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Yama // 2023
A multilingual journey to the layers deep beneath Jaffa. The Arabic word for mother is yama. In Hebrew, yama means lake or swamp; in Yiddish, sea. In Biblical Hebrew, yama means west, the direction of the sea. Jaffa, the city between Damascus, Cairo and Jerusalem, was once the beating heart of the Middle East, so in Arabic it is called “The Mother of Strangers.” Neta Weiner digs deep into the city’s 4,500 years of existence and uncovers layer upon layer of truths, lies and faiths. Yama combines martial arts, spoken word, theatre and beat to carve out a story that is part guided tour, part Krav Maga and part ritual prayer — a story that bridges Eminem and the prophet Jonah, Bialik and Fairouz, Huldai and Kazablan. Rooted in the city’s rich and glorious past, this journey unfolds in Hebrew, Arabic and Yiddish, traversing reality while dreaming of a new horizon, for Jaffa and for us. The work premiered at the European Union International Theatre Festival Face to Faith in Gombola, Italy, where it represented Gesher Theatre. Praised by critics as “original, intelligent, and distinctive — an impressively poetic performance” (Yedioth Ahronoth), “a quintessential and fascinating festival event… an abstract and emotional archaeological excavation, both personal and national” (Ynet), and “captivating and delightful, a work that delivers both a punch and a caress at the same time… performed by a virtuoso ensemble” (Israel Hayom), Yama has been celebrated for its poetic force, political depth, and theatrical daring.
Written and Directed by: Neta Weiner
Performers: Samira Traya, Beni Eldar, Roni Ben-Hamo, Neta Weiner
Choreography and Artistic Consultation: Stav Marin
Writing Consultant: Roy Chen
Dramaturgy: Raz Weiner
Costume Design: Tamar Ben Canaan
Lighting and Space Design: Yair Vardi
Special Thanks to: Mor Deree, Adva Weinstein, Beit System Ali
Cut. Loose // 2016
Special Award Winner, Acco Festival 2016; “Stage Language” Prize Winner, Golden Hedgehog Awards 2017; Best Duet Prize 2017, DanceTalk
By Stav Marin and Neta Weiner, Cut. Loose is a physical and vocal duet exploring the violence and tenderness of a couple in the present moment and place. The work examines relationships and power dynamics across gender, militarism, popular culture, and politics. Within a bare square arena, battles unfold that alternate between shared practice, intimacy, and struggles for survival, placing the audience at point-blank range. Critics hailed it as “a hectic show that touched something deep about the horrible price of war and violence” (Shai Bar Yaakov, Yedioth Ahronoth); “an unstoppable brainwash about the Israeli actuality, with brilliant spoken-word acts and precise, erotic, and violent movement-work” (Yair Ashkenazi, Haaretz); and “a marvelous combination of speech and movement… serious in its every purpose, and funny as much as it is gripping” (Zvi Goren, Habama).
Created and Performed by: Neta Weiner and Stav Marin
Dramaturgy and Artistic Consultation: Raz Weiner
Production: Shir Barbi
Costume Design: Anat Martkovich
Lighting Design: Yoav Barel
Teaser Filming and Editing: Rotem Feldner
Music Production: Dror Rotem
Mix: Roy Hasson
Mejinik // 2018
Winner of the 2019 Golden Hedgehog Fringe Theatre Awards for Best Play and Best Director
By Stav Marin and Neta Weiner, Mejinik is a family battle celebration, where voice, body, and text align in a life-and-death struggle. As Henry Abramovitch writes in Brothers and Sisters – Myth and Reality: “In our childhood we spend more time with our brothers and sisters than with our parents… siblings design us into who we are.” Mejinik channels this intensity, staging the complex dynamics of siblinghood as both fierce conflict and deep bond. Critics called it “a special theatre moment, painful and witty humor, emotional intensity evident in every moment” (Nano Shabtai, Haaretz) and “brilliant text… subversive, defies conventions, and challenges flattening generalizations.”
Writing: Neta Weiner
Direction and Choreography: Stav Marin and Neta Weiner
Performers: Beni Eldar, Stav Marin, Neta Weiner
Artistic Consultation: Raz Weiner
Set and Lighting Design: Yoav Barel
Visuals and Graphic Design: Michael Rozenov
Production: Tali Konigsberg
Costume Design: Idan Lederman
Consultants: Nitzan Cohen, Yael Zitron, Or Marin
Additional Text: Tehila Hakimi, Hananya Schwartz
Rehearsal Direction: Michal Ben Basat
Music Consultation: Roy Hasson
Special Thanks to: Miki and Zevik Marin, Hava and Gil Weiner, Yishai Lloyd Scott Eldar, Rivka Steinberg Eldar, Hever Perlmutter
Teaser Filming: Rotem Feldner and Ofir Ben Shimon
Teaser Editing: Rotem Feldner
Recording and Sound: Eyal Shindler
Shmuhell // 2021
Winner of the 2022 Golden Hedgehog Awards for Production of the Year, Director of the Year, and Best Supporting Actors.
