2017 OPEN
The most exciting Jewish Theater, for One Week at the 14th Street Y.
6 Plays for Year 6.
Justice. Action. Faith.
Politics. Diversity. Questioning.
Thursday, June 15 @ 7pm
Saturday, June 17 @ 7pm
Four of New york's most exciting writers, a brilliant young director, and some of the best theater minds answer two questions:
How does your Jewish identity feel different now than it did a year ago?
What do your Jewish identities/ethics/values call upon you to do in this moment?
Directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh
Lead Dramaturgy by Abigail Katz
(Director of New Play Development, Atlantic Theater)
Guest Dramaturg, Miriam Weiner
(Literary Associate, Vineyard Theater)
Designed by Joshua Benghiat, Summer Lee Jack, and Jesse Freeman
Casting by Judy Bowman Casting
Featuring
- I and J and I by Susan Bernfield
The Kushner/Trump Household on Shabbat. A family and their Secret Service Goy. Uh, Guy.
- Shocking But Not Surprising
(Megdöbbentő, De Nem Meglepő) by Sarah Gancher
Budapest. Kansas. The Internet. Wherever you go, it's getting dark out there.
- Twilight Visit by MJ Kaufman
Jonah, a Jewish Trans man is visited by a mysterious woman after the Mt. Carmel Cemetery is invaded.
- The White Wedding by Shais Rishon (aka MaNishtana)
It's hard to be the person of color at a Jewish wedding -
especially when the guests keep thinking you're the help.
Each Performance Followed By Discussions with Artists and Special Guests!
Friday, June 16 @ 7pm
Photo: Peter Safir
Bar Mitzvah Boy at the 2017 Charlotte Jewish Playwriting Contest
2017 Jewish Playwriting Contest Winner!
After 219 submissions, over 50 artists, 500 audience members, and a 7 city tour, we have a winner!! Victoria, Canada's Mark Leiren-Young and his beautiful, funny, heartbreaking and heart-healing play Bar Mitzvah Boy.
A grandfather finds new purpose through ritual while a Rabbi struggles to find her way after a tragedy. The measure of Jewish life and values thru faith, suffering, children, joy, and community.
Mark Leiren-Young is a Canadian playwright, author, screenwriter and filmmaker. His play, Shylock, is being produced in September 2017 by Bard in the Beach in Vancouver and a Czech translation is in rep at Divadlo Na Jezerce in Prague until 2019. His new book, The Killer Whale Who Changed the World, is in stores now in the US, Canada and the UK. He was bar mitzvahed at Vancouver's Beth Israel.
Followed by the Rooftop Shabbat party!!!
Fresh off their third triumphant production - the New York Times Critic's Pick Gut Fun Nekome (God of Vengenace) - New Yiddish Rep returns to OPEN!!
Vakh Oyf Un Zing! continues NYR's brilliant mission to illuminate the social, moral and human issues of our time through the timeless elegance, emotion and impact of Yiddish language theater.
Originally translated into Yiddish by the Federal Theater Project, Odet's masterpiece is a staple of resistance movements and political thought. Directed by rising star Johanna Gruenhut and featuring a cast of stellar linguists and actors, NYR's reading uses the mamaloshen to raise our own spirits to action.
Be sure to get your ticket to this limited showing,
