About

Ebisu Sign Language Theatre Presents THIRD PERSON
A piece in English, Hebrew, and Sign Language about the deaf, the hearing, and the in-betweens
A collaborative creation by the actors:
Shoval Ben-Ze’ev, Yaroslav Bernatsky, Lee Dan, Ella Okhotin, Nurit Shalom
+ Director Atay Citron + Dramaturge Lee Dan

Stage designer: Shay Id Alony
Costume designer: Helen Budniatsky
Lighting designer: Yair Vardi
Video: Yonathan Zur
Stage manager: Gal Belsitzman

Third Person, Ebisu Theatre’s third production, deals with the complex relations of deaf people with their sign language interpreters and with hearing people. Third Person opened in April 2023 in Jaffa and won enthusiastic public reception and outstanding reviews. It was selected for the prestigious program “International exposure” that shared a video documentation of the piece with hundreds of theatre artists and artistic directors around the world.

“The clear and precise humanity of the Ebisu ensemble conquers the heart, and we can’t help but fall in love with these people, identify deeply with the drama of their lives and be very moved […] From the point of view of the hearing spectators, there is the real excitement of visiting an almost foreign land, and the possibility of experiencing it through the eyes of the local residents. This is joined by physical theater techniques, which make it possible to create a carefully crafted theatrical space, where every movement, every gesture and every word spoken in sign language or in voice receives weight and meaning.”—Noah Sadeh, Theatre Critic, Habama online

“Watching your show was inspiring. [It is] very beautiful, incisive, and contemporary […] physical, verbal and non-verbal, narrative and image based, simple, and yet densely poetic. The performers are simply wonderful.”—David Bridel, Artistic Director, The Clown School, Los Angeles

“I was mesmerized with the nonstop gesturing. It was beautiful, emotional, and revealing. Revealing what deaf people go through day after day, so unnoticed by us that hear.”—Patricia O’Donovan, master puppeteer, Jerusalem

Ebisu Sign Language Theatre Laboratory began operating in 2014 as part of the “Grammar of the Body” research project at the University of Haifa. It performed its first two productions throughout Israel, in New York and in Reims, France. Since 2018 Ebisu Theatre has operated as an independent theatre company with four deaf and one hearing actors.