The war in Gaza has been raging for almost a year now. The intensity of the conflict and the decades long history that led up to it understandably engenders high emotional stakes, making discussions difficult and straining relationships. This month, a play at the Unadilla Theater in Marshfield tackles the subject head-on, with empathy and openness.
“Returning to Haifa” is an English-language adaptation of a 1970 novella by the same name by the Palestinian writer and journalist, Ghassan Kanafani. The shows director is Zephyr Teachout, an attorney, former political candidate, and Fordham Law professor who grew up in the Upper Valley. She is also an actor — she's appeared in numerous plays at the Unadilla Theater and is close with the theater’s 100-year-old founder, Bill Blachly.
"He has wanted to put on this play for many years," Teachout said. She sees the play as an invitation to engage with history, no matter their politics.
The story follows a Palestinian couple in two different periods of their lives: when they are expelled from Haifa in 1948, and again 20 years later when they return. They meet a Polish Holocaust survivor who has been living in their former home, as well as their son, who they had been forced to abandon as an infant.
"It's a confrontation between two families, both of whom are refugees, both of whom are, of course, horrifically impacted by world events," Teachout said. "They are in a living room together with a 20-year-old man, trying to make sense of their lives and their past."
The cast of five comes from a wide variety of backgrounds, from a Pakistani woman based in Houston to a Burlington actor of Bahraini descent.
"It's a community theater. We can't really pay much. It's room and board, if you're lucky," Teachout said, "and we found these actors from all over the country who came for different reasons."
Teachout said working on the play this summer has been a gift, despite the strain it puts on her schedule. "We all need art," she said. "I don't regret a second of it, because when I'm in that dark room and hear some of the beautiful Kanafani phrases that I know will stay with me for decades, I am just so grateful to be able to get to do this.
"Returning to Haifa” is showing at the Unadilla Theatre until August 24th.
Broadcast live on Wednesday, August 13, 2024, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
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