APEIROGON:
RAMI AND BASSAM
Adapted by Avner Ben-Amos from the novel, Apeirogon, by Colum McCann,
with Dramaturgy and Direction by Sinai Peter
January 8 – 11, 2026
Part of this year’s
Voices From a Changing Middle East Festival:
How We Got Here | Where We Go Next
JUMP to:
SYNOPSIS | CREATIVE TEAM
SYNOPSIS
A theatrically distilled adaptation of the acclaimed National Book Award winning novel "Apeirogon" by Colum McCann that tells the fractured story of two fathers, one Israeli and one Palestinian, brought together by the loss of their daughters. Despite being raised to hate one another, they find common ground in their grief and form an unlikely friendship. The novel, inspired by the real-life stories of Rami Elhanan, an Israeli, whose daughter, Smadar, was killed by suicide bombers, and Bassam Aramin, a Palestinian, whose daughter, Abir, was killed by a rubber bullet shot by the IDF. Despite their backgrounds and the hatred ingrained in their societies, the two fathers accidentally connect and, through their shared grief and trauma, recognize the humanity in each other's stories and history to begin a difficult journey of healing and reconciliation. A workshop reading presented in English following its world premiere staging in Hebrew and Arabic at the Jaffa Theatre this fall.
MEET THE CREATIVE TEAM
Avner Ben-Amos (Adapter) Avner Ben-Amos – A playwright and a historian, recipient of the Israeli Playwright of the Year Award (2017), with director Micha Lewensohn, for the adaptation of David Grossman’s novel A Horse Walks into a Bar (staged at the Cameri Theatre, 2017 - 2025). Ben-Amos specializes in docudramas and the adaptations of novels for the stage. Among his plays: Dionysus at the Center, with Ruth Kanner, based on Tamar Berger’s eponymous book (Ruth Kanner’s Theater Group, 2004-2005); He Walked through the Fields, with Mor Frank, based on Moshe Shamir’s eponymous novel (Ruth Kanner’s Theater Group, 2013-2014); Year Zero: 1929, based on Hillel Cohen’s book, Year Zero of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1929, at Jaffa Theater (2021-2022). Ben-Amos is also a professor of history of education at Tel-Aviv University. He studies collective memory and political rituals in modern France and Israel.
Sinai Peter (Director/Dramaturg) is a director, dramaturg, and actor known for The Grave (2019), A Body That Works (2023) and Crossfire (1989).
Dramaturgy
Colum McCann (Author) is an Irish writer of literary fiction. He is known as an international writer who believes in the "democracy of storytelling" and is the author of the National Book Award Winning Novel, Apeirogon. McCann was born February 28, 1965 in Dublin, Ireland, and currently resides in New York. He has won numerous awards, including the U.S. National Book Award and the International Dublin Literary Award, and his work has been published in over 40 languages as well as being published in many American and international publications. He also is the co-founder and president of Narrative 4, an international empathy education nonprofit. McCann is the author of seven novels, including Apeirogon (2020), TransAtlantic (2013) and the National Book Award-winning Let the Great World Spin (2009). He has also written three collections of short stories, including Thirteen Ways of Looking, released in October 2015. American Mother was released in March 2024 and tells the story of Diane Foley, whose son, James Foley, was captured and killed by ISIS while serving as a freelance combat reporter in Syria. His latest novel, Twist, was released in March 2025.
This extraordinary novel is the fruit of a seed planted when the novelist Colum McCann met the real Bassam and Rami on a trip with the non-profit organization Narrative 4. McCann was moved by their willingness to share their stories with the world, by their hope that if they could see themselves in one another, perhaps others could too.