerusalem. It includes performances, workshops and street carnivals, often themed around resilience and joy.

Al-Harah takes its programs into schools and tours internationally “when we can,” Barham explained. “We train trainers, and we train children and young people and give them a safe space to express themselves.”

About 12 years ago, Al-Harah opened a training center to develop the skills of theatrical light and sound designers as well as costumers. Beginning in 2010, Al-Harah began offering three street festivals, one of them featuring giant puppets.

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The Hamas-Israeli war canceled what was going to be the most Palestinian International Theater for Children, but Al-Harah hopes to hold the festival this fall, and it’s applied to the PC(USA) for financial help to help stage it. “Children have been going through trauma and violence,” Barham noted. “Through your support,” Al-Harah holds psycho-social drama sessions for children and youth.

She said Al-Harah has many dreams, including helping to

• End attacks on Palestinians, especially in Gaza
• Enhance freedom of expression throughout the world. “You are losing that in the United States,” Barham said.
• Find a just solution and freedom for Palestinians
• Promote equality and fair treatment for people in all countries
• Ensure that leaders around the world will “carry responsibility for what is happening in Palestine and in other countries,” Barham said.

Zreineh said he’s been collecting and recording people’s accounts from the aftermath of the Arab-Israeli War of 1948. “You can’t believe the similarities, then and now,” he told members of the delegation. “It is sometimes the very same sentences.”

Last spring, Al-Harah was out performing even as the war between Hamas and Israel continued.

“It was very emotional for the audience and for us,” said Zreineh, who appears in many of Al-Harah’s productions. “We always discuss it” with the audience afterward.