An Open Stage for Artists with and without Disabilities

Na Laga’at issued a call for artists to submit works integrating actors and dancers with and without sensory disabilities, aiming to encourage inclusive artworks. Several proposals were selected to be presented during the festival.

Cathedral

A stage adaptation of Raymond Carver’s story “Cathedral”. A man is forced to host a blind man, an old friend of his wife, and is surprised when this unwelcome encounter manages to open his heart. It’s a story about connection, intimacy, and the power of shared action.

Adaptation and Direction: Eden Kremer | Actors: Yishai Golan, Hezi Eliyahu | Original Music: Guy Moses | Projections: Neta Moses | Editing and Artistic Consulting: Tal Miller | Consultant: Efrat Steinlauf

Hamlet in 18 Minutes

An adaptation of Shakespeare’s famous play for four actors and seven characters. A blind hero is the only one who sees the truth and what occurs around him.

Adaptation, Direction, Costumes, and Props: Ruti Tamir | Participants: Shoval Ben Zev, Ariela Tocholob, Avi Mirel, Lolita Mirson | Music: Yoni Tal

The work received a grant through a call for developing ideas for works integrating actors with diverse sensory abilities

Common Look

A collaboration between Kelim Choreography Center, Bat Yam, and MarShal Blind Center, Tel Aviv, supported by the Ministry of Culture and Sports and Mifaal Hapais Foundation for Culture and Art.  A project connecting performers with and without visual impairment and blindness. A human stage encounter between Savion, a non-dancer with visual impairment, and Or, a sighted professional dancer, creating images moving between tenderness and intimacy to awkwardness and difficulty in attempting to form a connection influenced by blindness.

Choreography: Tamar Mayzlish | Dancers: Or Saadi and Savion David

SOS24

Another special project to be presented on 12/6 at 12:15 in the workshop room is SOS24. This is an exposure of a work stage by Matan Zamir and Gal Naor, The Progressive Wave, Berlin, following a residency in Israel. The project marks eighty years since the liberation of Auschwitz in 2025 and is the third part of the Science of Signs trilogy dealing with the connection between spiritual disciplines and performance art. Their work explores intersections between worlds and serves as an invitation to re-examine the concept of identity.

Performer Creators: Yocheved Ohion, Tami Asulin, Shahar Dolinsky, Mor Demer, Gilad Ze’ev, Mayim Mendelsohn, Nurit Shalom| Musicians: Lia Amit, Maya Felixbrod | Poetic Translation to Sign Language: Maor Ben Zev, Eike Kauly, Etina Langa | Text Treatment: Michaela Kasper | Artificial Intelligence: Ran Bensimon | Photography: Philip Wenig | Direction and Choreography: Matan Zamir, Gal Naor

Supported by Goethe-Institut, Auswärtiges Amt, Tmuna Theater, Naga Touch Theater, and Yasmeen Godder Studio