In an emotional ceremony at Palace Tel Aviv Senior Living Home, operated by the Azrieli Group, acclaimed actress, director and playwright Adi Etzion Zak was presented with the prestigious “Golden Hedgehog” Lifetime Achievement Award for 2025.

The event celebrated more than 60 years of groundbreaking artistic work, paying tribute to Etzion Zak’s pivotal role in shaping Israel’s independent theater scene.

The ceremony included a retrospective of Etzion Zak’s artistic journey—from her early days in the Nahal Ensemble to advanced musical studies in Paris and Freiburg, and her extensive career creating and performing original works in Israel and abroad.

Known for blending theater, music, movement and visual design, Etzion Zak has devoted decades to contemporary works by Schoenberg, Barrio, Cage and many others. Leading Israeli composers such as Tzvi Avni, Yosef Tal, Avidom, Rami Weidberg, Menachem Zur, Tzvi Shidlovsky, and Mark Kopytman composed works specifically for her.

Iconic Stage Works and Monodramas

Over the years, Etzion Zak created some of Israel’s most acclaimed independent productions, including:

• “Cabaret Kurt Weill”

• “The Blue Angel”

• “The Herzl Boys”

• “Marlene Dietrich”

• “Greta Garbo”

• “G. Klimt – The Golden Lady”

• “Picasso – Cruel Genius”

• “Kafka Against Kafka”

She also created multidisciplinary works such as “Chopiniana,” “Piro the Sleepwalker,” “Forbidden Love in the Holocaust,” and “The Voice of Fate – Maria Callas, a Greek Tragedy.”

Her signature style is defined by a holistic artistic language that integrates acting, music, poetry, movement, dance and stage design.

The event was attended by family members, long-time collaborators and prominent figures in Israeli culture, including Yehoshua Sobol, Yigal Ezrati, Danny Kerman, Ruth Eshel, Dori France, and Prof. Hary Golomb.

Etzion Zak performed together with her husband, renowned pianist Jonathan Zak, father of their children: actress Alma Zak, director Yoram Zak, and attorney David Zaken.

Palace Tel Aviv CEO: “An Artistic Microcosm”

Michal Hoderland, CEO of Palace Tel Aviv, praised Etzion Zak’s contribution:

“It is a great honor for our home and for our hundreds of residents that Adi Etzion Zak received this Lifetime Achievement Award. As the committee noted, Adi’s entire body of work forms an artistic microcosm that unites acting, movement, music, poetry, dance and stage design.”

With this Lifetime Achievement Award, the “Golden Hedgehog” committee recognizes Etzion Zak as a defining, pioneering force in Israel’s independent theater—a creator whose influence continues to shape generations of performers, directors and audiences.