This statement in support of Nabil Al-Raee, Zakaria Zubeidi and The Freedom Theatre has so far been signed by nearly two hundred members of the artistic community in the US – including Maya Angelou, Danny Glover, Noam Chomsky, Raymond Bobgan, Leila Buck, James Bundy, Linda Chapman, Kathleen Chalfant, Clare Coss, Bill English, Eve Ensler, Oskar Eustis, Jonathan Fox, Lameece Isaaq, Melanie Joseph, Tony Kushner and Jim Nicola.
To add your name, send an email to friends@thefreedomtheatre.org. Include any occupation and organizational affiliation you wish listed.
A Statement By The Theatre Community of The United States
It has come to our attention that on June 6, 2012, Nabil Al Raee, Artistic Director of The Freedom Theatre, was arrested at gunpoint at 3:15am by the Israeli Defense Forces at his home in Jenin. This arrest and continuing detention violates Nabil Al Raee’s basic human rights and international law.
Al Raee was held for over two weeks before being allowed counsel and has still not been allowed to see his family. He has not been brought to court or accused of any crime. In the United States this arrest would be illegal. In Israel this arrest would be illegal. Under international law this arrest and detention is illegal, and it should be illegal in the Occupied Territory of The West Bank,
Six times in the last ten months members of The Freedom Theatre staff have been arrested and detained without charge. On May 5, The Freedom Theatre co-founder, Zakaria Zubeidi, was arrested by Palestinian Authority security forces. He remains in custody with no clear reason for his arrest and has also not been given access to his family. Zubeidi is well known for his determination to eschew armed resistance to the Israeli occupation in favor of cultural resistance. What we have learned from Zubeidi, the tragedy of Juliano Mer Khamis, and Arna’s Children is that we all need more theatre not less. The children of all refugee camps need more theatre, more arts activity, not less, and The Freedom Theatre stands for more personal freedom and free expression, not less.
Nabil Al Raee is an artist, not a criminal, but apparently in the West Bank, being an artist at The Freedom Theatre is now a crime. The IDF, in its continuing harassment of The Freedom Theatre staff, has taken a man into custody who has chosen to resist through purely artistic means. We believe that Al Raee is being targeted as an effort to intimidate and harass The Freedom Theatre because of its vital work in serving and empowering refugee youth and its artistic expression of political viewpoints.
The theatre community in the United States is gravely concerned about this matter.
We denounce these arrests and detentions. We demand the immediate release of Nabil Al Raee and Zakaria Zubeidi. If they continue to be incarcerated, we demand that they be afforded proper legal protections due to any person under the law: including public hearings where the reasons for their arrests are made public, continuing access to counsel, and immediate access to their families.
For any society that claims to be a democracy, where the rule of law presides over public life, it is necessary that all persons be protected by due process and from unlawful arrest, torture or abuse including arbitrary imprisonment by the military. For any democracy to thrive, artists must be free to express themselves. Out of solidarity with a fellow artistic leader, we ask that the Israeli and Palestinian authorities reconsider their positions and immediately return to actions that demonstrate respect for the arts and all people’s basic human rights.
Patricia Ann Abraham
Miriam Adams, Retired information researcher/librarian
James Al-Shamma, Assistant Professor of Theatre
Ammiel Alcalay, Professor, Queens College, CUNY Graduate Center
Jenifer J. Alonzo, Assistant Professor, Communication and Theatre Arts, Old Dominion University
Aline Alterman, Philosopher
Phyllis Andrews
Maya Angelou, Poet
Frederick Apffel-Marglin, Founder/Director, Sachamama Center, Lamas, San Martin, Peru
Anthony Arnove, Author/Editor, Haymarket Books
Sonja Arsham Kuftinec, Professor, MA/PHD Program Head, Theater Arts & Dance, U. of Minnesota
Sarika Arya, Student, Yale U. & London School of Economics
Katherine G. Baker
Etienne Balibar, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Distinguished Professor of Humanities Universite Paris-Nanterre, U. of California
George Bartenieff, Actor, Theatre Three Collaborative
Jan Bauman
Jay Benedict, Actor/Director
Natalia Berlin
Pamela Berlin, Theater Director
Paul Birchard, Actor/Director
Raymond Bobgan, Artistic Director, Cleveland Public Theatre
Wendy Brown, Professor Political Science, UC Berkeley
Leila Buck, Actress, Writer
James Bundy, Dean/Artistic Director, Yale School of Drama/Yale Repertory Theatre
Inea Bushnaq, Folklorist
Judith Butler, Writer, UC Berkeley
William Carden, Artistic Director, Ensemble Studio Theatre
Laura Carlos
Marvin Carlson, Sidney Cohn Distinguished Professor of Theatre, Comparative Literature and Middle Eastern Studies, The Graduate Center, City University of New York
Henry Chalfant, Photographer/Documentary Filmmaker
Kathleen Chalfant, Actor
Linda S. Chapman, Associate Artistic Director, New York Theatre Workshop
Alexandra Chen, Conflict Specialist
Noam Chomsky, Linguist, Philosopher, Activist, Professor, MIT
Eli Colasante, Eli’s Compost
David Copelin, Playwright
Catherine Corey, Associate Arts Professor, TSOA Dept of Drama, Experimental Theatre Wing, NYU
Clare Coss, Playwright
Andrew Courtney, Photographer/Filmmaker
Orletta Crispino, Artistic Director, Theaterlab NYC
M. Phyllis Cunningham, Nurse, Political Activist, Granny Peace Brigade
Khaled Dajani
Wendy Dannett
Ianthe Demos, Artistic Director, One Lease Theater Company
Kiko Denzer
David Diamond, Artistic and Managing Director, Theatre for Living (Headlines Theatre)
William J. Doan, Professor of Theatre, Associate Dean Research, Graduate Studies, College of Arts and Architecture, Penn State University
Leslie Dryer, Shadowlight Productions
Mary Dwan
Sally Eberhardt, Co-founder, Theaters Against War
Susan Einbinder, Rabbi
Lewis Elbinger
Linda Elbow, Business and Touring Manager, Bread & Puppet Theater
Pamela Emerson
Bill English, Artistic Director, San Francisco Playhouse
Gary M. English, Artistic Manager, The Freedom Theatre, U. Conn
Eve Ensler, Playwright/performer/activist, V-Day
Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director, The Public Theater (ID purposes only)
Zohar Eviatar, Professor, University of Haifa
Nancy Lee Farrell, Al Rowwad USA
Elsa First
Brandon Fisette, Theater Student, Central Conn. State U.
