Theater Artist, Amir Nazar Zuabi, Changes the World, One Puppet at a Time
Meet nine-year-old Amal who brings hope wherever she goes.
I’ve been curious about how the art of puppetry and the puppets themselves can change the world. Over the years I’ve seen a few visionary puppeteers do amazing things.
But none as huge in vision, scope, and heart as Amir Nazar Zuabi’s Walk with Little Amal. Little Amal is a 3.5 meter — that’s over nine feet tall — nine-year-old girl puppet designed and made by the renowned artists of South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company.
Amal is not just big for a puppet, she went on a huge journey. Thanks to Good Chance Theather Company’s team of twelve puppeteer animators, from June to November 2021, she walked from Gaziantep on the Syrian-Turkey border, to Manchester, England, calling attention to the plight of Syrians and others forced to flee the ravages of war. That’s walking on stilts for the one inside the puppet.
In his TED talk, Zuabi shared his own background.
The son of a Jewish mother and a Palestinean father, he grew up in a tough part of East Jerusalem, between the Biet Hanina neighborhood and the Shu-fat refugee camp. The refugee experience runs deep in his DNA.
At 14 Zuabi stumbled upon a theater show in his ‘hood and fell in love. With an art form that can stand in the harshest of places while presenting a wilder and freer vision of life’s possibilities. An art form that questions and uplifts in innovatively beautiful ways.
He explains:
Becoming a theater practitioner in Palestine is like conjuring water in the desert. We don’t have the infrastructure, we don’t have the big artistic institutions, what we do have is a need. And something to say about the world we live in.
We need to take our theater out of the theaters and into the streets. Zuabi took his productions into Palestinean communities and refugee camps to fully engage with people there. And when, in 2015, the Syrian crisis erupted, with refugees dying in droves on rickety rafts taking them to Europe and hoped-for safety, he was stirred to action.
That’s when he joined Good Chance whose focus is creating theater of the refugee experience. Togher they created The Walk. The Walk, a traveling arts festival covering 8,000 miles and creating 120 events of welcome was led by Amal, the ‘unaccompanied’ nine-year-old Syrian girl puppet.
In Arabic, Amal means hope.
They worked with 250 organizational partners including the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, Institute du Monde Arabe, and the National Theater of Great Britain.
1000s of people accompanied Amal along her way. In addition to the planned events, her moving presence created spontaneous encounters and parades all along the way.
In preparation for this incredible journey, Zuabi reached out to mayors, faith and civic leaders as well as refugee artists, posing this question: Amal is a nine-year-old refugee girl who will pass through your city. She’s alone and afraid and vulnerable. How would you like to welcome her? What will you learn from her and what will you teach her?
This unleashed an outpouring of generosity and creativity everywhere she went. Leaders, artists, and their communities welcomed Amal with open arms. Many small hands grasped hers and walked beside her for as long as they could.
Amal’s journey spotlighted the rich heritage and cultural contributions of refugees via celebrations of shared humanity and hope. Paving the way for deeper understanding and compassion for the refugee’s plight, her presence created a network of people of goodwill and a wide corridor of friendship for the human refugees, adults as well as children, who showed up.
And will continue to do so until we heal the ravages forcing them to flee in the first place.
Not bad for a contraption made of plastic and metal.
Marilyn Flower writes humor to laugh the changes she wants to see and make. She’s the author of Creative Blogging: Ninja Writers Guide to Character Development and Bucket Listers, Get Your Brave On. Clowning and improvisation strengthen her resolve during these crazy times. Stay in touch!
I love puppets! I'm saving books and hoping one day to take the time to learn to make and use them to share stories. They are truly special and I thank you for sharing this amazing story.
Wow this is way rad! Thanks for sharing!