Break the Wall is an online archive of short plays about Israel-Palestine that can be downloaded and performed for free.
You can perform any of the plays you find on this website in the theatre, the street, the subway, the classroom, and/or the opera house. Maybe especially the opera house. But really: anywhere.
For Whom: These plays are for the people! They are for anyone concerned with the lack of peace and justice in Palestine. They are for anyone who wants to raise awareness, start dialogue and work towards a just solution of this conflict. These plays are for theater professionals, educators, rabble-rousers, students, performance artists, reading groups, activists, etc.
By Whom: Break the Wall is a resource for work made by and curated by writers and theatre folk of all backgrounds. Some of the plays are written anonymously, some are not. Some are penned by emerging writers and others by well-established playwrights, journalists, poets, or novelists. Whenever possible the plays here are based on documentary source material.
What We Believe: Inspired by both the text and distribution system of Caryl Churchill’s 7 Jewish Children - as well as a long global tradition of free street theater - Break the Wall aims to provide a collection of short, sharp, free theatrical works that illuminate the central dynamics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and cut through the plethora of deliberate distortions that abound on the topic. We share these works in order to challenge the endless complicity, complacency, apathy and ignorance that abound in mainstream discourse on Palestine/Israel. It is our hope that by speaking truth through the fire and beauty of theatre we can move towards justice, reconciliation and peace. But it starts with truth.
In other words, this is not a project that is shaped by the mainstream’s mania for the kind of “balance” that obscures the true power dynamic of the situation (that is, quite simply, that there is a nuclear-armed occupier, Israel, and an occupied people, the Palestinians. Only one side has an army, the ability to arrest and imprison members of the other side without charges, take their land and water, etc.).
We believe in peace, but also in freedom, equality and human rights for all, regardless of race, gender, orientation or ethnicity.
We believe that theatre is political, it is personal, it is transformative and inspiring, and it should speak to and with the world around us.
We believe that a collection of fearless, well-researched plays can spark meaningful debate. We believe theatre should be brave and challenge injustice as well as the established narratives that underpin injustice.
So download the plays from this site and get to work!
…And then tell us how it went.
Learn More: http://www.breakthewallproject.org