After a year of closure, getting a theater up and running again is an uphill battle. Will the audiences return? Are artists still interested in performing? Has the work suffered because of the long break? These are just a few of the questions every theater in Israel and around the world faces with the reopening of cultural centers. On top of all of this, Acre Theatre Center must also find a way to move forward after being set on fire by riotous mobs. Last month, as part of the turmoil caused surrounding Operation Guardians of the Wall, the beloved Acre Theatre Center was set aflame. The ensuing fire claimed much of the theater’s equipment and office, thankfully leaving the performance spaces and studios unharmed. And now, in the rush to pick up where we all left off, the theater’s directors are working tirelessly to scrape together enough funds to bring their artistic home back to working order. “We are doing a Headstart campaign so that we will have money to buy equipment that was burned, as we aren’t getting all the money back from insurance and such,” explains veteran actress and co-artistic director of Acre Theatre Center Smadar Yaaron. Together with Moni Yosef, Khaled Abu Ali and Maisara Masri, Yaaron carefully curate the artistic program of the theater. For the staff as well as the greater community that sees Acre as a home, the burning of Acre Theatre Center marked an arrow straight to the heart. For decades, Acre Theatre has been a stronghold of coexistence, of dialogue and friendship and to many, it was becoming a target struck a deep and unfortunate chord. “It was like a pressure cooker that has no outlet and finally explodes… I don’t mean what happened in Acre only, I mean the whole country. I wasn’t surprised by any of what happened. That said, it was very painful and scary, but at the same moment it was very clear that the theater, the part that is not physical, won’t burn… that we will continue and go on,” says Yaaron.This summer, Acre Theater will host a rich dance program. “As the artistic director, I am always, not just in this season, dealing with the financial issue. If we want to bring a big company, it will be very hard for us to do it, financially. It’s all subsidized but beyond that, as we are fringe and our subscribers are fringe. I don’t really try to bring Batsheva (Dance Company) to Acre. I’m looking for the things that are fringe, that are different, that are avant-garde. And that’s what leads me to the choice of the works,” explains Yaaron. “I really love what is going on with dance in Israel. Theater is going more and more into dance. It’s not just now, it’s a process. The works deal very much with the here and now, which is what characterizes our work. Seeing it in dance is wonderful.”The dance program includes works by Hillel Kogan and Sharon Zuckerman Weiser, Bosmat Nossan, Niv Schenfeld and Oren Laor and Ari Teperberg. This selection was made by Yaaron over a year ago and put on hold time and again during each new wave and consequent lockdown. One performance, “Noa Noa” by Noa Dar, was canceled due to the circumstances. “Sadly, we didn’t manage to do that show. It was scheduled a week after the fire, and we were in shock,” says Yaaron.In order to host these works, the theater has had to rent equipment. So far, they have hosted two performances and the payoff, for everyone involved, was evident. “There was a celebratory feeling that it’s finally happening, that we don’t have to fight for years for performances to come back.”
After a traumatic month, dancing returns to Acre Theatre
For decades, Acre Theatre has been a stronghold of coexistence, of dialogue and friendship and to many, it was becoming a target struck a deep and unfortunate chord.
