Habima Theater

The Habima Theatre (Hebrew: תיאטרון הבימה‎ Teat'ron HaBima, lit. "The Stage Theatre") is the national theatre of Israel and one of the first Hebrew language theatres. It is located in Habima Square in the center of Tel Aviv.

Habima was founded by Nahum Zemach in Białystok (then in Grodno Governorate, Russia) in 1912. Menahem Gnessin was one of its cofounders and early actors. Because its performances were in Hebrew and it dealt with issues of the Jewish people, it met with persecution by the Czarist government. Beginning in 1918, it operated under the auspices of the Moscow Art Theatre, which some consider its true beginning. It encountered difficulties under the Soviet government as well after the Russian Revolution.Stanislavski arranged for the mainly Jewish Polish actors to be trained by Yevgeny Vakhtangov. The People's Commissar for Nationalities Affairs, Joseph Stalin, also authorized the theatre's creation.

In 1926, the theatre left the Soviet Union to tour abroad, including in the United States. Zemach and some actors stayed in New York City, where their productions had met with success. Their productions included plays from the Jewish folk tradition, and they were performed in Hebrew. The company split up, with some members choosing to stay in New York.

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