East Jerusalem theater fights to keep doors open
The Palestinian theater El-Hakawati, the only cultural institution of its kind operating in East Jerusalem, is drowning in debt and faces closure yet another time.
El-Hakawati Theater in East Jerusalem is considered the Palestinian National Theater. Three weeks ago, on Nov. 29, El-Hakawati, "The Storyteller," was spared immediate closure after it managed to raise a third of its debts, amounting to 600,000 shekels ($155,000). The theater’s creditors and the court agreed to grant El-Hakawati an extension to raise the rest of the money it owes.
This is not the first time that the theater has faced closure. About a year ago, it was almost forced to shut its doors when the Municipality of Jerusalem demanded that it pay its accrued municipal taxes amounting to 3.5 million shekels ($907,000). Donations and grants from supporters and groups around the world, particularly from European organizations, saved El-Hakawati that time.
The problem is that the financial crisis the theater has faced for years is not the only hurdle it must overcome. The deteriorating security situation in the city and the fact that the current right-wing government in Israel considers El-Hakawati an extension of the Palestinian Authority (PA) bode ill for the theater as well. The theater’s managers, staff, actors, supporters and friends (all of whom have gotten fewer and fewer over the years) have gone from one crisis to the next, struggling to remain open and protect the theater from the storms brewing all around it.
El-Hakawati began in 1977 as an amateur theater troupe based in the home of its founder, Francois Abu-Salem. At the time, its repertoire consisted mainly of plays for children in East Jerusalem. Over time, it expanded, and by 1984, it was prepared to move into a home of its own, a unique building adjacent to the American Colony Hotel.
