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Naphtaly Shem Tov, Associate Professor

Contact Info

The Open University Department of Literature, Language and Arts One University Road P.O.B. 808 Ra’anana 4353701, Israel
Office: 972-9-778-1968 Fax:972-9-778-0660 Email: naphtalysh@openu.ac.il

Additional Information

Areas of Interest
  • Israeli Theatre
  • Theatre festival
  • Applied Theare
  • Mizrahi Studies

A. Undergraduate and Graduate Studies

2002-2008 Tel Aviv University, Department of Theatre, PhD (direct Ph.D. track) 2008

2000-2001 Tel Aviv University, The School of Education, Theatre Teaching Certificate

997-2000 Tel Aviv University, Department of Theatre, B.A

B. Post-Doctoral Studies

2009-2010 University of Haifa, Faculty of Education

2022-present The Open University of Israel, Department of Literature, Language and the Arts, Associate Professor 

2014-2022 The Open University of Israel, Department of Literature, Language and the Arts, Senior Lecturer

2007-2014 The Open University of Israel, Department of Literature, Language and the Arts, Coordinator

The Open University

2020-present Head, Department of Literature, Language and the Arts

2018-present Chairman of the Subcommittee for the Literature, Linguistics and Arts

2012-present  Member of the Subcommittee for the Humanities

2014-present  Member of the Accreditation of Previous Studies Committee

2015 Member of Committee for Accommodations in National Emergency Situations

2016 Member of the Committee for Setting Student Workload

Tel Aviv University

2012-present Coordinator of the Unit for Theatre Teaching Certificate, School of Education

Supervised post-doc

2020-2021 Elazar Ben-Lulu, Post-Doc fellowship The Open University of Israel, Department of Literature, Language and Arts

2018-2019 Chen Misgav, Post-Doc fellowship The Open University of Israel, Department of Literature, Language and Arts

Membership

2018-present Co-Convener of the Theatrical Event Working Group of IFTR

2010-present   IFTR (International Federation Theatre Research)

2008-present  Member of the academic committee of The Israeli Society for Theatre
  Research

Review

2014   Referee for ISF (Israeli Science Foundation)

2016 Referee for International Network for Research in Arts Education (INRAE) 2016 Yearbook

2017  Referee of PhD Diss.: Monash University, Australia

2018  Referee of PhD Diss.: Bar Ilan University, Israel

Public Activity

2010-2011 Member of MATAN: The Committee for the Support of Israeli Alternative Ministry of Culture and Sport

2000-2016  Member of Theatre Repertoire Committee of Sal Tarbut Artzi, The
Israeli Association of Community Centers, Ministry of Education

1998-2009  Volunteer in ISEF educational and social activities for pupils and students in the periphery of the country

7 June 2021 37th ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR ISRAEL STUDIES Pluralistic Israel: Women, Minorities and Diversity, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "(presenter)"Ars Poetica: Performing Mizrahi diverse poetry

2-3 June 2021 Mizrahi Struggle, The Open University of Israel, (Organizer and presenter) "Mizrahi Theatre and Performance "

21 April 2021 Post-capitalism, Van-Leer Institute Jerusalem (presenter) "Production of Utopian-Transformative moment in Theatrical Performance"

23 February 2021 Imagine Theatre: Research, teaching Creation in Pandemic age, Haifa University (Zoom) "Musrara: The Black Panthers on the Stage".

