Habima Theatre

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.[4] Their productions met with great success.[4] In 1927, the company split up, with Zemach and some of the actors choosing to stay in the U.S.[4]

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.[5]

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.[6] In the 1928-29 season there, the Habima Players presented two plays, both under the direction of Aleksei Dikiy, from the Moscow Art Theatre.[1] The first production, Ha-otsar (The Treasure), a translation of Sholem Aleichem's Yiddish play Der Oytser, premiered on December 29, 1928.[1] 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[7] of The Hair of Absalom (Los cabellos de Absalón), by the 17th-century Spanish dramatist Calderón.[8]

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.[1]

The company finally settled in Palestine in 1931.[1] In 1945, it built a theatre in Tel Aviv, which it occupied before completion.[6]

Habima has been officially considered the national theatre of Israel since 1958, the year in which it received the Israel Prize for theatre.[9] 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.