A performance piece about bringing children into the world (of theater).

 

I work with children. I make art. I would like to be a mother. So I’ve decided to connect these three points:

 

1.

In the winter of 2020 I was invited to create a new piece for the SVT performance conference. At that time I met a musician, Orr, at a party, and was looking for an excuse to start a conversation with her. So I called her and asked if she would like to join the project as a sound designer. She said yes. 

On our first date Orr announced that she had no interest in having children. A long silence occurred, and I went home. 

 

2.

In the spring of 2020 I was preparing for a European tour of one of my works, set to perform at seven different festivals across Europe. When Covid hit, the whole tour was canceled. Art had left me at a loss, emotionally and financially, and so I decided to return to my other love - children. I spent over a year working as a teacher, re-learning how to live and exist with children. 

As the world slowly moved back into its routine, the invitation to the performance conference returned. Nothing seemed more far from me at the time; getting back into the studio to create a new piece? Who even remembers how rehearsals work? And why even bother?

 

My heart and soul were completely devoted to this delicate magic that occurred in class every morning, with children teaching me how to observe, grow and become better in every moment. 

Yuval Binshtock, an artistic collaborator, friend and fellow teacher, told me - “Well then just get into a studio with the kids!”

I laughed. It was a good one. 

Then, I couldn’t sleep. 

And finally, I started calling parents, offering an invitation to embark on a journey that I myself knew-not where it was headed. 

 

3.

We started meeting in the winter of 2021. Mia, Gili, Rona and I. 

We spent almost a full year reading mythology tales and adding some of our own, looking at other people’s homes and sharing our stories of what goes on inside of them, imitating famous works of art, playing dress-up together and writing songs about our greatest fears.

We’ve gone through different moods and weather, constantly deepening the understanding of what it means to create a piece with children, to create a piece in general, to create. 

None of us had an idea of where we were going and how it would end. But we chose to walk together, discovering the next step one step at a time. It was exciting and stressful, painful and beautiful, delicate and nerve-wracking and funny and scary, scary, scary. 

I guess this is what it’s like, bringing children into the world, of theater. 

On stage, we offer the treasures we’ve collected on our journey, and play with them all over again. 

 

Co-creators and performers: Gili Amit Bar-Nir, Mia Shibolet

Performing on tape: Rona Yvonne Zitsman Max

Co-creator and Sound designer: Orr Sinay

Director: Ari Teperberg 

Pedagogical consultant: Yuval Binshtock

Artistic Consultants: Shay Persil, Ronit Philo Philosof, Maya Levy

Voice coach: Laila Mazal Yenishen

Set and props: Shaul Duvshani 

Flower costume by: Maia Shibolet and Dorit Steuer Shibolet

Light Designer: Netanel Kafka

Subtitles: Oded Komemi

Thanks: Kineret Haya Max, Mai Aylon, Tova Sinai, Dana Doron, Elinor Shalem, Lilach Dekel-Avneri, Gidon Levy, Tal Adler Arieli, Sharon Silver-Merrett, Renana Raz, Artists Incubator - Neve Schechter, Leah Stora, Yael Weiss, Ana Wild, Ihab Faroukh, Doron Gallia-Kind, Martin Kantor

 

A special thank you to the Amit Bar-Nir and Shibolet Families for their ongoing support of our shared journey. 

 

“My Turn” premiered at the SVT international Performance conference in 2021

With the support of the School of Visual Theatre and the Pais Fund for the Arts