Letter to the editor: Israel must free Freedom Theatre's general manager

We, the undersigned, representing a coalition of performing arts professionals and organizations in Santa Cruz, write to condemn Israel’s abductions of Mustafa Sheta, The Freedom Theatre’s general manager, Jamal Abu Joas, graduate and actor trainer, and Ahmed Tobasi, the theater’s artistic director, from inside their homes on Dec. 13 by the Israeli armed forces in Jenin, Palestine. At the time of this letter’s submission, Ahmed and Jamal are back home, but Mustafa and about 100 others are still being held and we demand their immediate release. We watched in horror with broken hearts as we witnessed the Israeli army shooting from within the theatre’s building, destroying its offices and property.

If we do not stand up in solidarity with our friends at Freedom Theatre, the oppression of artistic and cultural voices lives on in all of our creative communities. A threat to artistic freedom anywhere is a threat to artistic freedom everywhere.

Ahmed Tobasi once wrote, “When I joined the theatre, a small hole opened in my mind … Like a child playing in the garden who finds a trapdoor that takes you to another world … it was magical.” As makers, theorists, and historians of the performing arts, we acknowledge how critical the work of The Freedom Theatre is, not only Jenin and the Middle East, but to the world.

Theatre creates community in ways that help to heal collective trauma. It uses embodied narratives and forms to illuminate historically “invisibilized” stories. It can incite audiences to resist and fight against their oppressors. And as it did for Ahmed, theatre created a new possibility of existing in this world, one that is full of growth and possibility, hope and peace. This is why theatre is so dangerous to those in power and why governments for centuries have targeted theatre artists in a time of crisis and war.

UC Santa Cruz students have directly benefited from The Freedom Theatre’s work and ethos; Performance, Play & Design department lecturer Sayda Trujillo has traveled to Palestine multiple times to work with this company and has brought the spirit of this work to PPD students. Trujillo will return to the UCSC campus (funded by multiple departments, centers and colleges) in January to perform her show, “Win the War or Tell Me a Story,” which explores the intersections of her Guatemalan family’s displacement during that country’s civil war and what is happening in Gaza.

Trujillo will give a public talk about her work with The Freedom Theatre on Jan. 16 at 7:30 p.m. in Digital Arts Research Center 108, and her performance will be Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Mainstage theater on the UCSC campus. Admission is free and open to all; donations to The Freedom Theatre will be enthusiastically encouraged.

We urge you to engage with your own artistic communities to amplify oppressed voices within this global crisis. You can contact their local, state, and federal representatives to take direct political action.

To Ahmed, Jamal, Mustafa and the rest of The Freedom Theatre community: We will continue to find ways to support your theatre so you may continue to tell urgent stories we must hear and dream of new possibilities for your people and for our world.

In solidarity,

Patrick Michael Ballard, UCSC Department of Performance, Play & Design

mattie brice, UCSC Department of Performance, Play & Design

micha cárdenas, UCSC Department of Critical Race & Ethnic Studies; Department of Performance, Play & Design

Michael M. Chemers, UCSC Department of Performance, Play & Design

Isabel Cruz, UCSC Department of Performance, Play & Design

A.M. Darke, UCSC Department of Performance, Play & Design

Patty Gallagher, UCSC Department of Performance, Play & Design

Kristen Gillette, UCSC Department of Performance, Play & Design

Amy Mihyang Ginther, UCSC Department of Performance, Play & Design

Cynthia Ling Lee, UCSC Department of Performance, Play & Design

Noah Lucé, UCSC Department of Performance, Play & Design