|
News Items:
|
|
Headlines
|
|
News Briefs
|
|
Stories
|
|
Movies
|
|
Word To Life
|
|
Other Items:
|
|
Client Area
|
|
Links
|
|
CNS Stylebook
|
|
Archives:
|
|
Origins
|
|
.
|
|
Did You Know...
|
The whole CNS
public Web site
headlines, briefs
stories, etc,
represents less
than one percent
of the daily news
report.
Get all the news!
If you would like
more information
about the
Catholic News
Service daily
news report,
please contact
CNS at one of
the following:
cns@
catholicnews.com
or
(202) 541-3250
|
|
.
|
|
Copyright:
|
The CNS news
report may not
be published,
broadcast,
rewritten or
otherwise
distributed,
including but not
limited to such
means as
framing or any
other digital
copying or
distribution
method, in whole
or in part without
the prior written
authority of
Catholic News
Service.
Copyright
(c) 2004
Catholic News
Service/U.S.
Conference of
Catholic Bishops.
|
|
|
|
Story of the day:
|
ISRAEL-DRAMA Jun-10-2004 (750 words) With photos. xxxi
Jewish, Arab teens use acting skills as way to promote Mideast peace
By Judith Sudilovsky
Catholic News Service
JERUSALEM (CNS)---Yousef Hamdan burst into the dressing room where a group of Jewish and Arab girls were finishing their makeup.
"They are here. The whole school, all my friends are here," he said. "My heart is thumping so hard."
The girls squeal and there is a rush of excitement in the room as more boys -- Arabs and Jews -- rush to report on the arrival of their classmates at the Jerusalem International YMCA's auditorium.
After a year of meetings and rehearsals, Hamdan, 18, along with 14 Jewish and Arab amateur actors, will perform live for the first time an original play they created based on their meetings and discussions. The theme of the play is coexistence.
"At first I thought all Jews hate Arabs but now I see ... we can get along with them," Hamdan said.
"I am representing all today -- all Arabs -- to build a relationship between Arabs and Jews. At first I didn't dare say anything but now I am able to say things. It's like there was something inside of me and I was able to let it all come out," he said.
The drama groups, organized by Peace Child International, seek to bring Arab and Jewish teenagers together as a way to build a better future.
Peace Child International was founded some 17 years ago by the late Israeli stage actress Yael Doranov. Five drama groups have been organized this year, with three in 2003. Participants are generally between the ages of 15 and 18.
Although the initiative is not a specifically Catholic program, a number of the facilitators and board members are Catholic.
"Getting Arabs and Jews in the same room was and remains a big challenge," said Melisse Lewine-Boskovich, the organization's director. "It once was easier, now it is horrendous. The kids and parents who decide to go this route really deserve a medal."
"Because of the nature of the situation there have been difficulties," said YMCA youth department director Robert Karram, a Catholic.
Karram noted that the Peace Child International theater program is a part of the YMCA's general coexistence programs. "Every time we face a new challenge but we try to continue our work," he said.
The use of drama and theater allows the teens to explore coexistence issues more deeply than by sitting in a circle talking, said Abeer Hadad, an Israeli Arab actress.
Each group is facilitated by two people -- an Arab and a Jew, one of whom has a background in drama and the other in social work and group facilitation.
"Things come out in the drama exercises that they did not expect, but they are real things," said Hadad, a Catholic, and Peace Child International board member.
Communication has been an issue, she said, even though most of the Arab youths can speak Hebrew fairly fluently.
"No one wants to give up on their language and they want to express themselves in their own language. For the others to understand them, they learn that the spoken language is not everything; body language is also important," she said.
Incorporating pantomime and movement skills into the drama exercises, youths learn to communicate with each other in creative ways, she said.
"It's true that we are all different but we also have a lot in common," said Dafna Awadish, 15, a Jewish girl.
"I want to think that Jews and Arabs can connect, that we can respect one another as we are," she said.
The outcome of many dramatizations is incorporated into an original play that is performed for the teen's peers, friends and families.
The group intends to stay together for another year and perform their play for school groups, said Lewine-Boskovich, a Jewish facilitator for the group.
During lighting tests before the first performance in Jerusalem, Lewine-Boskovich ordered the teens to remain in their places without moving. Jewish student Ariel Oseran, 15, the clown of the group, slid over to a floor microphone, mumbling some nonsense, which caused the other teens to break into muffled giggles while Lewine-Boskovich tried to return quiet to the stage.
Oseran said the year of rehearsals the group did before their first public performance was necessary in order to build cohesiveness.
"We needed to build up our (relationships) and tolerance toward one another before we reached the stage we are now. We wouldn't have been able to do the play otherwise. We are more mature now," he said.
END
Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service.
|
|
|
|
