Israeli producer uses arts to help Coloradans have meaningful conversations about Middle East

CBS News

9 hours ago

Israeli producer uses arts to help Coloradans have meaningful conversations about Middle East
Israeli producer uses arts to help Coloradans have meaningful conversations about Middle East
Israeli producer uses arts to help Coloradans have meaningful conversations about Middle East
An Israeli producer is using an immersive play to help Coloradans have meaningful conversations about conflicts in the Middle East.
Ami Dayan has been doing theater for a long time.
"Oh, about after 'The Big Bang,' I started kind of practicing it," said Dayan.
Born and raised in Israel, he left his country and family behind to come to Colorado twenty-six years ago.
A rocket propelled grenade impact strike marks the wall of a bomb shelter in Kibbutz Be'eri, the scene of an attack by Hamas militants which killed 120 people, close to Gaza in southern Israel, in this photo from Oct. 20, 2023.
OLIVER MARSDEN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images
The conflict between Israel and Palestine has always been a part of his life, but he noticed that people in the United States had a hard time talking civilly about the issue.
"Israel and Palestine seems to be the forbidden conversation," said Dayan.
He says after the terrorist attacks on October 7th, 2023, he noticed people started talking about it in a way he had never heard before.
"The whole thing is coming bubbling up, and people are reconsidering the positions like they haven't. I think for a very long time," said Dayan.
So, he decided to use his background and professional experience to try to help his community talk about this sensitive issue.
Ami Dayan
He created "Conversation: Israeli Palestinian Conflict," an immersive theater experience. It's a play where prominent Israeli and Palestinian figures came together for what audience members thought was a panel about the topic.
In reality, it was all theater, including questions from the audience, which were pre-scripted and asked by actors. That way, audience members on all sides of the issue can both feel heard and have their beliefs challenged.
"People think that they are misunderstood. And the other side doesn't get any of what they see as reality. And the truth is, nobody knows. Both sides are right. Both sides are wrong," said Dayan.
It wasn't until the show was over that audience members were let in on the secret.
"A lot of audience members don't grasp until the curtain falls that the four volunteers that actually spoke are actors. They thought that they were just members of the audience that got up there," said Dayan.
Ami said that it presented some challenges for the actors.
"Sometimes somebody is in the middle of the soliloquy and somebody in the audience responds, yeah, and it gets interesting," said Dayan.
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"Conversations" ran from May 22nd through 31st at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder. It tragically fell between the killing of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., and the terrorist attack on Jewish marchers on the Pearl Street Mall.
Ami said they want to make sure the play is as up-to-date as possible, so they discussed the shooting of the staffers and if he were to do it again, he would include the attack in his hometown.
"Not only the event, but also the main conversation following it, which is really about the difference between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism," said Ami.
He knows that may be an unpopular decision, but he thinks it's necessary
"People say this is not the time to have the conversation. It's too fragile, right now. It's too sensitive right now. I think that if we don't have the conversation, all we're doing is locking ourselves in our own beliefs, in our own understanding of reality and making extremism more and more likely to erupt," said Dayan.
Ami said he knows he isn't going to solve the decades-old dispute with just one play, but he thinks we must start somewhere.
"We certainly cannot fix anything. We can talk about it, and that's what we're trying to do," said Dayan.