On the occasion of its 70th anniversary: Tzavta Theater launches a massive archive website

What did the newspapers write the first time "Mami" was staged at Tzavta? How did a horse led by Arik Sinai end up at the London Ministore? Did the great Ofra Haza perform in a musical on the Tzavta stage? Why were security guards stationed before a Shlomo Artzi performance at Tzavta? For whom were Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir waiting in the CEO's office?

To mark 70 years of Tzavta Theater, thousands of photographs, press clippings, and video recordings that were preserved until today in the "Yad Yaari" archive, YouTube channels, and various archive sites were collected and sorted. They will now be available to the general public on the Tzavta Archive website, which officially launches this week at: https://70.tzavta.co.il/

The project was led by Dr. Omer Einav, director of Yad Yaari, along with Dor Saar Man, who edited and conducted the research, and Adi Aharon on the website. The site allows users to search for content by decades, names, or via free search, to wander through the history of Tzavta and Israeli culture, and perhaps even find themselves documented in the audience of a forgotten performance from the 70s or 80s.

Tzavta's 70th anniversary celebrations will reach their peak in September with the "Freedom to Create" festival. Between September 1–30, dozens of events in music, theater, literature, cinema, fashion, and public discourse will take place on the Tzavta stage. These include the Tziporela Ensemble in a special performance, a singing "Moabet" featuring Dikla and other guests, Jimbo J hosting Nunu, a special event with Lucy Aharish, Tsahi Halevi, and guests, Ester Rada hosting Teddy Neguse, and a satire event featuring Rivka Michaeli, Ephraim Sidon, Muli Segev, and more.

The festival, held with the support of the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality and the support of the Kibbutz Movement's New Havatzelet Fund, the New Israel Fund, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, and the UJA-Federation of New York, seeks to celebrate the power of culture as a place for creation, meeting, and a plurality of voices, out of the belief that freedom of expression and creation are the foundations upon which a democratic, liberal, and hopeful society is built.

To the archive website:
https://70.tzavta.co.il/

For all "Freedom to Create" festival events: https://www.tzavta.co.il/category/27

(Photo: Poster for a musical featuring Ofra Haza. Photo: Courtesy of Yad Yaari)