8 September 2020 Haifa Performance Workshop, Haifa University (Zoom) "Docu-Poetic Performance in Yoldot"

27 February- 1 March 2020 Thought from the South: Toward Epistemology from the Periphery, " From Theatre in Dimona to Dimona Theatre: How to Make Culture in the South "

25 February 2020 Audience, Community, Performance, Western Galilee College " Ur Ensemble between Propaganda to Subversion: Jewish Iraqi Theatre performing to Palestinian Audience"

29 December 2019 Boundaries, Time and Space of Hebrew Literature, The Open University of Israel , " Performing History of the Excluded Mizrahi Narrative "

28 November 2019 The 9th International Conference on the Educational Legacy of Janusz Korczak, Tel-Aviv University, "Improvised pedagogy is not a "dirty" word: Improvisation in Education"

20 November 2019 Diverse Academy?. Sapir College, " The Moroccan Theatre as the Periphery's Alternative of the to Center's Theatre"

8-12 July 2019 IFTR Theatre, Performance and Urbanism, Shanghai Theatre Academy, "Repertoire Quality and Reception in Haifa International Children’s Theatre Festival"

24-26 June 2019 Images and Realities: AIS conference, Kinnert College, two presentations: "Conceptualizing the Mizrahi Theatre in Israel";
"Acco Festival: Between Celebration and Confrontation"

2-4 June 2019 Mizrahi Studies in Cinema, Tel-Aviv University, "Arie Elias: Between Borekas Cinema and Social Theatre"

20 February 2019 Methodologies of Theatre and Performance Studies, The Open University of Israel, "Methodology of Mizrahi Autobiographical Performance". Organizer the Conference

16-18 December 2018 Association for Jewish Studies 50th Annual Conference, Boston, "Mizrahi Theatre: Five theatrical Modes"

9-13 July 2018 IFTR Theatre and Migration, University of Belgrade, "Mizrahi Autobiographical Performance", Co-convener of the Theatrical Event Working Group

3-4 June 2018 50th Anniversary for Integration Plan, Open University of Israel, "Unwelcome Guests or Familiars: Integration's Pupils"      
30 May 2018 Ethnicity in the Mirror, Bar-Ilan University, "The Israeli-Moroccan Theatre" 

19 February 2018 Present Attitudes in Performance Research, Hebrew University, "From Mizrahi Stereotype to empowering practice" 

2-3 July 2017 Theatre and Education, Tel-Aviv University, "Improvisational Teaching" Keynote speaker

29-31 March 2017 IFTR Theatrical Event Working Group, Amsterdam University, "Contextualize as Politicize"

6-7 February 2017 Motar 2017 Center and Periphery in the Arts, Tel-Aviv University, "Mizrahi Theatre"

13-17 June 2016 IFTR 2016 Presenting the Theatrical Past, Stockholm University, "The Political Context of the Theatrical Event: Politicized Theatre"

22-24 July 2015Arts in Society, Imperial College, London, "Theatrical Improvisation as a Pedagogical Creative Process"

2-4 March, 2015 Rethinking Political Theatre in Western Culture: International Research Workshop of the Israeli Foundation, Tel Aviv University, "The Politicized Theatre"

28 July - 1 August 2014 IFTR 2014 Theatre and Stratification, University of Warwick, "Scandals on the Israeli Stage: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict"

8-13 July 2013 IDEA (International Drama Education Association) conference, Université Paris 7 – Diderot, "Theatrical Improvisation as a Transformative Teaching-Learning Process"

20-21 February 2013 Dialogues: theatrical performance, research, philosophy, Haifa University, "Black Skin, White Pioneer: Dialogue about the casting in a School Performance"

6-7 February 2012 Re-consideration of the modernist theatre: between utopia to apocalypse, The Hebrew University, "Theatrical reception as construction of subjectivity: the King as a test-case"

14-16 September 2011 Space and Place: Exploring Critical Issues - 1st Global Conference, Mansfield College Oxford, "Arabs' and Jews' Theatrical Co-Performance as Third Space"

26-31 July 2010 IFTR 2010,  World Congress Cultures of Modernity, Ludwig-Maximilians, University of Munich "Theatrical Event and Education: Theatrical Improvisation and Teaching"

14 April 2010 Playback Theatre and the Improvisation Art in Teaching, The MOFET Institute, "To Teach and Learn with Improvisation"