Disoriented and terrified, Jonny, a failed rap artist, wakes up in hell after losing a battle with depression and committing suicide. There, a forgiveness-seeking, new age Hitler comforts, befriends, and guides him on his journey back to the land of the living to save his pet hamster, Shmuel, whom Jonny forgot to find a new home for before taking his own life. On a journey fraught with dangers unknown, Jonny must prove his worth through his rap battle skills and defeat the devil himself for the chance to return to earth and save his best friend — Shmuel. But mad skills and a kick-ass beard are not enough: he must forgive his mother who abandoned him, actually see the suffering in another, make a new best friend, and ignite his own self-esteem. From pauper to prophet, from heaven to hell — this electrifyingly zany musical comedy is the only golden ticket to be had in any plane of existence.
Praised as “what satire should look like: Shmuhell is pure delight — a brilliant musical, a nonstop comic sensation that is both subversive and explosively entertaining” (Orin Weinberg, Ynet), and “a human, energetic, witty, and delightfully infantile celebration — in the best sense of the word” (Nano Shabtai, Haaretz).
Generation // 2018
Generations is a collaboration between Fine5 Dance Theatre and creators Stav Marin and Neta Weiner. The work explores the clash and encounter between spoken word and body language, investigating both political structures and intimate relations through this dialogue. At its heart lies the weight of memory as it is transmitted across generations within families — raising questions about remembrance and forgetting, choice and inevitability. Martial arts, pop music, and folk traditions intertwine with text and movement as means of confrontation and affirmation. Premiered in September 2018 at Theatre NO99 in Tallinn, the performance has been celebrated for its powerful fusion of text and movement and its exploration of how families and nations carry memory forward.
As critic Auburn Scallon observed: “Generations puts an athletic twist on the grand finale, with a determined dancer seemingly obligated to repeat an endless number of back walkovers until she is released by the support of another partner. The final tableaux reflect the essence of familial relationships brilliantly — intimate embrace, casual sprawl, and stone-faced tension side by side.”
Directors and Choreographers: Stav Marin and Neta Weiner
Dancers: Helen Reitsnik, Olga Privis, Ajjar Ausma / Dmitri Kruus, Simo Kruusement, Allar Valge, Aneta Varts, Katre Sabbal
Al Hatel // 2011
A guided journey through the urban, historical, and identity-laden labyrinth that is Tel Aviv–Jaffa, Al Hatel is a spoken-word cabaret vision directed by Raz Weiner. Blurring the boundaries of genre and language, Arabic, Hebrew, English, and Russian collide on the tongues of Neta Weiner and Yonatan Kunda — the writers and performers of the piece. Celebrated as “a visual, vocal, and sensual journey that transforms biting satire into a work of power… a moving and empowering critical event” (Prof. Yehouda Shenhav); “the best performance I saw this year” (Mati Shemoelof); and “political avant-garde theatre at its best… dazzlingly inventive, from Maimonides to Pinocchio… this is revolution” (Judd Ne’eman).
Writing and Performance: Yonatan Kunda and Neta Weiner
Direction: Raz Weiner
We’re Building the Port // 2012
Winner of Best Play Text Award, Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre 2012
A groundbreaking spoken-word musical performance, We’re Building the Port combines rhythm, text, and music into a charged theatrical event. Written by Anna Cohen-Yanay, Yonatan Kunda, and Neta Weiner, and directed by Raz Weiner, the work creates a vibrant and uncompromising voyage through memory, politics, and language. Praised by critics as “a distinctly performative, multi-layered text, extraordinarily witty, sharp… simultaneously charged with piercing social, cultural, and political statements” (Acco Festival Jury), and described as “hardly anything less than genius… virtuoso performers who slice syllables, paste consonants, sing with voices sweet to the ear, and, in general, make delicacies out of the Hebrew language” (Ynet).
Created by: Anna Cohen-Yanai, Yonatan Kunda, Neta Weiner
Direction: Raz Weiner
Artistic Consultation (new version): Dana Etgar
Music Compositions: Lital Shalit, Neta Weiner
Stage and Lighting Design: Ilia Feldstein
Costume Design: Michal Kapeluto
Performers: Neta Weiner, Rotem Cohen, Yonatan Kunda
