Michal Ansky

Transcription

Eyes that can see. Eyes that can see. Is the translation working well? Does everyone have translation? Ok. I borrowed this title from a play I took part in several years ago and it was called "Eyes that can see". During a meeting with the director, he asked me, "why did you choose to be an actor or why do you want to be an actor". After speaking a lot I answered, "I think I can see things that others can't see". I think the director called the play "Eyes that can see" based on the sentence I said. I am from Nazareth. Nazareth is a well-known historical city. Nowadays, it is trying to change its status from an old city into a newer and more contemporary city. I was raised in a neighborhood called "The eastern neighborhood". The eastern neighborhood is densely populated, threatening environment. an environment closer to crime, violence, stuffy mentality an environment that suffocates. high population. many people. and there is no doubt that a 15-16 year old boy would be threatened to deviate to the wrong direction. I saw myself gradually becoming the boy that fits that society. troublesomeness, violence, robbery, assault on properties, quarrels. And so I was turning into a boy who is more likely to become a criminal in the future. My school decided to deal with the students threatened to become criminals in the future. I was one of them. We had meetings with the social workers, after the first meeting, second and third meeting they would run home. It became a game for us. a challenge. Each new social worker had to be sent home. Then a new social worker arrived. His name was "Sa'eb'. "Sa'eb" in Arabic means "The person with the right judgement". We were playing in the courtyard and he was waiting for us to finish playing and enter the room. I felt that someone was looking at me. At that moment, I felt a strange energy. I turned my head and looked, and I felt that someone was looking at me. I felt that someone sees me. I felt that someone believes in me. From this tiny moment, I was changed. My life changed bit by bit… bit by bit. I think that one of the reasons of me being here today is this moment that gave me this energy and this man who believed in me. Then I met many people. Not many but good ones. Why? because they have eyes that can see. After graduating from highschool, I decided to head to Tel-Aviv and study theatre. No one from my close family circle encouraged me to seek education. Nonetheless, I insisted to go to Tel-Aviv and study theatre. I called the Yoram Levinstein School of theatre 3 months after the beginning of classes. Yoram Levinstein agreed to meet me maybe because I am an Arab, I don't know. and he had no Arabs in his school. I was going to Tel-Aviv, to the city where one can find a university, an academy, and where there is activity and action. And suddenly I discovered that Yoram's office and school are located in the "Hamasger" area which is an isolated area in Tel-Aviv. Meaning an area that looks like the area in which I was raised. I was frustrated. I said to myself, "I have to be nice, I will enter to meet the director and will be genial with him, but I don't want to study here." I went there and the secretary guided me to Yoram's office. The door was open. From the first moment I entered and Yoram saw me, he looked at me and his forehead wrinkled. I felt a strange energy. Once again I felt that there is someone who believes in me. I felt that someone was filling me with energy. I am sure that from that moment, Yoram decided to let me in the school. I had to do a small exam and then I started studying. I graduated and decided to return to Nazareth and work with the disadvantaged. To work with people who need eyes, eyes that can see. People who believed that this is their destiny, and that there is no change. People who had their destiny decided by their father, mother, uncle or society. People who have no challenge. God decides all. One of the wonderful stories I experienced, was the story of a boy who was known for owning a rottweiler dog with which he would roam the neighborhood. One of his hobbies was to go to the houses of the rich and break their windows, or catch the rich boys in the neighborhood and beat them. When I came to the neighborhood and wanted to work with these guys, he came to me with his threatening body and language and asked me, "What are you doing here?" He was staring at me. I did not do anything. I did not do anything except look into his eyes and I felt that there is someone hiding behind these eyes. I told him, "Do you want to know what I am doing here?" Come in, enter the hall. He entered the hall. Today, this young man is a Beit-Tsvi graduate. He became a professional actor, a drama guide, he also works in many theatres in the north and south. he also works with students. But that wasn't the end of it. There was another experience. I worked with boys in distress. We needed to gather funds. At one of the meetings with one of the people in charge, I told him, "This time, the students I work with will close the streets, not because they are holding knives, not because they are burning or assaulting properties, not because the police entered the neighborhood, This time they will close the street because they are shooting a film, because they are holding cameras, because they are holding a sound recording device. He gave us the money. Not a lot of money but enough to shoot the film. This is the group of guys. This is part of the audience who used to come and watch the plays. Some of these people have never been in a theatre before. Ever! Some of them have not entered a theatre hall for 25 years. These are the workshops. Five years ago, a theatre was founded or I was one of the initiators of "Fringe Ensemble of Nazareth". A cultural laboratory. We are professional actors but I always insist on working with the disadvantaged. To have a strong relationship with all levels of the society. Today I have a dream. I have a dream. To have a project that reaches not only one or two people every year. Not only changing one or two people. I have a project to reach thousands. I need eyes that can reach many people. Because I believe there are many people who need eyes to see them. Not because they are unfortunate. No! They are not unfortunate. The difference is that you and I had the chance to be seen by someone who believed in us. But there are millions who need someone to believe in them. Regardless of who they are. It doesn't matter. Sa'eb from Nazareth or Yoram Levinstein from Tel-aviv. It doesn't matter. What matters is to have eyes that can see. Eyes that can see. Eyes that can see. Thank you.