Children of the Camp

Palestinian theater troupe resists beautifully, without the language of hatred

http://www.leoweekly.com/index.shtml
29/6/2005
The Al-Rowwad troupe’s activities include painting and dancing, but the group now touring the United States focuses on a theatrical presentation called “We Are the Children of the Camp.”

“A beautiful resistance” is the term Abdel Fattah Abu-Srour chooses to describe Al-Rowwad, the Palestinian children’s theater troupe he founded in 1998, which performs in Louisville on Thursday at the University of Louisville Thrust Theatre. It’s a “beautiful resistance” intended to foster hope among the children, challenge media stereotypes of Palestinians and open doors between Palestinians and the rest of the world.

Dr. Abu-Srour, who has advanced degrees in biology and medical engineering, grew up in the Aida refugee camp, in the occupied West Bank. He earned a doctorate in France and in 1998 returned to the camp in an effort to improve the lot of his people.“There was nothing for the children in Aida,” he told me during a phone interview. “They had nothing except the streets where they just play or fight with each other or break the windows of their neighbors or are in continuous confrontation with Israeli soldiers.”

Abu-Srour’s dream for the next generation of Palestinians is to “show these children that the things that happen in the refugee camps are not normal,” he said. “You can hear the children say, ‘We are used to that.’ But they should not be used to this. It is not normal to live under occupation, oppression and humiliation, and we cannot build a free and democratic Palestine if the children do not learn that this is abnormal.”

In New York City, early in their tour of the United States, the children were invited by actor Denis O’Hare to view the Broadway production of “Sweet Charity.” Afterwards, backstage, Abu-Srour recalled, they were asked how they liked New York. “One of the children said, ‘It’s nice that there are no checkpoints.’ This is the normal thing, that there are no checkpoints, no soldiers. This is how a country should be, and we have to show this to our children.”

Statistics about the refugee Palestinian population are remarkably controversial and notoriously difficult to confirm, but in 2000 a United Nations report indicated that a half century after the 1948 Nakbah (the forced relocation of perhaps a million Palestinians that followed in the wake of the founding of Israel), there were roughly 5 million Palestinian refugees registered with the U.N., of whom perhaps 1.25 million were under the age of 15. No matter whose statistics one accepts, it’s clear that generations of Palestinians have grown up as refugees, and Abu-Srour’s “beautiful resistance” is, at the very least, an attempt to move in new directions.

The youths in the touring Al-Rowwad troupe, drawn from Aida and from the Beit Jibrin refugee camp, range in age from 10-16, but the company also includes children as young as 6. The company’s activities include dance and a puppet show, but the core activity is a theatrical presentation called “We Are the Children of the Camp.” The show began as a collective improvisation in which the children talked about their homes, schools and lives. Over time, the play has grown to include reflections on their lost villages of origin, tales of their ancestors and the history and politics that have hovered over the Palestinian people since the beginning of the 20th century. “We wanted to give the children a chance to say what they want to say,” said Abu-Srour. “And we wanted to show that Palestinians are human beings, that we want to live like human beings, that we don’t accept the way we are portrayed in the media as just terrorists or savage, barbaric people without humanity.

We are resisting in a way that shows that we enjoy life despite everything that is happening to us, despite the occupation. “And we are resisting to preserve our identity, our culture and our traditions, and to show that we are a people under occupation with the legal right to resist that occupation the same as every other occupied people. But we resist without the language of hatred.” Indeed, in order to maintain its independence, the company resists by remaining independent and unaffiliated with any political or religious parties. “We are Palestinians without restrictions associated with party or religion, and the team is all volunteers,” said Abu-Srour. “If you have funding, then when the funding goes away, you can no longer do the work. But the work needs to be done regardless.”

And the core of that work, he continued, is education. “To save the future of Palestine, we need a generation of educated people. We do not need a generation of ignorance. There is enough ignorance in the world, and we do not need more. We need to create the possibility of exchange between Palestinian children and French, American, Jewish children, so that if we meet each other we will not kill each other, because basically we are the same human beings, we can have a better future for our children and the generation to come. And we can give them hope. When the audiences come, the children understand that they are making a change and there are people who listen to us, who are ready to help us continue this beautiful resistance of ours. If the Palestinians lose hope, then we have lost everything.”

Tickets for Al-Rowwad’s
July 7 performance at the Thrust Theatre are $10-$25, with a sliding scale for adults and $1 for children under 18. All proceeds will benefit the non-profit Al-Rowwad Children’s Theatre.

The troupe arrives in Kentucky on July 4. In addition to their July 7 performance, the Al-Rowwad Children’s Theatre will join local youth in workshops with the Squallis Puppeteers, the River City Drum Corps, and a “Master Class” given by Stage One Children’s Theater. Their last performance will be held at UrbanSpirit, 448 N. 26th St., from 6-9 p.m.,

Friday, July 8, following a pot luck supper as part of a Festival of Arts and Community Building. This event is open to the public; donations welcome.

For more information, call 609-7985, 448-3496 or 776-9338.

By Marty Rosen
martyrosen@gmail.com
Al-Rowwad Children’s Theatre
Thursday, July 7
University of Louisville
Thrust Theatre
Warnock and Floyd streets : 456-6586
$10-$25; 7:30 p.m.

Last changed: June 28. 2005 11:35PM