Interview with Laween Palestinian Cooperative: Theatre in the Time of Genocide

Abstract

Laween is among several Palestinian theatre cooperatives established over the last decade, which have not received sufficient attention from theatre scholars. Born out of the struggle of living under Israeli apartheid, the repression of the Palestinian Authority, and alienation from NGO theatres, whose work has been depoliticized by reliance on foreign funding, the emergence of these theatre cooperatives represents a significant change in the Palestinian cultural landscape. Working with a renewed cultural and political consciousness, Laween seeks to reflect collectively on, and resist the various forms of oppression experienced by, the Palestinian community. The ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza, together with Israeli military and settler violence in the West Bank, make it more pertinent than ever to rethink what ‘cultural resistance’ means in the Palestinian context and to give attention to the community initiatives grappling with the brutal realities of ethnic cleansing through art. The interview here with two of the founding members of Laween, Mousa Nazzal and Hamza Al-Bakri, discusses the development, challenges, and envisaged future of this Palestinian theatre cooperative.