Annual Report 2013

by TFT

📚 Summary and Analysis of The Freedom Theatre Annual Report 2013

🎭 Highlights and Achievements

2013 was an exceptionally productive and expansive year for The Freedom Theatre (TFT), marked by:

• 5 new in-house theatre productions: Suicide Note from Palestine, Ouda – Courage, The Island, Lost Land, Our Sign is the Stone.

• International Tours: The Island toured the US, Brazil, and Sweden; Suicide Note went to Italy.

• 5500+ theatre attendees in Palestine; 3000+ abroad.

• Freedom Bus Project: Including Freedom Rides and Playback Theatre in over 30 Palestinian communities, especially Area C.

• New film unit: Produced 5 short films; screened to 1000+ viewers.

• Photography program: Culminated in the Spectrum exhibition seen by 4000+.

• Two editions of Voices Magazine: Published with contributions from creative writing workshops.

• Solid presence abroad: Playback, psychodrama, and theatre workshops in Egypt, Denmark, Norway.

• Major community engagement: Through drama in education, psychodrama, storytelling (Hakawati), physical activities, and youth workshops.

🧩 Programmatic Dimensions

1. Theatre School & Productions

• Students integrated into large-scale productions.

• TFT continued blending professional training with social engagement, reflecting Arna Mer Khamis’s educational philosophy.

• The acting school contributed to building capacity while maintaining artistic excellence.

2. Applied Theatre & Psychodrama

• Trained educators and mental health professionals.

• Offered tools for trauma healing and educational reform.

• First long-term psychodrama training in the West Bank in partnership with the Therapeutic Spiral Institute (USA).

3. Freedom Bus & Playback Theatre

• Unique combination of artistic expression and activism.

• Connected isolated communities under threat from displacement.

• Created a performative archive of lived experience and resistance.

4. Multimedia Program

• • Grew significantly in 2013 with robust filmmaking, photography, and writing programs.

  • Content production (films, photos, articles) empowered youth and documented overlooked stories.

  • Spectrum and Voices platforms showcased young Palestinian perspectives.

🌍 Community & International Engagement

• • • 12000+ audience members across Palestine and globally.

    • Hosted solidarity stays and overnight visits in marginalized communities.

    • Over 7000 visitors to the theatre, including workshops and international volunteers (34 in total).

    • Cultural collaborations with artists and organizations from Europe, North America, and the MENA region.

🤝 Partnerships & Funders

TFT maintained strong partnerships locally and internationally:

• • • • Over 60 organizational partners across Palestine.

      • Support from major donors: Ford Foundation, Sida, AFAC, Medico International, European Commission, among others.

      • Solid Friends Associations in France, Sweden, UK, USA, Germany, Scotland, vital for outreach and fundraising.

👥 Governance & Structure

• Report includes names of core staff, board members, acting school students, volunteers, and partners.

• Multidisciplinary staff structure included technicians, artists, educators, administrators, and media professionals.

🔭 Strategic Outlook for 2014

• New theatre productions planned: Magic Note, Commedia Dell’Arte show.

• Graduation of the current acting class and recruitment of a new one.

• Continued Freedom Bus programming and new publications.

• Growth in applied theatre and physical training offerings.

🧠 Evaluation and Insights

✅ Strengths

• Exceptional integration of art, resistance, and community engagement.

• Strong emphasis on capacity building, especially among youth.

• Balance of local grounding and international visibility.

• Clear articulation of TFT’s role as a hub for cultural resistance.

⚠️ Areas to Strengthen

• While comprehensive, some sections (e.g., finances) could benefit from greater detail and transparency.

• Long-term sustainability plans or challenges (e.g., funding stability, risk management under occupation) were not deeply analyzed.

• Lack of disaggregated data on gender, age, or geographic reach may limit in-depth impact assessment.

✨ Conclusion

The 2013 Annual Report reflects a vibrant, resilient, and forward-thinking institution. TFT not only staged impactful theatre but also transformed it into a tool for education, resistance, and solidarity. The report is rich in narrative and illustrative of TFT’s mission—cultural resistance through creative empowerment.

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Read our Annual Report 2013 
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