This year’s festival marks the return to normalcy and peaceful coexistence. We hope it will be, as it always was, a symbol of unity,” said Acre Mayor Shimon Lankri at a press conference held ahead of this year’s theater festival, which will take place September 21-24.
“After last year’s virtual festival, we are very happy to announce that this year the festival returns to its original settings at the magnificent Acre Fortress, the Knights Halls and the charming alleys of Acre,” he said adding that despite the violent riots that took place recently, Acre continues to be a beacon of coexistence.
“There are people of four religions living together in Acre and we believe that this colorful festival adds its unique tradition to this city. Holding it this year is our way of saying that life, reason and unity are back and I invite everyone to come and enjoy this unique festival and our city.”
The artistic manager of the festival, Shalom Shmuelov, who will be stepping down after this year’s festival, said that many of the plays in the competition deal with the challenging year we all had.
“We are very happy to return to the regular format of live shows in this magical festival. Much of the content deals with the pandemic and its effect on people of the theater. Other content deals with our life here in Israel,” he said. “We worked around the clock in order to bring the most exciting, challenging and thought-provoking plays to the stage this year, in order to create an all-around cultural experience for our audience,” said Shmuelov.
Celebrating its 42 birthday, the festival will host hundreds of performances, both in the halls and in the open air, including eight premiers that are part of the competition, four short plays, and many street performances open to the public as well as night events.
Among the premiers included in the competitions is one play that uses artificial intelligence and virtual imaging; another play about isolation during Corona called In the Days of the Crown; Murder by Consent, which is based on a poem by Iris Eliyah Cohen written after the murder of Esti Aharonovich by her husband; a performative birthing class (in English) presented by Ori Lenkinsky; and much more. An interesting play presented by the Rahat Bedouin Theater tells the stories of four murderers sitting in jail and waiting for their sentences. The audience will be asked to serve as judges and jury.
The festival’s newly appointed CEO, Lizo Ohayon, said that this year the festival will be even more exciting than ever.
“We are excited to return to our home within the historical city of Acre, allowing artists to fulfil their dreams and bring original Israeli works to the stage after a very hard and challenging year.”
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