An theatre workshop open to the general public will be held this evening, Saturday, May 13, at the Holot Detention Center in the Negev from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

“Holot Theatre – Generation 2.0” is joint project of Liat Shabtai, Rotem Goldenberg and Awet Asheber. Actors and creative partners under the guidance of Chen Alon include Abraham Hagos, Tamar Alon, Eylam Muruvitz Lahav, Barakat, Awet Brhanegezgi, Yesholo, Fanan, Germay Bharna, Frezgi, Hadish, Kubrum.

In February 2016, Israel’s Supreme Court determined that the Holot Detention Center can be legally used to incarcerate asylum seeks for up to 12 months. The authorities send illegal immigrants to Holot to cause them to despair and voluntarily leave Israel.

During the last few months, Israeli members of the Holot Theatre workshop group have returned to the detention center in order to increase the number of imprisoned asylum seekers from Eritrea trained as actors. “We work with various theatre techniques, exercises, and improvisations, inspired by Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed,” they said.

“We are inviting the general public to an open workshop session Saturday evening in which we will demonstrate our unique work and attempt to present theatrically the experiences of the asylum seekers in Israel and in particular the main issues of those imprisoned in Holot. We will try to illustrate the personal and collective lives of refugees in Israel, from their childhood until they reach Holot, and together we will ask: What is next?”

Transport: A bus will leave Levinsky Park for Holot Saturday afternoon. To register and pay in advance, visit the link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/-20-ride-to-holot-sat-may-13-tickets-33953539952

More for details, see the event’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/288416064946765/