The words of the late Juliano Mer Khamis, founder and artistic director of the Freedom Theatre in Palestine, still resonate seven years after his assassination. This month, the Freedom Theatre will relaunch its Professional Theatre School after a year and a half hiatus, offering acting, devising, and cultural resistance education to youth in Jenin, the northernmost city in the West Bank—an area that has seen numerous conflicts over the years.
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Something about this article and learning about these youth theater companies in Palestine really resonated with me, because it highlighted a relationship between theater skills and real-world skills, and the importance of using these skills, especially in today's world. They are not creating art just for the fun of it, or because they can; they are creating theater and preserving it as an art form because they must. In one of the photos it was strongly put: 'Resistance through art.' Because of their location, and the political and societal climate, theater is one of those things that they cannot take for granted. As someone who lives in a country where theater is used as a way of criticizing our world, I often forget that in many places that expression is threatened. One of the quotes that really stood out to me is something that Melkar Muallem said: "Theatre is a peaceful means of both demonstration against the occupation as well as our own internal corruption." Especially since the culture is one that leaves many youth feeling hopeless, theater is a way to combat that, by looking fears in the eyes and forcing ourselves to overcome it. The challenges that many of these companies face but overcome is truly remarkable.
I never did theatre at my high school, instead, I have been involved with a community youth theatre since I was 3 years old. Something this article mentions that I completely agree with is how theatre, specifically youth, teaches students skills that can be applied to theatre as well as to real life. One of the students mentioned in the article has dreams of being a lawyer, yet still participates in the youth theatre. I have seen friends from my theatre go into careers as diverse as the performance industry to the medical industry and all of them have said their education in theatre has helped them achieve their goals. Something that stuck with me from this article is that the youth of Palestine are using theatre as a way to share their culture with the world and allow the rest of the world to look past their initial views of the country and see them for who they really are. With all of the conflict going on in Palestine, as the article mentions, it is inspiring to see the youth of the country using their resources and their love for theatre to help change the way people view them and to help their community.
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