Caro
Ready, steady, go! You would walk to Ramallah city centre Al-Manara, hop onto a Service going to Burj Filastin for 3 and a half [occupation currency], walk around the corner and jump into ASHTAR’s daily work and ongoing activities as if you would have been part of the team forever. ASHTAR Theatre in Ramallah has a more than 30 years long tradition of artistical and cultural work all over Palestine: Jerusalem, Gaza and Ramallah. Their work focuses on theatre as a means of social and political change as well as artistic expression and is well known in the Palestinian performing arts community and beyond.
Arriving already happened the day before my first workday. Together with the other ffippies we went at night to watch the show “Guernica, Gaza”, that was currently playing in July. Despite most of us not talking Arabic, we had an intense experience, as the collection of personal stories from Gaza written down into a theatre piece, was put into scene through audio-visual manners in a very strong and tangent way. A week later, I would be the one counting ticket sales, preparing the merchandise and checking the audience in at the box office. Before that, I would watch the run-through rehearsal and the whole team would eat together before the show.
In 2010 ASHTAR started a project called “Gaza Monologues” which unfortunately continued to grow through the years of Israeli aggression against the people in Gaza until now, as we are witnessing a genocide. The collection of texts from youth in Gaza has been distributed and read out globally, especially since October 7. In this context ASHTAR called its international community to write Letters to Gaza. For the 24 Hours for Palestine marathon by Golden Thread theatre in July, I selected some of the submitted texts and we arranged a reading, in which members of ASHTAR read out the Letters to Gaza written by people from all around the world.
Finally, my time in ASHTAR ended with the beginning of the four weeks summer camp, they realized together with the Palestinian Circus School in Birzeit. 20 young adults from all over Westbank were invited to participate in the program, learning various circus and theatre skills. I was lucky and able to move between the roles of a team member sharing responsibilities within the camp organization and a participant joining classes and learning how to juggle. Experiencing Palestine in this environment is very precious and special.
Be ready to jump in and help out with whatever is needed in the moment. This might be the best way to support ASHTAR theatre and their work within and beyond Palestine.
