We have a drama class at the ORT Afek School in Kiryat Bialik. Every year we have a performance directed by Tomer Rosso.

This year we performed a musical play called A Vacant Chair For Love, which was inspired by the book Love on Wheels by Nurit Peleg, who is a disabled woman.

Nurit Peleg was invited to watch our play and we talked to her before we went on stage. It was very exciting and we were all a bit afraid. We each introduced ourselves and our characters and asked questions. After the play Nurit Peleg talked to us about her high-school days, her marriage, family and friends. She also posted a "review" on her blog, saying the show was "very beautiful, the characters were almost like I imagined them and the songs and dances were amazing. Seeing my book become a musical was an unforgettable experience."

The main character in the play is Michal, a disabled 15 year-old girl. Michal lives in a society that doesn't accept her disability. Her classmates regard her as a burden. She has a sensitive and complicated relationship with her dancer sister and her parents are over-protective. The play follows Michal's life and love-story with a boy from her school. The play shows us how she deals with the many difficulties she faces in life.

After a long week of performing, we all agreed it was an amazing experience that helped us become better people and to understand the needs of others in our society.

I personally played Liat, Michal's dancer sister. I believe this show changed us all, including the production crew and I hope the audience learned from it as well.

Parts of the show in Hebrew (video from avinahari  on youtube.com)