Review: Powerful I SHALL NOT HATE at Mosaic

Artistic director Ari Roth's dream of a vibrant and important theater group addressing the most vexing problems of the world, is coming to full flower this year at the Mosaic Theater Company, where he has revived the Voices from a Changing Middle East Festival that he developed at Jewish Community Center's Theater J until his abrupt dismissal just over a year ago.

The vital four-month festival has begun again under the Mosaic banner with a pair of striking one-man performances. As Aaron Davidman's "Wrestling Jerusalem" plays on one stage at the Atlas Performing Arts Center (with Davidman playing 17 different roles), down the hall, the Palestinian-Israeli actor Gassan Abbas does remarkable work portraying Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish in an adaptation of the doctor's memoir of the same name "I Shall Not Hate."

Abuelaish is the doctor who lost three daughters to Israeli tank fire in the Gaza Strip in 2009. His response to the devastating tragedy - strengthening his resolve to find peace between Israelis and Palestinians - led to his book, subtitled "A Doctor's Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity,"dozens of international peace awards and a nomination for the Nobel.

The adaptation of the book into a play, co-written by Abuelaish with director Shay Pitovsky, who also directed the original production in Tel Aviv, spends its time on the doctor's formation and his place in the confused world of the Gaza, where he was born and raised in the Jabalia refugee camp in a "bird trap" of a space, studied medicine in Cairo on a scholarship, eventually completing a residency in OB/Gyn in Israel.

As the first Palestinian doctor to receive a staff position at an Israeli hospital he delivered both Israeli and Palestinian babies.

As played with gravity and great humanity by Abbas, the doctor retained no animosity against occupiers, even when he pointed to his family's former land to a son and described it as "Ariel Sharon's farm."

The black box set is effectively dressed by Niv Manor with the stark and evocative debris of an explosion on the ground, alongside scattered children' shoes. A doll house is wheeled out later to represent both their apartment and the little girls who might have seen their home this way.

A red suitcase sits by itself, representing all the emotional baggage the doctor has packed away and will eventually carry with him.

For all the declarations of the title, "I Shall Not Hate," there is little time spent explaining how he came to that resolution. Rather, it shows how aspects of his life may have led him to what must have been a difficult determination through the remarkable acting of Abbas, who brings weight, gentle humor and pain in his role.

"I Shall Not Hate" may seem at first the epitome of difficult theater - it's presented in Arabic and Hebrew. There are English subtitles, though - large and legible and moving along with the action on a large black screen at the back of the stage and on large video screens flanking it in a technical marvel from translation consultant Tami Rubin and projections associate Mimi D'Autremont working with lighting and sound team of Ziv Voloshin, Hilt Rosenthal and Max Doolittle.

Abbas is so good in his role, he's able to communicate quite often subtly, through the tone of his voice and his expression, without all the translation. Still, one has to return to the screens repeatedly to follow exactly what's happening, the one drawback of the production.

At one point Abbas goes into the audience to reproduce his tentative first dinner with Israelis (and the nearby audience have to suddenly become the hosts).

Though the drama takes up just about an hour and 15 minutes without intermission, Roth finishes each performance with a well-sourced and lively discussion panel about the issues raised. Opening night, bumped two nights because of the snowstorm, featured the author himself, Abuelaish, flying in from his Toronto home, to give his insights and blessing. Poets, performers, peace activists round out the impressive roster of those pitching in to continue the discussion Roth is determined to keep on the table, with our gratitude.

Running time: 75 minutes, no intermission.

I SHALL NOT HATE continues through Feb. 14 at Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St NE. 202-399-7993, ext. 2 or MosaicTheater.org

Photo credit: Hassan Abbas in Mosaic Theater's "I Shall Not Hate." Photo by Stan Barouh.

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