Bethel Finance: Israel's English-language theater thriving

Bethel Finance news:
English-speaking theater troupes entertain 'Anglos' as well as Israelis from Haifa to Beersheva, Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.

"It's a hell of a lot of fun," says Fred Casden, a cast member in productions staged in Jerusalem by Encore Educational Theater Company, one of several English-language community theater troupes in Israel. Casden, 70, moved to Israel from New Jersey four years ago. "I never did amateur theater in the States," he says. "When you come here, you are in effect reinventing yourself to a certain extent, so options you don't think about in your old persona are now possible because you have a new persona."

Rafi Poch, a Toronto native who started the still-active Bar Ilan Acting Society at Bar-Ilan University before graduating in 2007, says many Israelis enjoy the productions along with North American, British, South African and Australian ex-pats. "It's Western culture that Israel is endeavoring to explore, so when you put that together with the fact that people enjoy seeing a play in its original language, there is a large demand for this," says Poch.

Now he's hosting a Rusty Mike Radio show for the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel, and is working to find a new home for his Jerusalem-based Center Stage company, which folded recently when its donated venue closed.

"When we put on 'Shakespeare in the Park' this summer, we were worried we wouldn't sell enough tickets because we expanded to six shows from two the year before. Well, it turns out we had a minimum audience of 200 at each show."

Stage One, a spring festival in Jerusalem highlighting English amateur theater in Israel, last year put on 12 shows for more than 1,500 people over two days, and this year is planning on 15. The festival runs during Passover, when the capital city is full of tourists from English-speaking countries. "Hebrew professional groups want to participate in English, too, and we have seven proposals from groups abroad," says Poch, one of the festival's directors. "It's turning into a worldwide phenomenon."