15.09.2011 Israel/Palestine

At the edge of the world

The Freedom Theater in Jenin

Juliano Mer Khamis was an extremely paradoxical phenomenon. Son of a Jewish Israeli mother and a Palestinian father, he embodied the border. He did not allow himself to be confined to one camp or the other, but preferred to sit on the fence: an unprotected place. He was murdered on April 4, 2011 outside his Freedom Theatre. He journeyed to Jenin in the occupied West Bank in the footsteps of his mother Arna, arriving in a town where the people knew Israelis only as soldiers. He continued her work with the children’s and youth theatre that she had founded there.

The theatre represented a protected space in which young people could process the violence and feelings of powerlessness they experienced in their everyday lives. To the theatre the first Palestinian drama school was added, and their productions were among the best that the Palestinian theatre had to offer. In the glare of the theatre’s spotlights, a battle was fought on two fronts: against the Occupation that made prisoners of Jenin’s population; and against the development of reactionary type of attitudes and opinions growing up as a consequence of isolation and occupation. Juliano’s companions are daring to continue with the venture.

This dual struggle climaxed in the scandal-rocked production of George Orwell’s parable ‘Animal Farm’, in which young Palestinians are robbed of their life chances by occupation (the humans) and their own authorities (the pigs). Juliano’s murder should not be allowed to be the final act of the Freedom Theatre. His associates are hoping that the theatre will continue to shine out, even after his violent death. Their next project is the Playback Theatre, an interactive theatre experience for Jenin and the surrounding area. It will allow the public to tell their own stories, which will then be improvised on stage by actors and musicians – a powerful way of articulating the common struggle and the strength of resistance.