Until a few months ago, the renovated office at the end of a long, neglected corridor in the Habima Theater in Tel Aviv belonged to Yaakov Agmon. Today, it is occupied by Habima's two new directors, Odelia Friedman and Benny Tzarfati. Until recently, Friedman was the theater's chief financial officer and Tzarfati was its administrative manager.
Three weeks after Agmon's resignation as director general in late January, the two took over his office, perhaps to create facts on the ground or to signal to Agmon that he is persona non grata. His desk, cabinet and piano were packed up and moved into storage.
The office was renovated at lightening speed and divided into two separate spaces, one for each chief. These spaces each open to a shared area in which Tzarfati and Friedman hold their work meetings as well as this interview, which they insist on holding jointly. And no, Agmon has not seen what was done with the office that was his for 10 years.
Aren't the speedy renovations and entry into the boss's office a bit hasty? After all, this is just a temporary appointment.
Friedman: "The entry is natural for us. We worked with Agmon on the theater's executive."
Tzarfati: "It was important for the employees that their managers occupy the director general's office. We have had quite a few meetings with Agmon in this office, and we are no strangers to it. It was a smooth transition, for us and the theater, without difficulties or shock waves."
Why didn't Agmon view you as his natural successors?
Tzarfati: "It is no secret that Agmon did not want to be replaced, and did not see fit to appoint successors."
Tzarfati, 45, has worked at Habima for 20 years. He was born in Fez, Morocco and immigrated to Israel after the Six-Day War, when he was 7. In 1982-83, he studied stage management at the Beit Zvi Theater School in a track in which there was only one student - Benny Tzarfati. In his first job in Habima, he stage managed the play "Taibele and her Demon," and from there moved up to become the theater's production manager. In 1993, when Shmuel Omer was director general, he was appointed administrative director of Habima. He is married to Dana Tzarfati, a set and costume designer, and they have two children, aged 5 and 9.
Odelia Friedman, 38, was born in Holon and studied to become a teacher at Seminar Hakibbutzim Teachers College. However, she did not complete her studies and decided to take courses in bookkeeping. Later, she also took management courses, including work at the College of Management in Tel Aviv. She started as a bookkeeper at Habima in 1988, when she was 22. Within three years she was appointed chief bookkeeper, and when she was 28 she became the theater's chief financial officer. She is married to an army career officer, and they have two children, aged 14 and 6.
Both Tzarfati and Friedman continually emphasize how they climbed the ladder from the very bottom rung.
"Sometimes I wonder if it is normal for a person to get up every morning for 20 years and go to the same job," says Tzarfati. And Friedman responds, "You forget that this place did not look this way for 20 years. Every year, it looked different. We have been through hard times with some Habima directors - Shmuel Omer, Gary Bilu and David Alexander, and Agmon of course."
Is it enough to be familiar with the system to run a national theater?
"One needs the same characteristics needed to lead any large organization," says Tzarfati, "but one also has to be part of the theater, that it be familiar. I studied theater and play management, and I am doing what I studied. Gary Bilu was my teacher, because he himself graduated in this field."
But didn't Bilu fail when he managed Habima?
Tzarfati: "That was because he served here as the artistic director, not director general, and that is an entirely different thing."
And what is Friedman's background in theater?
"I never studied theater," she admits, "but my mother, who was the principal of an elementary school in Holon, used to take me to plays. I went to many plays as a child. I have always been drawn to the theater."
Friedman and Tzarfati say they work in harmony. "We have worked together for 10 years," says Friedman. "We come to meetings and discussions together, work through situations together and arrive at the right conclusions. We inform one another about matters related to finances, marketing and advertising," she says.
You are presenting a very rosy picture.
Friedman: "Sometimes one of us has one opinion and the other things sees differently, but it has never happened that we were unable to reach a joint conclusion.
Tzarfati: "Like in a good marriage."
Friedman: "We believe that this is a new model for public administration, a new generation in management, a generation that grew up in the theater. Our approach is different from the old administrative approaches."
What is new in your administrative approach?
"This is the joint administration of two people, not one alone."
Friedman and Tzarfati caused quite a surprise when they submitted their joint candidacy last July to manage Habima. And then everything went awry. The committee selecting a new manager was dispersed, and suits were filed in the courts. The theater petitioned to have trustee-at-large attorney Shlomo Shahar removed, and he in turn counter-sued to be allowed to remain. Ultimately, Shahar was allowed to remain, at the instructions of the president of the Supreme Court, until June, when the theater is to change its legal structure from a trusteeship to a public benefit company. Tzarfati and Friedman somehow emerged lily white from the infighting and managed to have the conflicting factions rally around them.
