Development History
PLAYS DEVELOPED BY THE JEWISH PLAYS PROJECT
2012-2022
2022 Festival of New Jewish Plays
Featuring the (pandemic delayed) Winners of the 2020, 2021 and 2022 National Jewish Playwriting Contests!
Oklahoma Samovar (2021) by Alice Eve Cohen
Madeleines (2022) by Bess Welden
A Moving Picture (2020) by Jennie Berman Eng
2022 National Jewish Playwriting Contest
I Was a Stranger Too by Cynthia L. Cooper
Lily Ineffable by Audrey Lang
Madeleines by Bess Welden
Say Goodbye by A.R. Cohen/Corwin
Strawberries at the Datcha by Gena Treyvus
To Reach Across a River by Marshall Botvinick
Tree of Life by Victor Wishna
2021 OPEN Festival
See below.
2021 Digital Contest
The JPP and Artistic Producer Will Steinberger and a roster of amazing directors across the country upped the ante on the JPP’s digital work with a set of brilliant video excerpts edited by Janet Bentley. Check them out here!
10th Annual National Jewish Playwriting Contest
Aristaeus By Elizabeth Savage
Go Down, Moses By Dana Leslie Goldstein
Leo At Yeshiva By Emma Horwitz
* Oklahoma Samovar By Alice Eve Cohen
Part By Mariel Eve Berlin-Fischler
Sh@Med By Joanna Castle Miller
There Will Come A Time For Vengeance By Eric Marlin
What We Found By Molly Olis Krost
* Who By Fire By Talisa Friedman
The Wrong Question By Ellarose Chary
2020 OPEN Festival
Would have happened in the fall of 2020. Y’all know what went down. The JPP will develop the winning play in the Contest post-pandemic.
2020 Digital Contest
The JPP was among the first theater organizations to go virtual, pivoting to an online Contest in April of 2020.
9th Annual National Jewish Playwriting Contest
* A Moving Picture By Jennie Berman Eng
Something’s Coming By Ezra Brain And J. Andrew Norris
Motherland By Lisa Kenner Grissom
Settlements By Seth Rozin
Elijah By Sandy Rustin
United Nathans By Jason Sherman
Refuge • Malja • ﻣﻠﺠﺄ By Bess Welden
In Every Generation by Ali Viterbi
directed by Howard Shalwitz
featuring Angelina Fiordellisi and Stefani Kuo
Dox Modern Middle by Reid Pope
directed by Aaron Simon Gross
featuring Gus Birney and Miss Fellatia
2019 Jewish Playwriting Contest Top 7
Dox Modern Middle by Reid Pope
Heresy by Lawrence Goodman
In Every Generation by Ali Viterbi
King Lesbian by Adi Eshman
Land of No Mercy, un drama américano (in tzvey aktn) by Rae Binstock
The Shabbos Goy by Cary Gitter
The Zionists by Zohar Tirosh-Polk
THE LIVE SESSIONS
Podcast Recordings of 3 Winners of the Jewish Playwriting Contest
BELFAST KIND by Margot Connolly
Directed by David WinitskySUMMER NIGHT, WITH UNICORN by David Rush
Directed by Blayze TeicherSIX by Zohar Tirosh-Polk
Directed by Shira-Lee Shalit
Plus 2 New Play Workshops
THEO’S DREAM by by Zohar Tirosh-Polk
directed by Ronit Muzskatblit
Di Froyen A New Play In YIDDISH
Adapted by Malky Goldman And Michelle Weisz
from Naomi Regen's WOMEN'S MINYAN
Directed by Amy Coleman
Presented by New Yiddish Rep
AND
#NASTYWOMEN: A Night of Jewish Female Resistance Comedy
#julys by Sam Lahne
a People by Lauren Feldman
After the War by Motti Lerner
Bar Mitzvah Boy* by Mark Leiren-Young
Belfast Kind * by Margot Connolly
Berlin Diary by Andrea Stolowitz
City of Good Abode by Joshua Ford
Estelle Singerman* by David Rush
How to Conquer America: A Mostly True History of Yogurt by David Myers
Redder Blood* by Helen Murray
Six* by Zohar Tirosh-Polk
The Man in the Sukkah by Deborah Yarchun
The Place We Built by Sarah Gancher
Tunneling by Ben Gassman
2018 JCC Manhattan Reading: DIVO & DIAVOLO by Adam Kraar
2018 Renegade Reading:
THE RAGING SKILLET by Jacques Lamarre
Directed by John Simpkins
Based on the Memoir by Chef Rossi
FEATURING JUDY GOLD
VAHK OYF UN ZING! (Awake & Sing!) by Clifford Odets, directed by Johanna Gruenhut
(presented by New Yiddish Rep)
THE MAH NISHTANAH PLAYS
Four Short Plays Commisioned in Response to the 2017 Political Climate
I AND J AND J AND I by Susan Bernfield
SHOCKING BUT NOT SURPRISING by Sarah Gancher
TWILIGHT VISIT by MJ Kaufman
THE WHITE WEDDING by Shais Rishon
2017 Jewish Playwriting Contest Top 10
* BAR MITZVAH BOY by Mark Leiren-Young
BOOK OF ESTHER by Gina Stevensen
MENORAH by Cary Gitter
ARRHYTHMIA by Ted Malawer
BERLIN DIARY by Andrea Stolowitz
HOW TO CONQUER AMERICA: A MOSTLY TRUE HISTORY OF YOGURT David Myers
THE LAWS OF BLOOD by Barry Jay Kaplan
SONATA FOR FOUR HANDS by Bridget Erin
The Mar Vista by Yehuda Hyman/Mystical Feet
(Presented with LABA at the Museum of Jewish Heritage)
IMAGINING HESCHEL by Colin Greer, directed by David Winitsky
(presented with Highbrow!)
