“But Abu Ibrahim, We’re Family!”

By Dr. Lee Perlman

But Abu Ibrahim, We’re Family!

But Abu Ibrahim, We’re Family! is a series of case studies, describing collaborations between Jewish and Palestinian professional theater artists in Israel and the theater they create to reflect their realities. It depicts the ways in which the artists navigate shifting power dynamics and relations between them, while working together to overcome external social and political forces, which run counter to their work.

This book is part of the “Jewish-Arab Peace Building” research series of The Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research, Tel Aviv University. A vital resource for students and scholars of Middle East/Israel, theatre/performance and peace/conflict studies, this book will serve as an invaluable tool for artists, activists and policy makers.

…from the magisterial introduction straight through to the finish, we see Perlman the cultural observer, theater scholar and peace-building reporter bring a trenchant, dynamic engagement with these lively, unruly productions…. with incisive interpretations of indelible moments within each work.” (Palestine-Israel Journal)
-Ari Roth, founding artistic director, Mosaic Theater Company of DC and founder of the long-running Voices From a Changing Middle East Festival

“This is a must read for theater artists from all backgrounds and all those who believe that theater fulfills a unique social mission, an inspiration for positive and transformative action through theater in our societies.”
-Dijana Milosevic, theater director, co-founder and artistic director, Dah Theater, Belgrade, Serbia

“But Abu Ibrahim, We’re Family!” can open the eyes of local readers to new thinking and bestow upon the foreign reader a comprehensive view of the Israeli-Palestinian situation through theater.”
-Dr. Aida Nasrallah, Senior Lecturer, Beit Berl College

“Lee Perlman has an excellent grasp of the details as well as the broader picture when showing us what the stakes are when Israelis and Palestinians appear on the same stage.”
-Professor (Emeritus) Freddie Rokem, Tel Aviv University

Purchase the Book:
(For multiple purchases, there will be a 10% discount.)
For further enquiries, please contact recastinc@gmail.com.


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About the Author

Lee Perlman, PhD., is the Tel Aviv-based associate of Brandeis University’s International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life. He served as a research fellow at the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research, Tel Aviv University, which in 2017 published “But Abu Ibrahim, We’re Family!” Lee is a leading thinker and social entrepreneur in harnessing the power of creativity and the arts for conflict transformation. He researches arts, politics and cultural policy and seeks to understand and influence how artists create social change and open dialogue in conflict zones and divided societies.

Lee has been active with the Ethics Center’s Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts for over a decade. He is part of the leadership team and an executive committee member of  IMPACT: Imagining Together: Platform for Arts, Culture and Conflict Transformation (ACCT), a worldwide collaboration to design and activate strategies to strengthen the arts, culture and conflict transformation ecosystem. He has been an active participant in the Acting Together on the World Stage community of inquiry as a co-contributor to the Acting Together: Performance and the Creative Transformation of Conflict (New Village Press, 2011), and in Acting Together conferences and events around the world. 

Perlman has co-authored a number of research works and analyses of peacemaking and peacebuilding activities, informed by his practitioner experience as founder and director of the Israeli-Palestinian Encounters Unit of the Melitz Centers in Jerusalem, and has published articles and opinion pieces in the Ha’aretz newspaper, Moment Magazine, The Times of Israel, The Jerusalem Report and Sh’ma: A Journal of Jewish Ideas.

Perlman serves as president, board of directors of RECAST, Inc. Lee is a member of the steering committee of IRAC: The Israel Religious Action Center of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism. He served as chair, board of directors, of the Daniel Centers for Progressive Judaism, Tel Aviv-Jaffa and chair, artistic committee of ISRA-DRAMA, the International Spotlight on Israeli Drama Festival. In 2013, Ha’aretz named Perlman as one of “The 100 Most Influential People in Israeli Culture.” He has previously served as executive director of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation and as director of grants and programs of the Abraham Initiatives, an organization promoting shared society and equality