When they were appointed on February 1 by the trustee for the transition period (until the theater's change in legal structure goes into effect), the appointment was accepted smoothly. Things seem to have calmed down to a certain extent.
Tzarfati: "It is impossible to run anything if you think you are temporary. Our working assumption is that we will be here for a long time. If it has to be decided whether a play will go abroad in a year and a half, would you expect us to say that we can't decide on that? The renovation of the entire theater is supposed to start in a few months. Are we supposed to refrain from involvement in that?"
Friedman: "The good of the theater requires us to look at the present and future of Habima. We were the trustee's preferred choice; after all, he could have brought in someone from the outside. But he knows what we can do and views both of us as able to improve things in Habima."
The pair appears to get along well with the trustee-at-large, who has been accused by actors and others, including Agmon, of interfering in artistic and political content and of lacking any understanding of theater or theater management.
"We get along with him just fine," declares Tzarfati. "I have not seen any political or artistic interference from him. Even those who thought so changed their mind after meeting and getting to know him."
"The suit against him," adds Friedman, "was submitted by seven people, including Agmon, a theater employee and a few actors, who call themselves an action committee. But that committee did not represent Habima." "They represent themselves and perhaps a few other people," says Tzarfati.
Friedman: "There were disagreements between Agmon and the trustee that created a bad atmosphere inside and outside the theater, as well as with the government. The entire system was in an uproar, and the atmosphere was not right. But on February 1, when Agmon resigned, the whole matter died down."
Praise for the minister
Presumably actors and artists that call themselves the action committee, led by director Hanan Snir, will not like hearing that the new Habima directors have placed themselves at the top of the theater's hierarchy. This group hoped to generate a revolution when the leadership changed hands by placing the artistic director at the top of the pyramid.
According to Tzarfati and Friedman, the relations with the current artistic director, Ilan Ronen, are good. "We have good collaboration between us and we are involved in the artistic direction and the choice of repertoire," says Friedman. "Ilan is responsible for the artistic management and we are involved in running the theater, which also includes the artistic aspect."
Tzarfati concurs and adds, "We are involved in the casting and maquette meetings and also attend the rehearsals."
The complaints voiced regarding political interference on the part of the government in the work of the theater are also rejected by Tzarfati and Friedman.
"On the contrary," says Friedman, "we get a great deal of help from the governmental echelon, starting with Minister Limor Livnat, the minister's assistant, Tzach Granit and the director general of the ministry of education, Ronit Tirosh. They help us with everything requiring a solution, such as the change in the theater's legal structure and the return of loans."
Habima has a deficit of some NIS 24 million after the government forgave NIS 10 million of debt. Friedman, as financial director, tries to minimize the size of the deficit, and that is perhaps the only moment in the interview when Tzarfati does not take part in the conversation. "The deficit of NIS 24 million is mainly caused by a debt to the government that we have to return by 2015. In 2002, the repayment of the loan was suspended, but the suspension ended this year and we have to reach an agreement on rescheduling the debt beyond 2015. Let's not forget that the past three years ended in either a balanced budget or an operational surplus."
Friedman notes that 2005 will see 1,500 performances, 250 more than last year, and that venues have been added such as the Arison Hall in the School of the Arts in Tel Aviv.
What should characterize a national theater as opposed to other theaters?
Friedman: "Uniqueness, nationalism and Israeliness. And that should be reflected in a wide variety of plays that draw the public alongside classics and plays with a social message. In addition, there should be festivals and other special events. We need to return Habima to its place of honor in the international community."
And musicals - are they part of your artistic vision?
Friedman: "Part of being a national theater involves the production of musicals. Musicals have been very successful in Habima. This year, we produced `King Solomon and Shalmai the Cobbler,' which is a musical of texts - that, for example, is a characteristic of a national theater."
You did that in cooperation with a private producer. Is that also a characteristic of a national theater?
Friedman: "He has the rights to the play. It is a play that draws audiences and is a high-quality production."
Tzarfati: "The possibility of doing productions like that with a large cast that will run for a long time is part of our approach, like the three musical currently showing, `Mary Lou,' `Bustan Sepharadi' and `King Solomon.'"
How will they convince the committee to keep them when the theater's legal status changes?
Tzarfati: "We did not jump into Habima to make ourselves a career. We are here by right. We have, in fact, been running the theater for 10 years."
Friedman: "We have proved that we are able to take on the management of the theater, and in the last two and a half months, we have done so with resolve. The theater has an operational profit and we plan to do this job better than anyone expects us to."
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