Almonds Blossom in Deir Yassin

Dunya’s world premiere of a new play

By Hanna Eady

ALMONDS BLOSSOM IN DEIR YASSIN is a full-length play about four people with inextricable ties to the historical Palestinian village of Deir Yassin—the site of a massacre of Palestinian men, women, and children on April 9, 1948, by Zionist paramilitary troops.

By 2018, when the play takes place, the site of Deir Yassin has been transformed into Kfar Shaul Mental Health Center, an Israeli mental health institution. The last surviving Israeli paramilitary commander of the massacre has been invited to Deir Yassin for a ceremony honoring his heroic contribution to the founding of the State of Israel. The former commander, now elderly, finds himself struggling with the demands of the State and his own moral conscience as he converses with a young Israeli psychiatrist—and also engages with a Palestinian woman who may or may not be a survivor of Deir Yassin. Through a multiplicity of voices and vividly surreal scenes, the play delves into Palestinian collective memory to deliver a profoundly relevant narrative about atrocity, displacement, human relationships, and hope.

Playwright Hanna Eady says, “Through remembrance, storytelling, and resilience, the play also demonstrates the essence of Palestinian sumud, or steadfastness. This is not a passive quality, but an active one that perseveres through attempts to silence historical truths.” 

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Almonds Blossom in Deir Yassin is made possible with support by

and Venturous Theater Fund of the Tides Foundation