This Hanukkah, at a public menorah lighting, a rabbi spoke about something I hadn’t really considered before: The true miracle of Hanukkah didn’t happen the first night. The priests knew they had enough oil for that first night. The miracle was that oil last a second night… and a third… and a fourth.
It made me think of theatre. (Given my roles, this isn’t too surprising… pretty much everything makes me think of theatre or Jewish culture or the intersection of both…) As a producer or performer, while getting to Opening Night can feel miraculous, the real miracle is the rest of the run, when the play keeps happening and people keep showing up. As a playwright, the much-sought after second production is often the one that ensures a play’s future.
The other miracle of Hanukkah is the way the oil lasts. It sustains the people until they can find more oil. AJT strives to be that sort of sustaining presence for all of you. Our programming is geared toward holding space and finding ways to empower you, to help sustain your work.
In fact, I'm pleased to say that we met our fundraising goal for 2024! Thanks to everyone who supported us. And if you missed your chance to support our 2024 campaign, well you're in luck because we're already underway for our 2025 campaign! You can donate here to support our mission and support the artists and organizations with whom we work.
We have some programming to announce for the coming months that I hope you’ll take part in, including a partnership with Theater J for their exciting Expanding the Canon event in February. See below for more info. Meanwhile, please continue to post to the listserv, to communicate with us and your fellow members, and we’ll see you soon!
Best,
Jesse Bernstein
AJT Board President
January 16th: First AJT Member
Meet-Up of 2025
January 16th at 7pm Eastern/
6pm Central/4pm Pacific
via Zoom, 1 hour
Hosted by David Lloyd Olson, Theater J Managing Director and AJT Board Member
A chance for Members to connect in an online, virtual space with the option of break-out rooms.
Bring topics to talk about or just come to listen and share.
For current members only.
Register at the links below for all of our member meet-ups.
Tuesday, February 11th(moved from Thursday for Tu Bishvat) at 7pm Eastern/6pm Central/4pm Pacific via Zoom
Hosted by Hank Kimmel, Playwright and AJT Board Member
Tuesday, March 11th(moved from Thursday for Purim) at 7pm Eastern/6pm Central/4pm Pacific via Zoom
CAN JEWISH THEATRE BE TOO JEWISH?
Thursday, January 30th at 7pm Eastern/6pm Central/4pm Pacific via Zoom 1 hour
“That play is too Jewish for our audience.” “If we produced it, the Hebrew would have to go.” AJT President and Theatre Ariel Artistic Director Jesse Bernstein has heard responses like these many times over the years. So he decided to convene a few people for a discussion of what makes a Jewish play too Jewish to produce. Would the same comments be made about other culturally-specific plays? What is the value in including things in a play that an outside group wouldn’t understand? How should artists respond to this issue?
In-Person Event at Theater J in Washington, D.C., Sunday, February 2nd at 1 pm EST
Established in 2022, Theater J’s Expanding the Canon initiative has commissioned seven racially and ethnically diverse Jewish writers to create new full-length plays over the next two and a half years that thematically and visually center diverse Jewish narratives in order to correct and broaden the historically limited portrayals of Jewishness on stages in the United States and around the world.
The Event on February 2nd is Theater J's Expanding the Canon National Convening
Presented with the Alliance for Jewish Theatre and Moment Magazine
Sponsored by the Covenant Foundation, CANVAS, and the Leshowitz Family Foundation, Terry Singer.
Six playwrights from across North America have been working for three years on writing new plays that center around the stories of ethnically and racially diverse Jews, part of Theater J's Expanding the Canon initiative sponsored by the Covenant Foundation. The playwrights will convene in Washington, DC at the Edlavitch DCJCC on Sunday, February 2 at 1:00 PM to showcase excerpts from their new plays. The playwrights will participate in a panel discussion hosted by Moment Magazine, and a dessert reception will follow sponsored by the Alliance for Jewish Theatre.
JEWS, COMEDY, AND BELONGING IN AMERICA with Gwydion Suilebhan (L) & Steven Gimbel (R)
Thursday, February 27th
7pm EST / 4 pm PST
At the turn of the 20th century, a great wave of immigration hit Ellis Island like a tsunami, depositing two million Jews on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Poor, tough, scarred by the tyranny they fled from, and deeply disadvantaged by the antisemitic America they arrived in, they spent the next hundred years working toward a sense of true belonging in their adopted home. Throughout that struggle, Jews used comedy to challenge the status quo, speak truth to power, grease the skids of social acceptance, and express their full pride and humanity. In this talk about Punching Up, their work in progress, AJT board member Gwydion Suilebhan and his co-author Steven Gimbel will tell the story of how comedians earned Jewish Americans a meaningful place in the nation’s cultural fabric.
Did you know every donation makes a huge impact on our ability to continue supporting Jewish Theatre artists just like you, through opportunities and grants, and helps keep our operations running smoothly? We rely entirely on the generosity of our supporters. Thanks for your support!
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