World Champion – A play featuring songs by Hanan Ben Ari

The youth band is struggling to take off. They desperately need someone to write songs for them, and they really aren’t getting along. When a new boy, Tom, joins the band, everything changes. Tom turns out to be a talented songwriter, and the band begins to get back on track—but Tom is hiding a big secret involving his twin sister, Shira, a sensitive girl with hearing loss. The secret threatens to destroy everything Tom has built and forces him to look in the mirror.

The play explores finding one’s inner, authentic voice and all of our ability to create, accept, and live together in harmony. Hanan Ben Ari’s songs offer us a compassionate view of ourselves as individuals and as a society, and teach us that if we learn to confront our fears, anyone can become a “World Champion.”

An exciting and empowering musical featuring the beloved songs: “If You Want,” “Strawberries,” “Wikipedia,” “World Champion,” “Mom, If I Were,” “Sun,” and others.

The production won the 2023 Youth Production of the Year Award at the Stage Awards for Children’s and Youth Theater. Sלי Eden Bar won the 2023 Actress of the Year Award at the same ceremony.

Ages: 9–18

Playwrights: Shlomit Arnon Bar-Lev and Liat Fishman Lenny
Director: Amit Epstein
Musical Director: Eyal Mizrahi
Set and Costume Design: Alona Rodinbach
Choreography: Miriam Rubinovich
Video Art: Yaara Niral
Lighting Design: Ziv Voloshin
Sign Language Consultant: Mili Naveh
Language and Speech: Ziv Zohar Meir
Props: Narkis Elbaz
Assistant Director: Gil Sarri
Still Photography: Kfir Bolotin
Video Trailer Filming and Editing: Eitan Mor

Cast: Eyal Shechter / Gil Wasserman; Noam Tal / Omer Shimshoni; Daniel Avital / Guy Stravolsky; Lior Cohen / Rona Toldano / Anael Sadeh; Sלי Eden Bar / Michal Toporek; Stav Vaknin / Avital Galil