REFÎF ÎSLÎM

Gaza- Bozour Association for Culture and Arts (“bozour” is Arabic for seeds) is the first all-women theatre company in Palestine founded by three women. All the scriptwriting, directing, photography, decoration, and lighting are done by women.

The idea of founding an all-women theater emerged from the Free Thought and Culture Association aimed at promoting the theater among women in low-income rural areas. The theatre company was officially founded in 2018.

“We chose “Bozour” as the name of our theatre company”

Manal Barakat, one of the founders of the theatre company, told us why they chose “Bozour” as the name of their theatre company. “We chose this name because we wanted to show how a small theatre company opened by three women grows like seeds,” she told us.

The association staged a theatre performance named, “A Broken Theatre - A Broken Dream”. “Many women took the stage to tell their stories. This theatre performance was one of the most encouraging performances,” she said.

Women tell stories

The association has offered four programs, including production, acting, animation, and storytelling. During the workshops held by the association, the participants discuss their experiences with other women and encourage each other to write about them. Underlining that they don’t only focus on women's stories, but also try to implement the storytelling project in order to activate education in public schools, Manal Barakat said, “The women, who were subjected to violence, are also storytellers. Our programs are very important for women to tell the problems they face.”

The association also staged a theatre performance named “Witch” to draw attention to sexual abuse cases against women. “We choose the subjects that threaten the future of young women and that call them witches. The biggest difficulty we face is the negative thoughts of society against us. They blame us for educating young women in art. We also suffer from a lack of financial support. Despite all difficulties we face, we become happy when we see women’s success on stage.”