The Khan Theatre Company was formed in 1972 in Jerusalem by Michael Alfreds, an English Jewish theatre director and teacher. Alfreds has worked in Israel since 1968 staging several successful plays such as The Mandrake by Machiavelli and The Donkeys by Plautus in the Haifa Municipal Theatre. Despite his success he still had difficulty working in the more well established theatres. Therefore, he accepted an invitation from the Jerusalem Municipality and formed a group of six young actors who were tired of seeking a comfortable milieu. They moved to Jerusalem and found their home in a renovated ruined Turkish inn—a 750-year-old khan. With government and municipal aid they formed the Khan Theatre Company to be the only repertory theatre in Jerusalem.