{{Short description|Theatre in Tel Aviv, Israel}} {{Expand Hebrew|topic=cult|date=February 2023}} {{Infobox theatre |name = Habima Theatre |native_name = תיאטרון הבימה |native_name_lang = Hebrew |logo_image = File:HabimaLogo.svg |image = PikiWiki Israel 14066 Habimaquot; Theatre.JPG |image_size = 250px |caption = Habima Theatre, 2011 |pushpin_map = |pushpin_map_caption = |address = Habima Square |city = Tel Aviv |country = Israel |architect = Oskar Kaufmann, Eugene Stolzer |owner = |capacity = Rovina Theatre: 930 seats<br/>Meskin Theatre: 320 seats<br/>Bertonov Theatre: 220 seats<br/>Blanche Rapaport Theatre: 170 seats |type = National theatre |opened = {{Start date and age|1912}} |years_active = |rebuilt = |closed = |other_names = |public_transit = |current_use = |website = [https://www.habima.co.il habima.co.il] }}
The '''Habima Theatre''' ({{langx|he|תיאטרון הבימה}} ''Te'atron HaBima'', lit. "The Stage Theatre") is the national theatre of Israel and one of the first Hebrew language theatres. It is located in Habima Square in the center of Tel Aviv.
==History== thumb|150px|Historic building, c.1950 [[File:HANA ROVINA THE DYBBUK 1920.jpg|thumb|150px|Hanna Rovina as Leah in S. Ansky's ''The Dybbuk'' (performed by Habima in the Hebrew-language translation by Hayyim Nahman Bialik).]]
Habima was founded as an amateur troup by Nahum Lazarevich Tsemakh (Hebrew: Naḥum Tsemaḥ; 1887–1939) in Białystok (then in Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire) in 1912. Menahem Gnessin was one of its cofounders and early actors.<ref name="Encycl-Judaica">{{cite EJ|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0008_0_08098.html |title=Habimah|access-date=2018-06-18}}</ref> Because its performances were in Hebrew, invoked the Jewish folk tradition, and dealt with issues of the Jewish people, soon it was banned by Russian authorities, and the theatre troupe was forced to become a travelling one. Beginning in 1918, the theatre operated under the auspices of the Moscow Art Theatre, which some consider its actual beginning. It encountered difficulties under the Soviet government as well, after the Russian Revolution.<ref>[http://www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/habima-01.htm "Habima in New York: The Origin and Early History of the Habima"], Museum of Family History, accessed 6 Sep 2010</ref> Konstantin Stanislavsky arranged for the mainly Jewish Polish actors to be trained by Yevgeny Vakhtangov. The People's Commissar for Nationalities Affairs, Joseph Stalin, also authorized the theatre's creation. However, the Yevsektsiya attempted to use its influence to cut off state funds to Habima, branding it counter-revolutionary.<ref name=Shindler>{{cite book|last1=Shindler|first1=Colin|title=Israel and the European Left|date=2012|publisher=Continuum|location=New York|page=33}}</ref>
===International tour=== In 1926, the theatre left the Soviet Union to tour abroad, in countries including Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States.<ref name="Ivanov">Ivanov, Vladislav (August 10, 2010). “[http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Habimah Habimah]”. ''YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe''. yivoencyclopedia.org. Translated from Russian by I. Michael Aronson; revised by Alice Nakhimovsky and Michael C. Steinlauf. Retrieved 2018-06-05.</ref> Their productions met with great success.<ref name="Ivanov"/> In 1927, the company split up, with Zemach and some of the actors choosing to stay in the U.S.<ref name="Ivanov"/>
===Lodz Impact=== The theatre staff visited the city of Lodz, and the pre-war photographer and artist Mendel Grossman, photographed the actors and actresses from the wings of the stage. His life was changed as a result of the visit of the theatre.<ref name="SAT">{{cite book|last1=Grossman|first1=Mendel |last2=Meron|first2=Peter |title=With a Camera in the Ghetto|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yb9tAAAAMAAJ|year=1977|publisher=Schocken Books |isbn=9780805236453 }}</ref>
===Establishment in Palestine=== [[File:Bima12night.jpg|thumb|250px|Habima stages ''Twelfth Night'', Neues Schauspielhaus, 15 September 1930. First professional performance of Shakespeare in Hebrew.]]
