Artistic Director - The Train theater and Puppet Festival

The Train Theater is a place where artists can dream on stage for its audience. The Jerusalem Puppet Festival, the Train Theater’s prime event, features artists from Israel and abroad who bring innovative, unexpected and stirring performances to the stage as they explore a new visual language.

This year is a special one for the Train Theater and the festival: Dalia Yaffe Maayan, the CEO and Artistic Director as of almost three decades, has resigned from her position, leaving an impressive legacy of prosperous theatrical activity. More than a decade ago, when I was still a student at the School of Visual Theater, Dalia invited me to perform my first project for the festival’s audience. This was a life-changing experience and I have done a great deal of work with her since then: as an artist at the theater, as a dramaturg and now as the Artistic Director of the Theater and the Festival. I would like to thank Dalia for our partnership and I hope that her continued work will be interesting and meaningful for her and for those around her.

I would like to thank the Train Theater and Festival staff, the Board of Director headed by Attorney Kobi Amster, the institutions and individuals who have supported our work throughout the year, the guest artists from around Israel and abroad and, last but certainly not least - I would like to thank you, the festival’s audience, for coming to see our dreams materialize on stage.

To an enjoyable and refreshing festival!

Shahar Marom

Artistic Director
The Train Theater & Jerusalem Puppet Festival