Theatronetto 2011 – Preview

Theatronetto, the monodrama festival, will take place this year from April 21 – 23, 2011 in the Old City of Jaffa. The festival will celebrate its 21st year with 21 plays: 6 monodramas will participate in the annual competition, 4 plays for children, 5 international plays and 6 guest productions. In the Theatronetto Hyde Park tradition, students from the Kibbutz Seminar Theatre Department will explore the gap between vision and reality in the Israeli Declaration of Independence with outdoor installations, physical theatre and other happenings. HaMarkid (The Dance Instructor), the award winning monodrama by Yoav Bartel and Abigail Rubin, will be the opening event of the festival.

Monodramas participating in the Theatronetto Competition:

Nehmodet (Sweetie Pie), adapted from Anton Chekhov by Itzik Weingarten and Yael Toker Directed by Itzik Weingarten and performed by Yael Toker.

The bittersweet adventures of Olinka, whose life only takes on color and meaning when she is in a relationship with a man.

Jabotinsky Cabaret written and directed by Gadi Tzdaka, performed by Pnina Bert.

A day in the life of Leah, a nursery school teacher now in her eighties, not just any day, but her last day. Listening to the radio, she hears that the Prime Minister, who was once a child in her nursery school, intends to go to war. Leah packs a suitcase and a box of cookies and gets on a bus to let the Prime Minister know what’s on her mind.

Clumnikit (Miss Useless) by Neta Shpigelman, Noa Kuler and Tal Levi, directed by Rotem Keinan and performed by Tal Levi.

Sivan Shmueli is a shorter-than-average resident of Ramat Gan, with a bigger-than-average mouth, who will do anything to be different. That’s why she can only really live in show business. She’s been auditioning for years, but never gets the part. Yesterday she turned 30. Her parents offer her the worst gift of all and Sivan feels as if she has a gun to her head and the only way to save herself is to point it at someone else…Sivan Shmueli is going to another audition, and this time she’s going to make it.

Brit Bein Habdalim (The Covenant Between Burnt Pieces) written and directed by Nano Shabtai, performed by Rinat Yona Gliko.

12 year old Nurit really wants to spend a full day with her dad, who suffers from psychological damage incurred in the Yom Kippur War. Nurit’s mother and her new husband cancel Nurit’s plans at the last minute. On the morning of Yom Kippur, Nurit runs away, to fight for her right to a relationship with her father. The monodrama is an adaptation of Nano Shabtai’s short story first published in the anthology Me’ever Lasaf – Siporet Israelist Achshavit (Behond the Threshold – Contemporary Israeli Stories) published by HaKibbutz HaMeuhad 2003. The story was translated to French by the Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature, and published in Metropolis, France 2008.

HaAlma Elsa (Fraülein Else) by Arthur Schnitzler, translated and adapted by Edna Kornfeld, directed by Hillel Ne’eman, performed by Kaifo Cohen.

Elsa, an innocent and fragile Viennese miss with a stormy inner life, is sent by her parents to a hotel in a resort town in Italy. A letter from her mother disrupts her peaceful vacation – her father has lost funds belonging to orphans at roulette and the threat of imprisonment hangs over him. Elsa is instructed by her mother to turn to a friend of the family, an elderly rich man who is also staying at the hotel, to ask for his assistance. Elsa’s world will never be the same.

Ze’adim (Steps) written and directed by Yadin Goldman, performed by Roni Gornstein.

19 year old Or starts out as an excellent soldier and becomes a deserter, after making one wrong move. Taking hallucinogenic drugs she is swept away into a dark and lonely world, hitting rock bottom in the basement of the central bus station. Unconscious after accidentally OD’ing, she is discovered by passersby and placed in a rehab center. At the end of her treatment she tells her tale to a committee of psychiatrists to convince them that she is well enough to be released.

Monodramas participating in the Children’s Competition:

Or-Ly by Ido Star, directed by Hadar Moshe, performed by Yael Zigdon.

Aurelie is a ten year old French girl whose family comes to live in Israel for six months. But a few days before they are to return to France, her parents say that they have decided to extend their stay. Aurelie decides to steal her plane ticket and return to France on her own, but before first she tells her story to Alon, confessing her true motives.

Volfina Momi Blum by Nurit Zarhi, adapted and directed by Lahav Timor, performed by Yehonatan Magon.

Momi, a 9 year old boy, writes letters to his neighbor, Aliza Shahaf, who is visiting family abroad and has left him her apartment and dog Lola to care for. Over the course of the summer Momi finds that Aliza is the only one in whom he can confide his stories and fears – his problems with his parents who are divorced, his mother’s new boyfriend Dror and his father’s approaching marriage. Momi grows and matures through this summer correspondence and discovers that he has the ability to speak out and effect changes in his own life.

Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel, adapted by Alon Goren and Omer Naot, directed and performed by Alon Goren.

The weasel has decided to have mouse soup for dinner, but the mouse has other plans. He suggests putting four stories into the soup to make it tastier. Luckily, weasel is willing to listen to this suggestion and learns a lesson in spiritual sustenance.

Samir and Yonatan on Mars by Daniela Carmi, directed by Sivan Handelsman and performed by Yogev Yefet.

11 year old Samir lives with his family on the West Bank. After injuring his knee as the result of a fall from his bike, he has to go to the “Jewish” hospital. Samir’s parents must return to their village, and he remains in the strange place, scared and alone. Then he meets his hospital roommates, and among them – Yonatan. Yonatan and Samir become friends and Yonatan promises to take Samir to another planet. After Samir recovers from his surgery, the two go up to the hospital roof where Yonatan shows Samir an amazing computer game that can take them to Mars.

There will be five international guest productions: an adaptation of Sholem Aleichem’s Stempinyu by the Yiddishpiel Theatre, performed by Elena Yerlova; Mouche, an adaptation of Paul Gallico’s Love of Seven Dolls by Lane Cole from South Africa, performed by Timothy Redpath; an adaptation of Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurais by Sara Rose Gerber, performed by David Gaines from the U.S.; Women in War by Patricia Lara, performed by Carlotta Yano from Columbia; and Bloodshed, Miracles, Deliverance, Good Food! a monodrama by Sara Brown about a Jewish American woman lost and drunk in the Jordanian desert and her journey to self-discovery.

There will be five Israeli guest productions: Hayim veAdam by Ran Gil; HaYerika-HaHazara by Yotam Reuveni; HaMarkid by Yoav Bartel; a premiere of the Cameri Theatre production of Pollard’s Trial, performed by Rami Baruch; and an adaptation of Benny Barash’s My First Sony performed by Roy Horowitz.