In February 2004, seniors in the Theater Arts Program at the Shavei Rachel High School for Girls performed a joint production for the final grades of their 5-unit matriculation exams. The girls were responsible for the production from beginning to end, including its direction, lighting, costumes, music, props and makeup, as well as the choice of one comedy - Moliere's 'Malade Imaginaire' - and an Israeli drama, "Abandoned Property," by Shulamit Lapid.

Moliere's well-known last play is a farcical comedy dealing with the hypochondriac Argan, who is so obsessed with his health and money that he ends up neglecting his family. Argan wants his daughter to marry a medical doctor, so that his medicines will be less expensive. A conspiracy between the hypochondriac's brother, the maid and the lovers provides high comedy while duping the old man into allowing his daughter to marry for love.

"Abandoned Property" is the story of a destitute mother and her two daughters, living in a Northern Israeli backwater. The blind and crippled mother still clings to the hope that her husband, who abandoned her years ago, will return; as an escape from her dreary reality she continues to dwell on scraps of memories, slowly smothering her beloved daughters. Elinor, the elder, is submissive and obedient. Aliza is a rebel. But both daughters feel their lives slipping away slowly. When the characters discover that plans of an inter-urban highway will cause the demolition of their home, the drama focuses on the dilemma of whether or not to sign the eviction agreement. 

To the daughters, the eviction order is a source of hope, the door to a life in a new, white-painted apartment. But to the mother, the order is a death sentence. Ultimately, the mother accepts the eviction order under her daughters' pressure, yielding her 'abandoned property' to prevent yet another abandonment by her daughters, if she does not give up the past which has kept them all chained for so long.

"On the outside, the plays don't seem to have much in common," relates school drama instructor Nurit Goodman. "But as rehearsals progressed the connecting thread of parent-child relationships became very clear to us all. Power relationships within families and the struggle between the generations were interesting concepts to delve into with high school seniors," she says. In fact, Goodman relates that the production process was as cathartic and exhilarating as the performance, if not more so. "Ultimately, in both plays family love shines through in spite of the pain. We saw that despite crises - times when there is no communication between a father and his daughter, or shouting matches between a mother and her children - there are many values for children to learn from their elders... and visa versa. These are very important messages both for the high-schoolers as well as for their parents in the audience."

Both productions met with acclaim from the standing-room only crowd, made up of family members, local dignitaries, district educational supervisors and Ministry of Education scorers.