PROJECT PROPOSAL

 

ILAN COMMUNITY THEATER PROJECT IN REHOVOT

 

ILAN – Background:

 

ILAN, the Israel Foundation for Handicapped Children, cares for some 15,000 physically disadvantaged adults and children suffering from diseases that affect the muscles and nerves such as cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and other neuromuscular diseases.

ILAN has 46 branches all over Israel that are in constant contact with the disabled and that represent a channel of information for tracing and assisting this population and its special needs.  When it was founded in 1952, ILAN located child victims of the polio epidemic and organized mass vaccinations for children in Israel. In time, the State has accepted responsibility for providing this service and has freed ILAN to concentrate its efforts and resources on providing assistance and relief for the severely disabled individual and his family, promoting facilities for the physically disadvantaged and their special needs, and developing services for the disabled within the context of the community.  These services include a network of kindergartens, special schools and vocational training centers, sheltered workshops, rehabilitation and occupation units, residential homes for physically disadvantaged adults, as well as social centers and sports facilities.

Contributions constitute the main source of finance for the ILAN projects.  

 

ILAN initiated the Community Theater in the city of Rehovot for physically disadvantaged people who are full partners in the project.  Ten actors with different degrees of physical disabilities are members of the group.  The Theater Project:

 

   Provides the members with an opportunity to develop their talents and creative abilities.

 

   Enhances the self-confidence and psychological well-being of the actors when they appear in public. 

 

    Gathers the members of the group for rehearsals twice a week, and through the performances, they gain understanding of the life, fears and joys of the disabled actors.

 

    Presents the disabled with an opportunity to develop creative abilities and talents that would otherwise remain unfulfilled.

 

    Creates a new understanding and appreciation of the creativity, emotions and needs of the disabled among members of the audience.

.

The Rehovot Community Theatre has held a number of performances in the Greater Tel-Aviv area that have enjoyed considerable success.  The Group has performed all over Israel and taken part in a number of Festivals, appeared in schools and in theater clubs.

 

ILAN employs two professional producers – directors who coach members of the theater in acting, speech and body language.  This gives them a means of self-expression and allows them to function as a professional group. The theater has represented a breakthrough in the public’s understanding and awareness of the lives of physically disadvantaged members of society.    

 

The Community Theater feels the need to increase the number of performances that provide a platform for an explanation of the needs of people with physical limitations to the public at large.  The most successful performances have been those based on the lives, hardships and successes of the actors themselves.

 

BUDGET

                                                                                                           

The annual cost of operating the Theater Group in Rehovot          US $ 15,000

*This sum covers:

q             A producer and director;

q             Lighting and Sound and Stage Equipment;

q             Transportation; 

q             A social worker who accompanies
the project and counsels the actors.

* ILAN's contribution to the project along with other donations amounts to some $5,000 per annum, leaving a shortfall of $10,000 each year that has to be found to ensure the future of the Community Theater in Rehovot.