Join us for a discussion with Nabil
Al-Raee, Artistic Director of the Jenin Freedom
Theatre.
Nabil Al-Raee ,
the Artistic Director of the Freedom Theatre in Jenin Refugee
Camp, Palestine, will explore why and how theatre is a basic
tool of life that can help build a new home in a context of
refugees and conflict--the home that Palestinians want to
create. He will discuss how the Freedom Theatre connects
theatre to life _ training artists in creative ways who
question and challenge injustice, social limits and
preconceived concepts. Using photos and video, Nabil will show
examples of the highly demanding artistic and cultural
resistance training that starts with the freedom of the
individual, working to free Palestine, and the world. As those
at the Freedom Theatre believe:
we are all oppressed and we are the only ones who can
free ourselves _ the only one who can free
Palestine is Palestine itself.
Learn more about the Freedom
Theatre
here.
Nabeel Al-Raee was
born and raised in Aroub Refugee Camp in the Hebron hills of
Palestine. He grew up during the 1st Intifada, trying to
go to school between shootings, tear gas and curfew.
In the 90?s Nabeel joined Theatre Day Productions _ a
theatre company in Hebron working mainly with children and
youth, and training actors. He finished his
professional training there, and began training others
for the next two years, also working throughout the West
Bank as a musician and actor. Nabil then studied and worked in
theatre first in Tunisia, and then in Europe,
before returning to Palestine in 2006. At the
invitation of Juliano Mer-Khamis, he joined the
then-nascent Freedom Theatre in Jenin Refugee Camp that
Juliano had co-founded. There, he trained young actors
and directed The Freedom Theatre?s first play ?The Journey.?
Following the success of the play, Nabeel began
full-time work at The Freedom Theatre, coordinating
drama activities, and in 2009, became Director of
their Theatre School, a professional theatre training
program for young adults. After Juliano's murder in 2011,
Nabeel stepped in as artistic director of the theatre,
determined that Juliano's work would continue. He has
continued to build The Freedom Theatre towards its goal of
being a leading artistic and political institution in
Palestine and beyond.