REDDER BLOOD by Helen Murray Pafumi, directed by Ronit Muszkatblit
GOD OF VENGEANCE by Sholem Asch, directed by Eleanor Reissa
(presented by New Yiddish Rep)
BELFAST KIND*, by Margot Connolly, directed by David Winitsky
THE PLACE WE BUILT by Sarah Gancher, directed by Benjamin Kamine
MITZVAH, by David Hein and Irene Sankoff, directed by Marc Bruni
DIASPORA, by Gary Jaffe, directed by Blayze Teicher
2014 Jewish Playwriting Contest - Top 10
Click here for a fantastic video from the Vermont Contest!
*G-D’S HONEST TRUTH by Renee Calarco
TUNNELING by Ben Gassman
CLOSE TO HOME by Jonathan Gillis
I NOW PRONOUNCE by Tasha Gordon-Solmon
CLANDESTINO (SECRET, HIDDEN, ILLEGAL) by Cory Hinkle
and Victoria Stewart
A JEW’S UNCLE’S CAMEL by Stan Kaplan
THE MANY FACES OF NIA by Lenelle Moise
JEW KAMP by Stephanie Swirsky
TRUE BIBLE TALES by Rob Askins, directed by Benjamin Kamine
OUD PLAYER ON THE TEL by Tom Block, directed by David Winitsky
G-D’S HONEST TRUTH* by Renee Calarco, directed by David Winitsky
BLOOD MOON by Lila Feinberg, directed by Benjamin Kamine
TUNNELING by Ben Gassman, directed by Sarah Krohn
MURMUR ROCK by MJ Kaufman, directed by Jessi Hill
2014 Renegade Readings
BEAUTY QUEEN by Sharyn Rothstein and Kris Kukul
directed by Benjamin Kamine
THE MANY FACES OF NIA by Lenelle Moise, directed by David Winitsky
1300 LAFAYETTE EAST by Brooke Berman, directed by Daniella Topol
THE LAW OF RETURN by Martin Blank, directed by Tamara Fisch
LET ME GO by Jonathan Caren, directed by Benjamin Kamine
A PEOPLE by Lauren Feldman, directed by David Winitsky
GOOD NIGHT, MRS. BERNSTEIN by Lauren Kettler
directed by Shira-Lee Shalit
THE KARPOVSKY VARIATIONS by Adam Kraar
directed by Tamilla Woodard
ESTELLE SINGERMAN* by David Rush, directed by David Winitsky
A QUESTION OF WATER by Steven Schutzman
directed by Tzipora Kaplan
MARTYRS STREET by Misha Shulman, directed by Ian Morgan
BLACK FIRE/WHITE FIRE by Peter Ullian, directed by David Winitsky
CENTRIFUGAL FORCE, by Gary Winter
directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh
THE MAN IN THE SUKKAH by Deborah Yarchun, directed by Annie Levy
2013 Jewish Playwriting Contest - Top 12
THE LAW OF RETURN by Martin Blank
THE MAIDEN OF LUDMIR by Yossefa Even-Shoshan
ISRAELI PALESTINIAN RESOLUTION: A VERY EXTREMELY IMPORTANT PLAY, IN PROGRESS, BY SAMUEL GOLDMEYER by Ira Gamerman
GOOD NIGHT, MRS. BERNSTEIN by Lauren Kettler
DIVIDED AMONG THEMSELVES by Henry Kimmel
THE KARPOVSKY VARIATIONS by Adam Kraar
SKINWALKING by Cecilia Raker
*ESTELLE SINGERMAN by David Rush
LEON’S DICTIONARY by Stephanie Satie
A JEW FROM EAST JESUS by Jim Shankman
A MAN, HIS WIFE, AND HIS HAT by Lauren Yee
2013 Renegade Readings
SPIRIT IN THE SKY by Peter Ullian, directed by David Winitsky
Israeli Palestinian Resolution: a very extremely important play‚ in progress‚ by Samuel Goldmeyer by Ira Gammerman
2012 Jewish Playwriting Contest - Top 10
*SIX by Zohar Tirosh-Polk
THE WICKED SON: A PASSOVER PLAY by Cecilia Copeland
A WORD OF SECRECY by Allan Havis
SCRAMBLED by Beth Kander
BOUNTY OF LACE by Susan Merson
BLACK FIRE/WHITE FIRE by Peter Ullian
WHO BY DROWNING, WHO BY STONING (A COMEDY) by Adam Ultraberg
CENTRIFUGAL FORCE by Gary Winter
THE MAN IN THE SUKKAH by Deborah Yarchun
2012 OPEN Festival
(NB - the first OPEN format was totally different. It had its own submission process and each project was fully-produced and staged. 4 full projects in 2 weeks. It was crazy, and it nearly killed us. One day, we'll get back to that format - but without the crazy!)
GOLEMS OF GOTHAM
based on the novel by Thane Rosenbaum
Adapted and Produced by Sherry Teitelbaum and Fran Sperling
Directed by Sherry Teitelbaum
Aerial Choreography by Fran Sperling
Music by Alicia Svigals
KLAÚZAL SQUARE
directed by Jen Wineman
Produced by Jen Wineman and Sarah Gancher
Video Design by: Melissa Trn
by The Anthropologists
Produced by The Anthropologists
Directed by Melissa Moschitto
SALT OF THE EARTH
Read the NY Times Review of the BAM Production!
based on the novel by Amos Kenan
Adaptation and Direction by Zvi Sahar
Produced by PuppetCinema and LABA