May 29, 2009

New Drama Society Production Promotes Gender Dialogue on Campus

Take a walk around the Bethlehem University campus and you'll see men and women interacting as they do on any other campus the world over. But what you can't always see is that these men and women – just like students everywhere – are also struggling to negotiate modern gender roles.

The Bethlehem University Drama Society, founded by Dr. Hala Al-Yamani, is presenting a new play designed to help local youth tackle some of these growing pains. An example of forum theatre, the play includes opportunities for audience members to become thespians, inviting them to solve the show's challenges their own way, on stage.

Creating balanced relationships between men and women is not easy in Palestinian society, noted Dr. Hala Al-Yamani, who is also a faculty member in the Education department.

As coordinator of the group, she worked with students to create a script that addresses various issues concerning gender, relationships, respect, self-concept, and harassment.

Dr. Hala's new show, ‘You are to be Blamed', opened on May 14 th at Bethlehem University .

“I was told that it was brave to put this on stage,” said Dr. Hala of the play, which addresses the issue of harassment. But the university setting, she continued, “must be the forum for thinking and new ideas”. Activities like this play are necessary, she explained, to deal with these problems as a society and to close the gender gap.

In the play, aspects of the struggle of females in a male-dominated world are portrayed: resisting the urge to comment when a male stranger on a bus is aggressive or disrespectful, or when males make offensive or rude remarks about females. While these behaviors are hardly unique to Palestinian men and women, the unique cultural implications and nuances are explored in the play.

“Sure, these types of characters exist everywhere,” said Bilal Abu Dyab, a third year student who plays Adam, the leading male character. “Hopefully people will see this play and see these characters as a problem and in their own way be able to change.”

During the interactive part of the production, one male audience member was brave enough to take on the role of the female protagonist. And, once on stage, he stood up to her tormentor on the bus, demanding to be left alone. If the audience's loud reaction means anything, the intervention was successful. As well, the actor playing the aggressive male was forced to back down

Bilal said he became a member of the drama group because he wanted to learn new skills and develop his own character. Being part of the Drama Society has “helped me improve how to speak with people and how to communicate better,” he said.

Maram Abu Khdair, a student in the Faculty of Education, agreed. This is her second show with the drama society. She said her involvement has taught her a lot: “It's changed me in many ways. I've improved my skills, especially as a future educator.”

She recalled performing the show, which is a traveling production, for a group of teenage boys recently. The play affected their perceptions of gender relations, she noted, “They had a very serious discussion about it. You could see the different opinions in their debate, but it will hopefully change them.”

For Maram the most difficult part of participating in the show wasn't the controversial subject material, it was the frustration of arduous journeys from her home in Jerusalem to rehearsals in Bethlehem . Israeli military checkpoints and closures meant she often missed rehearsals. The two cities are only nine kilometers apart, but because of the 8-meter high separation wall and other impediments to travel, it often takes students, staff and faculty hours to reach campus.

The stress of travel in occupied territory continues to be “a very big problem,” said Maram.

However, she said the topic of the play is so important she felt she had to take part despite the difficulties. Gender discrimination “is a very big issue that people need to know about. I hope one day our society is better able to understand these problems because of [this play].”

The 30-minute production will run throughout the Spring and Summer at other schools and campuses throughout the West Bank . For more information email Dr. Hala: halay@bethlehem.edu