Summer Fun Weeks – 2015

After reading a poem called “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” by Wallace Stevens, Jackie Lubeck came up with the idea of “Ten Ways to Know Us” which is a research on how Palestinian kids and drama teachers, and directors, would like to talk about Palestine from ten different points of view. Ten themes were chosen and were worked into scenes for a project of the same name (See “Ten Ways to Know Us.” For the summer games of 2015, we turned six of the scenes into plays which were shown to 150,000 school children throughout the summer. The plays are (1) “Three Birds” (2) “Snow Trip” (3) “One Thousand Questions (4) “The Boys Who Can’t Sit Still” (5) “Between the Sea and the Desert” and (6) The Boys in the Mirror

Three Birds

Written by Jackie Lubeck
Directed by Ola Salem and Hana Ammar

Three birds sit on their perch waiting for the woman who comes every day to feed them and bring them water. She is late. Of the birds: one is quite wounded, one is old, dirty, and covered in goo, one is nervous wreck. When the woman finally arrives, greets and feeds them, she tells them, “I am off to heaven and won’t be coming back… No one will take you. What are we to do?” Under the cover of sleep, the birds discuss their future and fate. In the morning, the woman sets the birds free. From their perch they realize they have no choice but to fly out and discover freedom.

 The Actresses

The play was made by 3 groups of women performing simultaneously in different locations.

Group 1 – Asma Al Feraa, Hiba Shihada, Khadra Arafa, Rima Hamdan

Group 2 – Sabrin Shaat, Afaf Nashabat, Tahani Muhanna, Wala Al Faleet, Suad Al Dramli

Group 3 – Wafa Al Ashqar, Islam Elyan, Hana’ Ammar, Maysa Assaf

TDP Production

Artistic Supervision and Direction – Rafat Al Aydeh, Mohammed Al Hissi & Jan Willems

Administration – Amal Abu Dawood, Rami Hijjo, Maryam Enaia, Tania Mourtaja, Doaa Abo Abdo, Rania Shawwa, Henriette Araman, Anan Terhi, & Francis Tams

Technicians – Riyad Al Akras, Ahmad Qadada, Ashraf Sirhan, & Mohsein Abu El Kheer