Berenice Fisher
Janet M. Fishman, Actress/Playwright
Colleen Fitzpatrick
Jonathan Fox, Co-founder, Playback Theater
John Frazier, Israel/Palestine Committee of Brooklyn For Peace, & New Yorkers Against the Cornell-Technion Partnership (NYACT)
Sarah Nash Gates, Executive Director, School of Theatre, U. of Washington
Ellen Geer, Artistic Director, Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum
Edward Geffner
M. L. Geiger, Lighting Designer, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU
Felice Gelman
Mirene Ghossein, Cultural & Political Activist
Peggy Gillespie
Stephanie Gilman, Educator
Terri Ginsberg
Samuel Gladstone, Physician
Danny Glover, Actor, Director, Political Activist
Stathis Gourgouris, Columbia University
Roberto Gutierrez Varea, Associate Professor, Performing Arts & Social Justice, University of San Francisco
Thomas Haley, Photojournalist
Robin Hanvelt
Faye Hargate, Cleveland Public Theatre
Andrea Harris, Assistant Professor of Dance, U. of Wisconsin-Madison
Tom Hayden, Director, Center for Participatory Democracy
Deborah A. Hecht
Stanley Heller, Chairperson, Middle East Crisis Committee
Jane Hirschmann, organizer, Jews Say No, US Boat to Gaza
Shelisa Howard-Martinez
Elizabeth Huff
Ellen Isaacs
Lameece Isaaq, Actor/Playwright
Mark C. Johnson, Fellowship of Reconciliation
Melanie Joseph, Founder/Artistic Director, The Foundry Theatre
Jake Kader, Artist
Amy E. Kahn, Psy.D. EMDR Human Assistance Program, Trauma Recovery Network
Linda Kattuah, Garden Designer, Palestinian-American
Tarak Kauff, Veterans for Peace
David Kaye, Chair, Dept. of Theatre and Dance, U. of New Hampshire
Jill Kirschner, Lawyer/Teacher
Pete Klosterman, Software Engineer
Stephen Vincent Kobasa, Writer
Julie Kumble
Tony Kushner, Playwright
Lynne LaBonté-Ndiaye, Media Education Foundation
Ed Lachman, Cinematographer
Nora Lapin
Paul Larudee, Free Palestine Movement, International Solidarity Movement – Northern California & Global March to Jerusalem, North America
Paul Laverty, Writer, Sixteen Films
Micah Leshem, Professor, University of Haifa
Mark LeVine, Professor, UC Irvine
Robert Levitt
Richard Levy, Lawyer, Levy Ratner, PC, on Mamilla case
Ken Loach, Director, Sixteen Films
Kathleen M. Lord, Speech-language pathologist
Tatiana Elizabeth Lyulkin, Playwright
Calvin MacLean, Artistic Director, Clarence Brown Theatre
Aonghas MacNeacail, Poet
Liz Magnes, Pianist
Rafi Magnes, Photographer
Dina Magnes
Karen Malpede, Playwright, Theatre Three Collaborative
Ruth Margraff, Art Institute of Chicago
Joel Martin, Playwright & Senior Lecturer in Theatre, Johns Hopkins University
Laine H. Massey
Thomas Matsuda, Professor, Mount Wachusett Community College
David McReynolds, Former Chair, War Resisters International
Erin Mee, Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow, NYU Dept. of English, Program in Dramatic Literature
Susan Miller, Israeli Citizen
Al Miller, Artistic Director, Theatre Project
Victoria Mills, Director, Hidden Battles
Robert Miyake-Stoner, Minister, United Methodist Church
Alema Morelli, Actor
Charles Morey, Artistic Director, Emeritus The Pioneer Theatre Co.
Kim Morrison, Actor, Producer
Laura Myerson, Wespac
Michael Myerson
Alan Myerson, Film and Television Director, Theater Director and Producer
Eric Nelson, Transatlantic Love Affair theatre company
Diana Neslen, Jews for Justice for Palestinians
James Nicola, Artistic Director, New York Theatre Workshop
Kathy Nitsan
Devon Nola
Ifeoma Nwokoye
Rebecca O’Brien, Producer, Sixteen Films
Rose O’Connell-Marion, College Student
John E. O’Connor, Professor of Theatre, Department of Communication and Theatre Arts, School of Fine Arts
Evelyn Ophir
Marvin Ortel
Karin Pally
MaryLouise Patterson, Physician, Northern Manhattan Neighbors for Peace and Justice
Josh Perlstein, Actor/Director
Sid Phoenix, Actor, A Winter Road
Brian Pickett
Mike Pincus
Frederick Pyne
Peter Rachleff, Professor of History, Macalester College
Priscilla Read, Jewish Voice for Peace – Westchester
David Regon, Puppeteer/ Actor/ Scenic Designer
Judy Richardson, Filmmaker, Lecturer
