The Cameri Theatre was founded with the purpose of promoting local theatre, in contrast to
Habima Theatre, which had roots in Russian theatre. The Cameri presented works about the daily life of persons in the fledgling state of Israel. The Cameri is the theatre where the Israeli nationalist play
He Walked Through the Fields premiered just two weeks after the state of Israel was formally established in May 1948.
He Walked Through the Fields, written by
Moshe Shamir, was later adapted to film starring
Moshe Dayan's youngest son
Assi Dayan. The Cameri, Tel Aviv's municipal theatre, stages up to ten new productions a year, in addition to its repertoire from previous years. The theatre has 34,000 subscribers and attracts 900,000 spectators annually. In 2003, the Cameri moved into the
Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center complex, adjacent to the
New Israeli Opera, the
Municipal Library and the
Tel Aviv Museum of Art. The new theatre has five auditoriums: Cameri 1, the largest auditorium, has 930 seats; Cameri 2 has 430 seats, the Black Box seats 250, and the Rehearsal Hall seats 160. The Cameri's social action programs include the Peace Foundation, which brings together young Israelis and Palestinians to watch theatre performances, and Theatre in Education, which brings high school students, university students and special needs audiences to the theatre. The Cameri also offers ticket subsidies for senior citizens and simultaneous translation of its productions into English, Russian and Arabic. The art director of the Cameri Is Gilad Kimchi. ==Awards and recognition==