Acco Festival

Explores the history of Acco Festival for Other Israeli Theatre from 1980-2012 as a site of celebration and confrontation. Acco Festival is a borderland bringing together established directors from the center of the field with alternative artists outside of it, as well as bringing together the center's hegemony and Acco’s Jewish and Arab residents.

Naphtaly Shem-Tov is a senior lecturer in the Department of Literature, Language and the Arts at The Open University of Israel. His research focuses on social aspects of Israeli theatre and applied theatre. Shem-Tov’s publications include the Hebrew-language book Improvisational Teaching (Tel-Aviv: MOFET), which examines improvisation as a pedagogical tool and a mode of knowing.

Dan Urian, Professor of Theater Arts, Tel Aviv University:
“This book is the first comprehensive inquiry into “marginal” theater in Israel, whose dimensions—in terms of number of productions—have long equaled that of “mainstream” theater. The exploration of the Festival repertoire focuses on several topics: Jews and Arabs, the Holocaust, and women. The work is interesting, clear, innovative, and well-documented. The chapter on the organization of the Festival is fascinating and unique and is only the second study of Israeli theatrical organizations since the study of Emanuel Levi on Habima in 1981! While this work “dialogues” with “Festival” research and the related field of the sociology of theater, it never gets lost in the fog of jargon; Shem-Tov clearly shows the artistic and social story of a central institution in Israeli culture.”

Willmar Sauter, Professor of Theatre Studies, Stockholm University:
The significance of the Acco Festival as a hub of artistic and social provocations can hardly be overestimated. Naphtaly Shem-Tov’s book offers an overview of three decades of avant-garde performances, including their controversial themes and innovative settings. Politics is the analytical key to the repertoire as well as to the organization of the festival. In addition, the role of Acco as the host community is carefully investigated. Altogether, an exemplary way of presenting this influential theatre festival.”