Other members of the theatre took the company to Mandate Palestine in 1928.<ref name="commentarymagazine.com">Politzer, Heinz (August 1948). "[https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/heinz-politzer/habimah-in-new-yorka-great-theater-enters-a-new-period/ Habimah in New York: A Great Theater Enters a New Period] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509134244/https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/heinz-politzer/habimah-in-new-yorka-great-theater-enters-a-new-period/ |date=2021-05-09 }}". ''Commentary Magazine''. Retrieved 2017-03-06.</ref> In the 1928–29 season there, the Habima Players presented two plays, both under the direction of Aleksei Dikiy, from the Moscow Art Theatre.<ref name="Encycl-Judaica"/> The first production, ''Ha-otsar'' (The Treasure), a translation of Sholem Aleichem's Yiddish play ''Der Oytser'', premiered on December 29, 1928.<ref name="Encycl-Judaica"/> The second production, which premiered on May 23, 1929, in Tel Aviv, was ''Keter David'' (David's Crown), an adaptation by Hebrew writer Isaac Lamdan<ref>Sullivan, Henry W. (2009). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=mcC0hgK8FI0C&pg=PA476 Calderón in the German Lands and the Low Countries: His Reception and Influence, 1654-1980]''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 476, footnote 17. Sullivan notes that Lamdan worked from the German translation by Johann Diederich Gries.</ref> of ''The Hair of Absalom'' (''Los cabellos de Absalón''), by the 17th-century Spanish dramatist Calderón.<ref>Rokem, Freddie (1996). "[https://books.google.com/books?id=v_tXKyDG5j4C&pg=PA72 Hebrew Theater from 1888 to 1948]", in: Linda Ben-Zvi (Ed.). ''Theater in Israel''. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. {{ISBN |0472106074}}. pp. 51-84; here: p. 72. "The production of ''David's Crown'', produced in Tel Aviv in 1929, during Habima's first visit there, was a very radical adaptation of Calderón de la Barca's ''Hair of Absalom''."</ref>
In 1930 the company traveled to Berlin, Germany, where it produced Shakespeare's ''Twelfth Night'', directed by Michael Chekhov, and Karl Gutzkow's ''Uriel Acosta'', under the direction of Alexander Granovski.<ref name="Encycl-Judaica"/>
The company finally settled in Palestine in 1931.<ref name="Encycl-Judaica"/> In 1945, it built a theatre in Tel Aviv, which it occupied before completion.<ref name="commentarymagazine.com"/> [[File:Hanna Rovina (997009453629205171).jpg|thumb|Hanna Rovina in Mirele Efros costume by Yitzhak Frenkel]]
===National Theatre of Israel=== Habima has been officially considered the national theatre of Israel since 1958, the year in which it received the Israel Prize for theatre.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashyag/Tashkab_Tashyag_Rikuz.htm?DictionaryKey=Tashyah |title=Israel Prize recipients in 1958 (in Hebrew) |publisher=Israel Prize Official Site |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208115723/http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashyag/Tashkab_Tashyag_Rikuz.htm?DictionaryKey=Tashyah |archive-date=February 8, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> This was the first year in which the Prize was awarded to an organization. In the 21st century, Habima employs 80 actors, and another 120 staff members work at the complex.
==Restoration== <!-- thumb|150px|Rovina Hall --> In January 2012, the theatre reopened after four and a half years of renovations.<ref name="haaretz.com">Shohat, Zipi (November 21, 2011). "[https://web.archive.org/web/20111121123258/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/curtain-rises-over-tel-aviv-s-newly-renovated-habima-theater-1.396685 Curtain Rises over Tel Aviv's Newly Renovated Habima Theater]". ''Haaretz''. haaretz.com. Retrieved 2017-03-06.</ref> Architect Ram Karmi was commissioned to redesign the historic building.<ref>{{cite web |first=Zipi |last=Shohat |url=https://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/778347.html |title=A New Stage for Habima |publisher= Haaretz. haaretz.com |date=October 24, 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071226144009/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/778347.html |archive-date=2007-12-26 |access-date=2017-03-06}}</ref> More than NIS 100 million was invested in the makeover, which has added 500 square meters of floor space and three new rehearsal rooms. The building's four auditoriums were completely rebuilt.<ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20121102093111/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/business/habima-architect-tells-critics-kiss-my-ass-1.318315 Habima Architect Tells Critics: 'Kiss My Ass' ]" (October 11, 2010). ''Haaretz''. haaretz.com. Retrieved 2017-03-06.</ref> Each is a different size and color: Rovina is blue and seats 930 people; Meskin is lavender and seats 320; Bertonov (also known as Bamartef) is green and seats 220; and Habima 4 (formerly known as Heineken) is wood panelled and seats 170.<ref name="haaretz.com"/>
==Other theaters== * Solomon Stramer's Yiddish theater troupe in Cluj, Transylvania, Romania in the 1920s was also called ''Habimah.'' ==See also== *List of Israel Prize recipients
==References== {{Reflist}} * Levy, Emanuel. The Habima, 1917-1977: A Study of Cultural Nationalism. Columbia University Press, 1979.
== External links == {{Commons category|Habima National Theatre}} *[http://www.habima.co.il/ Official site] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20140203022654/http://www.habima.co.il/vf/ib_items/1199/historyEn.pdf The tale of habima]
{{coord|32.0728|34.779|format=dms|region:IL_type:landmark|display=title}} {{Jewish theatre}}{{Tourism in Tel Aviv}}{{Authority control}}
Category:Theatres in Tel Aviv Category:Theatre companies in Israel Category:National theatres Category:Jewish theatres Category:Israel Prize in theatre recipients Category:Israel Prize recipients that are organizations Category:Arts organizations established in 1918 Category:1918 establishments in British-administered Palestine Category:Culture in Tel Aviv Category:Tourist attractions in Tel Aviv