The Beersheba Theatre

The story

The Beersheba Theatre is a repertory theatre founded in 1973 as a municipal theatre, during the term of Eliyahu Navi as mayor. It was initiated by the deputy mayor and holder of the culture portfolio Ben-Zion Carmel, Zechariah Liraz — who had already directed the Institute for Education and Art at Beit Ha'am — and David Tuviyahu, the first mayor of the city and one of the initiators of the founding of the university. The first production was directed by Theodore Toma: a translation and adaptation of a French play. After two productions Gary Bilu was appointed professional director, and he served as artistic and administrative director for eight years and worked to turn the place into a real repertory theatre. At the end of 1974, after a break following the Yom Kippur War, the second season opened, with “Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs” directed by Hanan Snir and “The Glass Menagerie” directed by Edna Shavit. In that season the company of actors grew to fifteen, and they were required to be residents of Beersheba in order to act in it — that is, the theatre was not brought to the city, it was made in it. Among its first actors were Naomi Blumenthal, Eti Shiloni, Dov'ale Reiser, Sasi Saad, Shmulik Shilo, Yossi Kantz, Hugo Yarden, Michael Ronen, Rafi Tavor, Margalit Stander, Irit Shilo, Ilana Yanovsky, Ora Bar-Or and Robert Henig, and later Doron Tavori joined; the first house director was Dr. Dan Ronen. Its permanent home was Beit Ha'am, until the Performing Arts Center was completed in 2008.

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