Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre
Encyclopedia
The Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre (also Acco Fringe Theatre Festival, Israel Fringe Theatre Festival) is a four-day performing arts
festival
held annually in the city of Acre
, Israel
during the Intermediate Days of the Sukkot
holiday in early autumn. Founded in 1980, it features a competition for original plays premiering at the Festival, along with offerings of local and foreign theatre troupes, street theatre and open-air performances, a concert stage, artisans' displays, workshops, projects, and a conference.
The majority of the Festival's plays come from outside the mainstream of establishment Israeli theatre, some having avantgarde characteristics and subjects giving outlet to their creators' personal statements. Some combine media and genres such as pantomime, clowning, video, dance, and performance art rarely seen in the conventional theatre. Many are staged in historic venues within the Old City of Acre, such as its Crusader-era citadel and knights' halls that have undergone conservation.
The Festival has been produced by the Municipality of Akko since the year 2000. It is supported by the Israel Ministry of Culture, the Old Acre Development Company, and overseas philanthropic foundations.
The Acco Festival has become a symbol of coexistence between the city's Jewish and Arab inhabitants. Each year's program features works by Arab playwrights and troupes along with performances by music ensembles. Performance projects led by theatre professionals provide training for local Arab and Jewish teens, including immigrant youth.
The Festival has only twice been postponed and scaled down due to interethnic disturbances: during the October 2000 events
of the Second Intifada, and in 2008 due to the Yom Kippur
riots, after which the Festival was held during the Hanukkah
holiday week.
Performing arts
The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
festival
Fringe theatre
Fringe theatre is theatre that is not of the mainstream. The term comes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which name comes from Robert Kemp, who described the unofficial companies performing at the same time as the second Edinburgh International Festival as a ‘fringe’, writing: ‘Round the fringe...
held annually in the city of Acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
during the Intermediate Days of the Sukkot
Sukkot
Sukkot is a Biblical holiday celebrated on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei . It is one of the three biblically mandated festivals Shalosh regalim on which Hebrews were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem.The holiday lasts seven days...
holiday in early autumn. Founded in 1980, it features a competition for original plays premiering at the Festival, along with offerings of local and foreign theatre troupes, street theatre and open-air performances, a concert stage, artisans' displays, workshops, projects, and a conference.
The majority of the Festival's plays come from outside the mainstream of establishment Israeli theatre, some having avantgarde characteristics and subjects giving outlet to their creators' personal statements. Some combine media and genres such as pantomime, clowning, video, dance, and performance art rarely seen in the conventional theatre. Many are staged in historic venues within the Old City of Acre, such as its Crusader-era citadel and knights' halls that have undergone conservation.
The Festival has been produced by the Municipality of Akko since the year 2000. It is supported by the Israel Ministry of Culture, the Old Acre Development Company, and overseas philanthropic foundations.
The Acco Festival has become a symbol of coexistence between the city's Jewish and Arab inhabitants. Each year's program features works by Arab playwrights and troupes along with performances by music ensembles. Performance projects led by theatre professionals provide training for local Arab and Jewish teens, including immigrant youth.
The Festival has only twice been postponed and scaled down due to interethnic disturbances: during the October 2000 events
October 2000 events
The October 2000 events were a series of protests in Arab villages in northern Israel in October 2000 that turned violent, escalating into clashes between Israeli Arabs and the Israel Police and ending in the deaths of demonstrators.The Or Commission was established to investigate the police...
of the Second Intifada, and in 2008 due to the Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
riots, after which the Festival was held during the Hanukkah
Hanukkah
Hanukkah , also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE...
holiday week.