Habima Theater, the national theater of Israel, reopened after a five-year, $28 million renovation.
The building was dedicated in November, opening with a performance of “Morris Schimmel” by Hanoch Levin.
“Habima will once again be a cultural focus, as was the original intent, but this time within a 21st-century context,” Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai said at an inaugural event for the renovated theater.
The theater is now suffering under a load of debts, including a deficit of nearly $11 million, of which $6 million is owed to the state and the rest to banks and suppliers.
The new theater is a far cry from its humble beginnings in Moscow in 1905 as one of the first Hebrew-language theaters. The theater brought its company to pre-state Israel in 1928, and eventually was established in a building in Tel Aviv in 1945.
Its new main lobby encloses within the columns from the original entrance to the building. The original granite cornerstone laid in 1935 was discovered during excavations for the renovation, the Jerusalem Post reported. — jta