28-29 December 2009 Cultures in Israel: Connections and Conflicts, The Open University of Israel, "From East to East: The Israeli Theatre Occupies India"

7-8 September 2009, Ideology: Between Analytical Tool to Political Signifier, Van Leer Institute, "When Zohar Argov met Louis Althusser: Ideology, Cultural Subject and theTheatrical Event"

4-5 June 2009 Identities in Israeli Culture, The Open University, "The Akko Festival and the Host Community"

19-21 May 2008 24th Annual AIS Conference: Israel 60 years after 1948: Are the Narratives Converging? New York University, "Here? Now? Love? A Co-Narrative between Mizrahis and Palestinians: A Community Theatre of Jews and Arabs in Ramla"

16-18 March 2008 The International Conference of Children and Youth Theatre: Theory and Practice, Haifa University Politics and Ideology in Israeli Children’s Theatre

17-19 September 2007 Between the political and the professional: How is political action possible? Van Leer Institute, "The Exclusion and Inclusion Mechanisms of the Akko Festival Art Management"

3-4 October 2004 Basic Questions about Other Theatre: 25 years of the Akko Festival, Akko, "What is being celebrated and how in the Akko Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre"

30 June 2004 The Third Conference for Arts Education, Tel Aviv University "Improvisation’s Rules as Guiding Principles towards a Multicultural Society in Israel"

22 May 2003 Mainstream and Fringe, Oranim College, "Reception and Criticism: The Akko Festival 1980-1982"

1999-2000 Community-based theatre director, Neve Eliezer Community Center, Tel-Aviv

2000-2003 Community-based theatre director, Kiryat Ono

2001-2003 Teaching theatre history, Arts High School, Ashkelon

2006       Teaching theatre history, Blich High School, Ramat Gan

Dissertation's title: Akko Festival as a Site of Struggle in the Theatrical and Social Fields 1980-2004. Supervisor: Prof. Shimon Levy, Tel-Aviv University, 2008, 390p. (Hebrew)

A. Scientific Books (Refereed) - Published

1) *Shem-Tov, N. (2021). Israeli Theatre: Mizrahi Jews and Self- Representation. New York: Routledge

2) Shem-Tov, N. (2016). Acco Festival: Between Celebration and Confrontation. Boston: Academic Studies Press.

3) Shem-Tov, N. (2015). Improvisational Teaching. Tel-Aviv: The MOFET Institute, Research Institute for Teacher Educators Press [Hebrew].

Study Guides

1) Theatre in Society, The Open University of Israel, 2008

2) (with Dan Urian)  Israeli Theatre, The Open University of Israel, 2007

A. Articles – Published

Smadar, M. & Shem-Tov, N. (2021). "Theatrical competence, communication and ‘Cargo’ among young audiences: how do they figure it out?", Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 26(2): 247-267.

Shem-Tov N., Mizrahi-Shapira, O. and Keisari S. (2020) "The Development of Social Roles in Playback Theater Group According to Mackenzie & Livesley", Mikbatz: The Israel Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 25(1-2): 121-139 [Hebrew].

Smadar, M. & Shem-Tov, N. (2020). "Theatrical competence, communication and ‘Cargo’ among young audiences: how do they figure it out?", Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance. DOI: 10.1080/13569783.2020.1847063. Authors order is according to their contribution  

Shem-Tov, N. (2020). "The Jewish-Iraqi theatre – Ur Ensemble: Majnūn Laylā as interweaving performance cultures", Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, 19(3): 382-404.    

Shem-Tov, N. (2019). "Mizrahi Shylock in Ashkenazi Venice: Aryeh Elias and the Politics of Casting", Teatron: Contemporary Theatre Quarterly, 47:10-26 [Hebrew].

Shem-Tov, N. (2019). "Performing Iraqi-Jewish History on the Israeli Stage", Theatre Research International, 44(3): 248-261.

