An exceptional play performed by exceptional people a theater company of twelve mentally-retarded adults succeeds in touching the hearts of otherwise cynical high school students.
by Daniella Ashkenazy
When the curtain closes on the play How Fortunate Theres A Nighttime and the cast comes out to take a bow, the audience inevitably gives a standing ovation. Rina Padava, one of the co-directors of the Israeli "An Other Theater Company" (Teatron HaAcher), says that one can hear a snicker in the audience here and there at the beginning of the play, but by the time it draws to a close, the audience is profoundly moved by the actors message that each of us has a special person inside that we dream about late at night.
"We find that even in the toughest high schools, the impact on the students is astounding," says Padava. "We witness students giving a standing ovation of extended applause, shouting `bravo` and other calls of admiration and refusing to leave the auditorium,"
The unique theater company grew out of a project initiated by AKIM an Israeli voluntary organization dedicated to the advancement of the mentally-retarded. Originally designed to serve as an avenue of expression a form of psychodrama the content was found to be so compelling that it was reworked into a play for on-stage production, complete with costumes, lighting and sound. Both of the co-directors are professionals Rina Padava an actress and theater director, Dorit Rivlin an expert in drama therapy.
The performance, which combines singing, dance and straight acting, is based on the dreams and aspirations of the actors dealing with often painful realities they encounter in the daytime and with the dreams that sweeten their nights. One of its climatic junctures is a monologue where Yehudit Siyar (39), a mildly retarded woman, presses a large doll to her breast, sharing her inner world and most intimate desires with the audience: "Dont cry, my baby. Its not so terrible you have Downs Syndrome. Youre my daughter and youve got a soul. So what if people tell me Youre disabled yourself. How can you raise her? I cant understand people who abandon their babies with Downs Syndrome in the hospital."
While there are theater groups of physically and mentally-challenged individuals elsewhere, the "An Other Theater" Company is unique in the nature of the performance it offers. "Most groups elsewhere use dance, pantomime and shadow-play, but we are one of the few groups that talk on the stage," says Padava. "Moreover, the content is singular the actors are not `doing a play but sharing their lives in a personal way with the audience,"
One of the high points of the groups history was a commercial performance at the annual Israeli Fringe Theater Festival in Acre, for which 30 productions are chosen each fall from among large repertory theaters, established troupes and drama schools. In addition, four of the "An Other Theater" actors including Nadrah Shantazi (25), the only Arab member of the company - were chosen last summer to participate in an international production of Don Quixote at a theater festival in Montpelier in southern France. In December 1997, the companys mimic, David Volowitz (30) born with Downs Syndrome appeared together with Israels leading pantomime artist, Hanoch Rosenne, in a popular commercial Hanukkah childrens performance, the Festigal, following a feature story in a daily newspaper about the group and Volowitzs special talents.
The group is presently working on another performance, based on movement geared for a non-Hebrew speaking audience abroad.
For the past several years, How Fortunate Theres A Nighttime has been playing twice a month. While the projects $50,000 annual operating budget is shared jointly by AKIM and the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, the actors are volunteers. Each cast member is gainfully employed full-time during the day in unskilled occupations such as washing dishes, folding newspapers, caring for animals and so forth, but all dream of being able to act full-time, for a salary, someday.