The course is a basic introduction to the major periods and genres in the genealogy and evolution of the Jewish and Hebrew stage-drama, its reception and the history of the Zionist, pre-State performative activity in the Land of Israel. This scrutiny is based on the recognition of the intrinsic, interactive and generative relations between the Hebrew stage and the transient social, culture and phenomenological contexts in which it is embedded. The course will investigate the various structural and rhetorical features of the plays and the theatrical texts derived from the following categories: the Biblical drama; the Zionist and pioneer “Settlement-Drama”; social drama. The course will moreover discuss the aesthetic and social trends reflected in the historical development of the Hebrew theatre between 1890-1948.