On March 15, the Habima National Theater will shut down for renovations. The major overhaul, which is to continue for two years, is estimated to cost NIS 76 million. While it is closed, the company will stage its plays at alternative venues in Tel Aviv, including the Beit Hahayal soldiers hostel, the Arison Arts Campus and the Tzavta Auditorium.

Beit Hahayal's auditorium, which has 900 seats, will take the place of Habima's 1000-seat Robina Auditorium, providing the stage for popular plays like "Halahaka" (The Troupe), "Nudnik" (Buddy Buddy), and "A Perfect Wedding." Plays usually performed in the Meskin Auditorium, and intended for intermediate-sized audiences, such as "Antigone," "Crumbs" and "Abandoned Property," will appear in the Arison Campus auditorium, with 400 seats. Tzavta auditoriums 1 and 3 will replace Habimartef, the Heineken Auditorium, and some shows from the Meskin Auditoriums.

Productions like "Autumn Sonata" and "Abandoned Property" will appear at Tzavta. Additional plays will be mounted at the Noga Theater stage in Jaffa and at the Eretz Israel Museum in Ramat Aviv. Theater offices, including the marketing and customer service departments, will move to the Beit Tnuat Hamoshavim building on Leonardo da Vinci Street, in Tel Aviv. The props department, sewing workshop and rehearsal rooms will be housed at another site, on Begin Boulevard, and the theater's warehouses will move to Ben Avigdor Street.

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"We believe that Habima must remain on the map," explains the theater's artistic director, Ilan Ronen. "Reduced activity will place us in a different position than the one we have occupied in the past, and it will have implications for the troupe of actors and artists, especially those who are new and young, because they are the first to be harmed."

Theatrical directors Odelia Friedman and Beni Tzarfati both note their concern that reduced operations may damage the theater's income. Habima needed to find solutions that would preserve the budget while taking the unusual cost of moving into account.

One such solution to be adopted by Habima is collaboration with other repertory theaters while renovations are under way. Following their successful collaboration in "Antigone," Habima and the Cameri Theater will mount a joint production of "Hebron," by Tamir Greenberg. In November, it will join forces with the Be'er Sheva Theater to stage "Anna Karenina," and there will also be a joint production with the Arab-Hebrew Theater of Jaffa of "A Thousand and One Nights."

Habima will also participate in Tzavta's monthly Shabbat interview program, "Shabbat Tarbut B'Tzavta," and in the "Playwrights Stage" series of two or three plays by new playwrights.

These collaborations carry a price, namely the partial obliteration of the identity of each theater. Ronen says he is aware of the price, but explains that uniqueness and identity will be provided by the entire repertoire rather than through collaborative efforts. He adds that, during coming months, Habima will focus on classic Jewish and Israeli productions, like Francis Veber's "Nudnik" and "The Golem," which will enhance the national theater's 90th-anniversary celebrations.