Habima Theater

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Habima Theater (Hebrew: "the stage") in Tel Aviv is Israel's national theater and is one of the first Hebrew theaters.

The company was founded in 1918 by Nahum Zemach in Moscow under the auspices of the Moscow Art Theatre, with patronage from Stanislavski who arranged for the mainly Polish actors to be trained by Yevgeny Vakhtangov. In 1926 the theatre left the Soviet Union and toured several years before coming to Tel Aviv in 1931. The image of actress Hana Rovina starring as Leah'le in the historical Habima production of S. Ansky's The Dybbuk (performed by Habima in the Hebrew-language translation by Hayyim Nahman Bialik) is a cultural icon that to many represents Jewish and Israeli theater.

Since 1958 Habima has been considered the national theater of Israel. Habima employs 80 actors and another 120 work at the complex. The current general director of the theater is Yaakov Agmon.

Other meanings:

• The name Habima was also used by Solomon Stramer's Yiddish theater troupe in Cluj, Transylvania, Romania in the 1920s.