Palestinians Are Your Eyes
Palestinian Are Your Eyes is a theatrical reading composed of six unpublished texts written by Gazan authors from the Italian-Palestinian theatre company Anqa, established in 2023 under the impulse of Progetto REC.Palestina.
Why October 15th?
October 15 is not just a date on the calendar, but an open wound in the history of our company. On that day in 2023, while rehearsals were supposed to begin in Milan for an Italian tour that never took place, news arrived of the death of Abraham Saidam, a young performer killed by Israeli bombings.
To honor his memory and transform grief into cultural resistance, on October 15, 2026, Palestinian Are Your Eyes will be staged—a distributed theatrical reading that will simultaneously involve theaters, associations, bookstores, and schools throughout Italy, Europe, Jordan and Gaza. A chorus of voices to break the silence and tear down the fences of indifference.
How to Join: October 15, 2026
Participating in the distributed staging project on October 15, 2026, is simple. The initiative aims to unite diverse voices into a single, great collective narrative that will cross Italy and the world.
Application Process
To confirm your participation, send an email to progettorec.palestina@gmail.com specifying:
- Identity of the Organization — Name, website, social channels.
- Territory — Province and municipality where you intend to organize the event.
- Logistical Details — The venue (theater, club, park, etc.).
- Cast and Crew — Names of performers, technicians, and directors involved.
All technical details can be sent later — the important thing is to get in touch first.
Should multiple applications arrive for the same area, priority will be given to the first request received. The spirit of this project is collaborative — we will foster synergies among different entities in the same territory.
Who This Project Is For
The project is aimed at a wide network of entities: theatrical institutions, associations, schools, bookstores, collectives, clubs, and more. It has been designed to ensure maximum production sustainability, requiring minimal technical setups — the staging can be achieved even through a simple reading of the texts.
About the Project
Operational Guidelines
Each participating organization operates with full organizational and artistic autonomy — free to choose the event location (theaters, bookstores, unconventional spaces), cast (professionals or non-professionals), and stage design (music, video, lighting).
Provided Resources — Digital Kit
Progetto REC will provide participating entities with the complete script — six unpublished stories distributed under a Creative Commons license — and optional original audio recordings by the Gazan authors, usable as a soundscape.
The Documentary Film
All events will receive visibility through our official channels. Organizations that document their evening on video can send us the footage: recordings will merge into a collective documentary project dedicated to this choral narrative.
Solidarity Initiatives
Participating entities, where possible, can donate a portion of proceeds to Progetto REC.Palestina — partly to support the Anqa company and future projects, partly for the humanitarian interventions of Emergenza Gaza. This contribution is entirely optional.
About Us
Anqa: The Story of the Company
Between late 2022 and early 2023, a group of Italian operators from Progetto REC.Palestina traveled to the Gaza Strip to found the Anqa Theater Company alongside local youth. Together, they created the production All That's Left to Me (paraphrasing Ghassan Kanafani's All That's Left to You).
The play premiered at Ayyam Al Masrah (Theatre Day Productions) in Gaza City on January 7, 2023. Inspired by the Odyssey, it served as a metaphor for an infinite journey — the painful narrative of Palestine, a land where refugees cannot return and from which the youth cannot leave.
A Dream Shattered: The Canceled Tour
After a triumphant debut in Gaza City, covered by international outlets including Al Jazeera, the project was set for a month-long tour in Italy. Stages in Milan, Genoa, Siena, Rome, and Bologna were ready to welcome these young actors.
Everything was ready. Visas obtained, contracts signed, flights booked — they were scheduled to arrive on October 10, 2023. But after October 7, everything changed. In a matter of hours, the dream became a nightmare.
On October 15, 2023 — the day rehearsals were to begin in Milan — we received the devastating news: Abraham Saidam, who played Odysseus, had been killed. Abraham was posthumously awarded the "President of the Jury" prize at the 4th Ivo Chiesa International Awards by Gad Lerner.
Palestinians are Your Eyes — The New Project
The reading gathers six texts written by Gazan authors of the Anqa company: heterogeneous narratives blending raw realism and allegory, offering a pluralistic testimony of life in the Gaza Strip. For those living through the horror, writing becomes poiesis — a space of freedom where pain is transfigured into living words.
The project, whose title pays homage to the poet Mahmoud Darwish (Lover from Palestine), aspires to become a collective memory and a bridge between distant worlds.