Shem-Tov, N. (2019). "“In Sorrow Thou Shalt Bring Forth Children”: Docu-Poetic Theatre in Israel", TDR/The Drama Review 63(3): 20-35.‏

Shem-Tov, N. (2019). "Celebrating of Jewish-Moroccan Theatre in Israel: Production, Repertoire, and Reception", Contemporary Theatre Review 29 (1): 56-70.

Gamliel, T. & Shem-Tov. N. (2018). "The Art Intelligentsia: On Possession and Power in the Israeli Theatre", Israeli Sociology: the Journal for the Study of Society in Israel 19(2): 121-144 [Hebrew].

Shem-Tov, N. (2018). "Displaying the Mizrahi Identity in an Autobiographical Performance: Body, Food and Documents", New Theatre Quarterly 34(2): 160-175

Shem-Tov, N. (2018). "The Principal Character’: The Triad Approach and Improvisation in Teaching", Research in Drama Education:) Shem-Tov, N. (2018). "The Principal Character’: The Triad Approach and Improvisation in Teaching", Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, , 23(1): 91-106, 2018

Shem-Tov, N. (2017). "Audience Gestures and Horizon of Expectations in the Israeli Theatre," Israel Affairs, 23(1): 167-181

Shem-Tov, N. (2015). "Improvisation is the Heart of Creativity," Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance 20(3): 306-309

Shem-Tov, N. (2013). "Black Skin, White Pioneer: Non-Traditional Casting in an Israeli School Pageant," ) Shem-Tov, N. (2013). "Black Skin, White Pioneer: Non-Traditional Casting in an Israeli School Pageant," Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance 18(4): 346-358

Shem-Tov, N. (2012). "The Room Theatre as an Other Theatre in Israel:  Innovative or Traditional?" Theatre, Dance and Performance Training 3(1): 55-67 

Dahan, Y., Benjamin, S., Gigi, M., Lir, S., Shemoelof, M. &Shem-Tov, N. (2012). "From the Campus to the Port: Coverage of Strikes and Strikers in Israeli Media", ) Dahan, Y., Benjamin, S., Gigi, M., Lir, S., Shemoelof, M. &Shem-Tov, N. (2012). "From the Campus to the Port: Coverage of Strikes and Strikers in Israeli Media", Israeli Sociology 14(1): 29-56 [Hebrew]

Shem-Tov, N. (2011). "Improvisational Teaching as Mode of Knowing," Journal of Aesthetic Education 45(3): 103-113

Shem-Tov, N. (2010). "Community Theatre of Mizrahi-Jews and Arabs in Ramle: A Junction of Nationality, Ethnicity and Gender," Theatre Topics 20(1): 43-54

Shem-Tov, N. (2009). "Celebration and Confrontation: Akko Festival of Israeli Alternative Theatre," ) Shem-Tov, N. (2009). "Celebration and Confrontation: Akko Festival of Israeli Alternative Theatre," Studies in Theatre and Performance 29(1): 93-106

Shem-Tov, N. (2009). "The 'Exception" Holds a Stage? The Akko Festival and the Political," Theory and Criticism, 34: 123-147 [Hebrew]

B. Articles – Accepted for Publication

Shem-Tov N., "Mizrahi Theatre as an Interruption in Westernized Israeli Theatre", Performance Research

A. Chapters – Published

1) Shem-tov, N. (2020). "Israeli-Palestinian Conflict on the Israeli Stage Arousing Scandal: the Case of Return to Haifa", In: V. A. Cremona, P. Eversmann, B. Rowen, A. Saro and H. Schoenmakers (eds.), Theatre Scandals: Social Dynamics of Turbulent Theatrical Events, Leiden/Boston: Brill/Rodopi, pp. 201-215.

