{"id":57609,"date":"2022-11-01T17:57:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-01T17:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thefreedomtheatre.org\/?p=57609"},"modified":"2026-04-15T05:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T05:04:11","slug":"the-elephant-wins-best-theatre-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefreedomtheatre.org\/ar\/2022\/11\/the-elephant-wins-best-theatre-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"The Elephant Wins Best Theatre Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Elephant Wins Best Theatre Performance at the Third Palestine National Theatre Festival<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The award-winning street theatre production, created in Jenin by artists of The Freedom Performing Arts School, continues its journey across Palestine and the wider Arab region.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Freedom Theatre is proud to announce that its production The Elephant has won the award for Best Theatre Performance at the Third Palestine National Theatre Festival, marking a major recognition for a production that grew from the streets of Jenin into an acclaimed theatrical work presented across Palestine and the Arab region. The award marks an important moment in the artistic journey of The Freedom Theatre and reaffirms its long-standing commitment to cultural resistance, public engagement, and rigorous artistic practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inspired by The Elephant, the King of All Times by the renowned Syrian playwright Saadallah Wannous, The Elephant was produced in 2020 by The Freedom Performing Arts School as a street theatre production that brings satire, movement, music, and visual imagination into public space. Directed by Ahmed Tobasi and written by Shatha Younis, the performance reworks a classic Arab political allegory through a contemporary Palestinian lens, creating a sharp, humorous, and unsettling theatrical language that speaks to fear, obedience, corruption, and the struggle to speak truth to power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Premiered in Jenin in October 2020, The Elephant was first presented in Jenin Governorate Park, followed by performances in Jenin Camp and then a wider West Bank tour that included Bethlehem, Beitunia, Ramallah, Nablus, and Beit Lid \/ Tulkarm. The tour was sponsored by the Palestinian Ministry of Culture, with different local partnerships in each city, including collaboration with municipalities, governorates, cultural libraries, and local arts institutions. The 2020 production was supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) through the Palestinian Performing Arts Network (PPAN).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since its premiere, The Elephant has continued to build a strong performance history. In Baghdad, Iraq, the production participated in the Youth Street Theater Festival, where Ahmed Tobasi received the Best Direction Prize and Motasem Abu Hasan received the Best Acting Prize. In Jordan, The Freedom Theatre received the Special Jury Award for Best Theatre Team at the 20th Zarqa Summer Festival for Arab Theater for the production. Its recognition at the Third Palestine National Theatre Festival, where it won Best Theatre Performance, confirms the work\u2019s significance both as a compelling artistic achievement and as a theatre production deeply rooted in Palestinian public life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mustafa Sheta, General Manager of The Freedom Theatre, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis award is a recognition of the artistic commitment of our students, graduates, and collaborators, and of our belief that theatre must remain rooted in public life and in the experiences of our people. For The Freedom Theatre, cultural resistance is not a slogan but a living artistic practice, and The Elephant is one expression of that commitment.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For The Freedom Theatre, this award is not only a celebration of one production, but also of a broader artistic process developed in Jenin: one that invests in emerging artists, values collective creation, and insists on the right of Palestinian communities to gather around art that is critical, accessible, and alive. Through The Elephant, theatre moved beyond the conventional stage and into squares, streets, camps, and civic spaces, transforming public performance into a shared act of reflection and resistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Freedom Theatre extends its gratitude to the artists, performers, technical team, partners, and supporters who made this work possible, and dedicates this recognition to Jenin Camp and to Palestine under occupation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Production Credits<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inspired by: The Elephant, the King of All Times by Saadallah Wannous<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Directed by: Ahmed Tobasi<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written by: Shatha Younis<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scenography: Anna Gisle<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Puppet Maker: Lina Daoud Matanse<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Costume Design: Adel Sakhleh<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Design Implementation: Wafa Hassan and Sofia Jad, with support from Khalil Al-Batran<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Music and Sound: Sami Al-Sadi<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Theatre Technician: Ahmed Matahen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multimedia and Photography: Mohammed Mouwia<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Performers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ehab Abed, Jamal Jaas, Khalid Farj, Mahmoud Abu Aita, Mo\u2019men Al-Sadi, Motasem Abu Hasan, Omar Silawi, and Shada Yasin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selected Performance History and Participation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Jenin Governorate Park, Jenin \u2014 premiere performance, 26 October 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Youth Social Center, Jenin Camp<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Church of the Nativity \/ Manger Square, Bethlehem \u2014 21 November 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Beitunia Municipality, Beitunia \u2014 22 November 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The Ottoman Courthouse, Ramallah \u2014 22 November 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Nablus Performing Art and Circus School, Nablus \u2014 22 November 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Beit Lid \/ Tulkarm \u2014 30 November 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Youth Street Theater Festival, Baghdad, Iraq<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 20th Zarqa Summer Festival for Arab Theater, Jordan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Third Palestine National Theatre Festival, Palestine<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awards and Recognition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Best Theatre Performance \u2014 Third Palestine National Theatre Festival<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Best Direction Prize \u2014 Ahmed Tobasi, Youth Street Theater Festival, Baghdad<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Best Acting Prize \u2014 Motasem Abu Hasan, Youth Street Theater Festival, Baghdad<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Special Jury Award for Best Theatre Team \u2014 20th Zarqa Summer Festival for Arab Theater, Jordan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Elephant Wins Best Theatre Performance at the Third Palestine National Theatre Festival The award-winning street theatre production, created in Jenin by artists of The Freedom Performing Arts School, continues its journey across Palestine and the wider Arab region. The Freedom Theatre is proud to announce that its production The Elephant has won the award […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":57610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-theatre-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefreedomtheatre.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefreedomtheatre.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefreedomtheatre.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefreedomtheatre.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefreedomtheatre.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57609"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thefreedomtheatre.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57615,"href":"https:\/\/thefreedomtheatre.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57609\/revisions\/57615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefreedomtheatre.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefreedomtheatre.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefreedomtheatre.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefreedomtheatre.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}