“The other day I had a dream in which I saw people hung from clothes lines. ‘Why are they doing that to the poor people?’ I asked. ‘Because they are Palestinian,’ a voice replied. ‘They are in a state of suspension, able to touch neither heaven nor earth.’”
Neither Heaven Nor Earth
In the fall of 2008, Poliglot artistic directors Gabriella Pinto and John Hansen-Brevetti set out for the West Bank city of Nablus. There they volunteered as teachers of English and drama in local refugee camps with Project HOPE, a Canadian-Palestinian NGO. Over the following three months they also conducted interviews throughout the surrounding region with locals, activists, politicians, and soldiers.
Upon returning to New York, Poliglot molded an original script from these interviews, experiences, and further extensive research on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. What emerged was an urgent and unique look at the state of the region and the people in it today, viewed at the ground level. The play is set against the backdrop of the infamous Separation Barrier, or Apartheid Wall, which today serves as an apt symbol of the stalled peace process and the virtual imprisonment of a people. Set to premiere Off Broadway in June 2010, Neither Heaven Nor Earth gives voice to those on both sides of the Wall too often drowned out by a cacophony of media misrepresentation and power-play politicking, and echoes their call for humanity, freedom, and a just peace.
