Palestinian Voices: Returning to Haifa Performance

Want to join us in making a difference? We're raising money to benefit Golden Thread Productions (GTP) and their upcoming season, which is being dedicated to Palestine.

For over 25 years GTP, the first US theatre devoted to the Middle East, has been challenging negative stereotypes about the Middle East pervading mainstream US culture through the development and production of high-quality plays. We recognize the continuing necessity of their work as we witness the ongoing atrocities being inflicted on Palestinians and the anti-Palestinian sentiment persisting in the Western media. Their entire 2024 Season has been dedicated to Palestine, to uplift and honor Palestinian narratives and to celebrate the talent, creativity, strength, and resilience that define the Palestinian people.

The cornerstone of their season is the West Coast premiere of Ghassan Kanafani’s play, Returning to Haifa, adapted to the stage by Naomi Wallace and Ismail Khalidi. The play is significant for the way it challenges preconceptions and offers an understanding of Palestinian oppression in a profoundly human and accessible manner. In 2017 the Public Theater in New York, who commissioned this adaptation and had committed to producing the play, succumbed to political pressure and abandoned the project, illustrating the ‘risky’ nature of staging Palestinian narratives in the US, which has only gotten more challenging recently.

Securing funding for this important work has proved to be difficult and we are asking for your help on their behalf to fill a $25,000 gap in their $130,000 production budget. Every contribution, no matter the size, will make a meaningful difference and bring this powerful story combatting the pervasive dehumanization of Palestinians and Arabs to the stage for everyone to experience.

West Coast Premiere

RETURNING TO HAIFA

By Ghassan Kanafani

Adapted for the stage by Naomi Wallace and Ismail Khalidi

Directed by Samer Al-Saber

April 12 - May 4, 2024 In-Person @ Potrero Stage - 1695 18th Street, SF CA 94107

May 5 - May 12, 2024 Video on Demand

www.goldenthread.org

A brief synopsis of the play: In the wake of the 1967 Six-Day War, with the borders finally open after two decades, Said and Safiyya, a Palestinian couple, return to Haifa in search of the echoes of a home they were forced to abandon during the Nakba in 1948. But are they truly ready for the encounter that awaits them upon their return? Returning to Haifa presents a deeply human portrait of two families, one Palestinian, and one Jewish, forced by history into an intimacy they didn’t choose.

Please help us by contributing as much as you can! We appreciate every bit of support!

Sincerely,

Mona & Jumana