What does it mean to stand with humanity in 2025? For Te Nel Deserto, an unpaid Italian theater troupe, it begins with a play and an invitation to feel what facts can’t.
“Art is not only what is beautiful, what is bad or right. It is a way to open your mind and soul to something that you don’t know and don’t expect to know.”
A member of Te Nel Deserto shared this sentiment with me rather unceremoniously over a Zoom call in late July. She’s part of a troupe of unpaid actors who travel southern Europe performing The Gaza Monologues, a series of testimonials written by young Palestinians living in Gaza. For this article, the troupe asked to speak collectively as one.
“Art helps people feel what they may wish to forget.”
“Art lets us feel what facts can’t,” she said. And their purpose of performing the Gaza Monologues is to help people arrive at the full truth of what is happening in Gaza.
The troupe knows they won’t reach everyone—but everyone is not their goal.
“If just one person gets it by the end of the show, that is enough.”
Each monologue is a raw, personal account of grief, fear, survival, and the stubborn hope for peace. The project was first created in 2008–2009 by ASHTAR Theatre Production, a Palestinian nonprofit that hosts theater workshops for children living under occupation. The Gaza Monologues have been performed in more than 62 countries.
For the Italian troupe, their connection to Gaza comes through the nonprofit organization ASHTAR Theater Production.
“ASHTAR gave our small troupe the needed contact with the reality happening in Gaza.”
Clarity of purpose came later, after they actually met an ASHTAR employee over Zoom. In a call with Konrad Suder Chatterjee, they learned not just of Gaza’s truth, but of theirs.
Before this meeting, the group admitted to feeling insecure and lonely about their work. “We wondered whether our little project for Palestine was really doing something.”
Konrad listened, and responded later with a letter. He encouraged them on, telling them that this work does matter. That they see it, feel it, and believe in it.
“He gave us faith in our work so we felt strong enough to move on.”
ASHTAR gave them the truth of the moment, while Konrad gave them the truth of their role in rising to it.
The actors troupe calls themselves Te Nel Deserto, which translates to “you in the desert.” To the troupe, the desert is not just a place, but a symbol of a dry, disconnected world. Here, exhausted from horrors, we turn away from ourselves, and from each other.
This is the desert they speak of, and their performances are a tender offering to that space. As they travel from city to city, stage to stage, they hold tight to their mission: to reconnect people with their humanity through truth, through feeling, and through art.
“Our show is not to condemn. It is to connect people back to the truth of what is happening.”
As their tour continues, they hope to connect with as many “Tes”, or “yous”, as possible—one to one, human to human.”We know not to expect empathy. But well…this one time after a show, a child came up and hugged me.
She looked at me and said, ‘Now I understand what is happening.’ That’s when you know something’s changed”fshe
For Te Nel Deserto and ASHTAR Theater Production, this show offers something that headlines cannot. In a play, they create an outlet for healing in a world so tenderly needing it.
Their performances of The Gaza Monologues offer a call to presence through story: a way to feel what facts can’t, and to connect, one to one, with the truth of what is happening in Gaza. They also support ASHTAR monetarily—donating all proceeds to their performances to support projects delivering psychosocial, drama-based sessions in some of the most vulnerable schools in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
For today, we’ll leave you with just part of Konrad’s letter to the troupe:
The monologues you hear today are fragments of truth—truths spoken in many languages, sometimes quietly, sometimes defiantly. They remind us that even in the desert, voices rise. And if you ever find yourself doubting the power of your action, don’t. Doubt is promoted by those who are threatened by your power.”
Featured Photo: TE NEL DESERTO performs the Gaza Monolgues by TE NEL DESERTO
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