About
Trailer (With English Subtitles)
Prisoner of Zion premiered at the 2023 Akko International Fringe Theatre Festival. It was created over 10 months, in parallel to large-scale protests across Israel in response to the extreme right-wing government's push for a wide-ranging judicial overhaul.
The performance dealt with Lee Perlman’s personal crisis with Zionism. The audience was invited, as a make-shift support group, to take part in an intervention – between Lee and the Zionist idea.
On October 7th, 4 days after the festival, the “Black Sabbath” blew up our reality in Israel Palestine, as we knew it. Since January 2024, at the Tmu-na Fringe Theatre Center in Tel Aviv, where Prisoner of Zion performs in repertory, the piece continues to challenge audiences to deal with the colossal changes that Israeli society has gone through during and after the war in Gaza and the wars with Iran.
Prisoner of Zion appears throughout Israel in diverse settings, including the dining room of Kibbutz Harel, the pub at Kibbutz Ketura, Teatron Hatzer (The Yard Theatre), an amphitheatre in Nataf outside Jerusalem and in various theatre and performance research conferences.
In June 2025, Prisoner of Zion was invited to Belgrade, Serbia to perform in English, as part of the DAH Theatre’s Arts and Human Rights Festival. In August 2025, Prisoner of Zion also appeared for a group of U.S. Reform rabbis at the “Crisis and Creativity” seminar led by the Daniel Centers for Progressive Judaism and Hebrew Union College.
Prisoner of Zion's upcoming 2026 U.S. tour will feature shows in New York City, Philadelphia, Raleigh and Chapel Hill, NC.
Media and Reviews
Bossem’s directing of the performance and his sarcastic presence place everything in a different light, and Perlman’s sensitivity, who with heartbreak, observes his life story disintegrating before his very eyes.
I recommend this…for those who like finding themselves in the heart of an active discussion and are not afraid of controversial comments about Israel and being an Israeli.
All our fears about how we would be received, whether we could communicate the story, whether the audience
(assumed to be “hostile”) would engage… and all the what-ifs — they all dissolved.
It was a wonderful, moving, learning experience.
We were able to touch people, spark discussions, provoke smiles and thought… and even a few tears....
...What shocked me most: the Belgrade audience had no idea that there are protests in Israel against the government and against the war.
They had never heard of the hostages.
What they see from there is certainly not what we see from here — and vice versa. That’s why this encounter was so important and meaningful for both sides.
DAH Theatre’s 2025 Arts and Human Rights Festival Highlights (0:58 – 1:10)
Team
Written and Performed by: Lee Perlman & Nadav Bossem
Director: Nadav Bossem
Dramaturgy: Ori Lenkinski
Stage Design: Naomi Marberg
Assistant Director: Noa Prashker
Video Art: Merav Ferziger
Lighting Design: Matan Preminger / Nizar Hamra
Photo Credits: Shlomi Farin, David Kaplan, Avi Golran, Simcha Barbiro, Nata Korenovskaja and Ella Barak
_edited.jpg)
Lee Perlman
Nadav Bossem
Ori Lenkinski
Naomi Marberg
Noa Prashker
Merav Ferziger
_edited.jpg)
Matan Preminger
Nizar Hamra
Contact and Bookings
Prisoner of Zion is an audience-specific performance in Hebrew or English, that can be performed for 40-100 people in a small theatre, flexible event or communal space, large private home or other venue.
The scenery includes an exhibit and video projections brought over from Tel Aviv.