2) Yona, Y. & Shem-Tov, N. (2020). "Subversion in the Theatrical Field: Between Multiculturalism to Radical Equality", In: Yossi Yona (ed.), Fusion of Horizons: Manifestations of the Political in Israeli Visual Arts, Haifa: Pardes Press, pp. 189-219 [Hebrew]. Authors order is according to their contribution

3) Shem-tov, N. (2019). "Bimat Kedem Performing the Mizrahi History", In: Ktzia Alon & Bat-Shkhar Gormezano Gorfinkel (eds.), Games of Maks: Readings into Yizhak Gormezano Goren's Work in Fiction and Theatre, Tel-Aviv: Gama, pp. 192-207 [Hebrew].

4) Shem-Tov, N. (2016). "Akko Festival and Multiculturalism: Resistance and Policy". In: Ben-Porat, G., Yona, Y. & Bashir, B. (eds.), Public Policy and Multiculturalism, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, pp. 155-192 [Hebrew].

5) Yona. Y. & Shem-Tov, N. (2016) "The National Theatre in Multicultural Society," In: Ben-Porat, G., Yona, Y. & Bashir, B. (eds.), Public Policy and Multiculturalism, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, pp. 193-224 [Hebrew]. Authors order is according to their contribution

6) Shem-Tov, N.  (2015). "Improvisational Teaching: From Theory to Practice". In:  Schonmann, S. (ed.)  The Wisdom of the Many - Key Issues in Arts Education: International Yearbook for Research in Arts Education, Münster: WAXMAN publications, pp. 368-371

7) Shem-Tov, N.  (2013). "The Akko Festival as the Third Space". In: Munk, Y., Steir-Livny, L, Meiri,S. & Mendelson-Maoz, A. (eds.), ) Shem-Tov, N.  (2013). "The Akko Festival as the Third Space". In: Munk, Y., Steir-Livny, L, Meiri,S. & Mendelson-Maoz, A. (eds.),  Identity in Transition in Israeli Culture, a book in Honor of Prof. Nurit Gertz. The Open University Press, pp. 173-190 [Hebrew]

8) Shem-Tov, N.  (2016). "Akko Festival and Multiculturalism: Resistance and Policy". In: Ben-Porat, G., Yona, Y. & Bashir, B. (eds.), Public Policy and Multiculturalism, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, pp. 155-192 [Hebrew]

) Yona. Y. & Shem-Tov, N. (2016) "The National Theatre in Multicultural Society," In: Ben-Porat, G., Yona, Y. & Bashir, B. (eds.), ) Yona. Y. & Shem-Tov, N. (2016) "The National Theatre in Multicultural Society," In: Ben-Porat, G., Yona, Y. & Bashir, B. (eds.), Public Policy and Multiculturalism, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, pp. 193-224 [Hebrew]

B. Chapters – Accepted

1) Shem-Tov N., "Israel: Televised/Postdramatic/Vernacular Theatre," In: Ralf Remshardt & Aneta Mancewicz (eds.), Routledge Companion to Contemporary European Theatre and Performance, New York: Routledge.

2) Shem-Tov, N. "Staging the History of Iraqi-Jewry in the Theatre of Children and Youth", In: Shifra Schonmann, Smadar Mor & Naphtaly Shem-Tov (eds.), Theatre for Young Audience: Anthology of Research and Discourse, Tel-Aviv: MOFET institute [Hebrew].

3) Shem-Tov N. "Performing the Farhud on the Hebrew Stage". In: Ofer Shiff & David Guedj (eds.), Plays on the Shoa: Perspectives on the Israeli Society, Ben-Gurion University Press. [Hebrew]

Schonmann, S. Mor, S. & Shem-Tov, N. (eds.) Theatre for Young Audience: Anthology of Research and Discourse. Tel-Aviv: MOFET institute [Hebrew].

Yossi Dahan, Y. Benjamin, S., Gigi, M., Lir, S., Shemoelof, M. & Shem-Tov, N. (2010). "Grabbing the State by the Throat: Media Coverage of Strikes and Strikers in Israel," Research Report for Identity and Class Research Group, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, 2010 [Hebrew] 
(Authors are listed by alphabetic order)