Nalaga’at Center: Theater in the Dark

Nalaga’at (“Please Touch”) is a cultural center in Jaffa Port where the performers are deaf, blind, or deaf-blind. It is one of the most extraordinary theater experiences in the world, and it is housed in a converted warehouse overlooking the ancient harbor. The name itself is an invitation: in a world that often keeps disability at a distance, Nalaga’at asks you to come closer, to touch, to be present in a way that most cultural experiences never demand.

Adina Tal and the Founding Story

The Nalaga’at Theater Company began in 2002 when theater director Adina Tal agreed to lead a two-month drama workshop for twelve deaf-blind individuals. Tal, born in Switzerland and a longtime Israeli theater artist, expected a short project. What she found was that these twelve participants, who could neither see the stage nor hear the words, had an extraordinary capacity for expression and emotional communication. The two-month workshop became a life’s work.

Tal spent years developing a method of communication and rehearsal adapted to deaf-blind participants. Every instruction passes through touch: a tap on the shoulder means “begin,” a squeeze of the hand means “slow down.” Stage positions are memorized through counting steps. Cues are delivered by vibrations in the floor or by an assistant’s hand on an actor’s back. The method is entirely original, developed through trial and relationship, and it has no equivalent anywhere else in the world. In 2002, the company was formally established as the world’s first professional deaf-blind theater ensemble.

Not by Bread Alone

Nalaga’at’s flagship production, “Not by Bread Alone,” features eleven deaf-blind actors who knead bread dough on stage throughout the performance while telling their personal stories through sign language, projected text, and spoken translation. Each actor has a small table with flour and dough, and as they tell their story, their hands shape the bread. The stories are personal: childhood memories, the experience of losing sight or hearing, love, humor, longing. Some stories are heartbreaking, others are unexpectedly funny. At the end of the performance, the audience shares the fresh bread with the performers. The exchange, across the barrier of darkness and silence, is the point.

The production has toured internationally to theaters in London, New York, Berlin, and Tokyo. It has been called one of the most moving theater experiences audiences have ever witnessed. But it is most powerful in its home: the converted warehouse at Jaffa Port, where the sound of the sea comes through the walls and the ancient harbor is visible through the windows during intermission.

BlackOut Restaurant

BlackOut is the center’s restaurant, where guests eat a full meal in complete darkness, served by blind or visually impaired waiters. The menu is not revealed in advance: diners choose only between meat, fish, or vegetarian, and then enter a dining room with no light whatsoever. Without sight, every other sense sharpens. Taste becomes more vivid, texture more pronounced, and conversation more intimate. Diners report tasting flavors they would never have noticed in a lit room. The experience lasts approximately 90 minutes, and the waiters, navigating confidently in their element, become guides through an unfamiliar world. When diners emerge back into the light, the menu is finally revealed, and the surprise of what they actually ate adds a final note of humor to the evening.

Cafe Kapish

Upstairs, Cafe Kapish is staffed by deaf waiters, and customers order using basic sign language. Menus include illustrations of the signs for each dish, and part of the experience is learning to communicate without spoken words. The cafe is bright, casual, and welcoming, with views of the port. It operates during regular daytime hours as well as before and after performances. For many visitors, the simple act of ordering a coffee in sign language and receiving a warm smile in return shifts something: communication, it turns out, does not require hearing.

The Jaffa Port Setting

The center occupies a renovated Ottoman-era warehouse at Jaffa Port, one of the oldest harbors in the world. The port area has been developed as a cultural and entertainment district, with galleries, restaurants, and performance spaces in the old stone buildings. Nalaga’at sits at the water’s edge, and the combination of the ancient port setting with the radical accessibility of the art inside creates a contrast that works: old stone, new ideas, the sounds of the Mediterranean, and an invitation to perceive the world differently.

Visit with Hoshen Tours

Nalaga’at is unlike anything else in Israel. Hoshen Tours arranges evening visits that combine the theater performance with dinner at BlackOut or coffee at Cafe Kapish, for an experience that challenges every assumption about how we perceive the world. Performances should be booked in advance, especially for groups. The center is a short walk from the Old City of Jaffa and the Jaffa Flea Market. Hoshen Tours often combines this site with Migdal Tzedek, Simon the Tanner, and Eretz Israel Museum for a memorable day exploring the region.