Young Stories of Bedouin Life and Prejudice
Besides living under the Israeli military occupation and total blockade of the Gaza Strip, the Bedouin community in Gaza also faces the constraints caused by the discriminatory attitudes and negative stigma towards it by the larger Palestinian community. The Theatre Day Productions is developing a performance that will challenge discrimination against the Gaza Strip Bedouin community, particularly the Bedouin community of Um-Nasser village located in the North of the Gaza Strip. This starts by inviting children and youth from the Um-Nasser community to participate in drama workshops with TDP’s drama teachers. Community members will have the opportunity to express matters of personal importance, become more aware of drama and storytelling as tools of expression, explore their cultural identity and encourage them to share their stories, especially those of exclusion and discrimination. These stories will further become the inspiration for a new theatre production performed in different areas of the Gaza Strip, in which the village youngsters and TDP’s professional actors will perform together, to promote diversity and challenge discrimination against Bedouins in the Gaza strip.
Theatre Day Productions works to promote drama and theatre to be a regular part of the lives of young people in Palestine, so that they can find their individual voice, their sense of self, and discover their creative life. Through organising various artistic activities, TDP aims to provide the foundation for a peaceful development of Palestine, one with respect to human rights and civil society. TDP tries to achieve this by working with the formal education systems and local organisations working with and for children and young people.
Um El Nasser Community Center Society (UNCCS) provides an open space for the Um El-Nasser village community, where members of the community gather for group activities, social support, and other projects that offer a supportive and educational environment for the village community.