Jewish Plays Project

05/19/2026

Three more cities met to select their choices for the 15th National Jewish Playwriting Contest!

LA voted for Flatbush Lysistrata, Hartford went for Havurah, and Boston chose Flatbush Lysistrata, Shura, and A Play About A Baby Carrot!

Now we just have one more regional contest before the national finals in Philadelphia! - https://mailchi.mp/c143a6734d7b/jewish-dramaturgy-lab-feature-9305467

05/13/2026

Hey! Playwrights!! We want your play!! Heather Helinsky

The Jewish Plays Project has opened submissions for its 16th National Jewish Playwriting Contest, seeking unproduced full-length plays focused on 21st century Jewish identity. There is no submission fee.

05/11/2026

Results of the 15th National Jewish Playwriting Contest are rolling in. Make sure you stay up to date, and join us LIVE in Los Angeles, Hartford, New York or Philadelphia if you can - or send a friend or loved one to vote in your place! - https://mailchi.mp/b6b76fff8e9b/jewish-dramaturgy-lab-feature-9305440

05/03/2026

The Jewish Playwriting Contest is BACK IN NEW YORK on June ! Get your tickets today! https://ops1.operations.daxko.com/Online/5384/ProgramsV2/Events.mvc/offering?guid=e7d2b516-4034-11f1-99e4-005056921697
(We're also in Los Angeles and Hartford and Toronto). - https://mailchi.mp/93fe6c44c26b/jewish-dramaturgy-lab-feature-9305282

05/01/2026

SO much going on at the JPP these days - events in Toronto this weekend, then LA on Wednesday, May 13, Boston on May 14, and Hartford on May 17. Let's celebrate this great piece on the LA contest with huge yasher koach to Jonah Platt Lauren Schaffel Braunstein Holocaust Museum L.A. The Ebell of Los Angeles Illana Stein and the 50 LA Readers. Gonna be amazing!! https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/Holocaust-Museum-LA-and-Jewish-Plays-Project-to-Host-LA-Jewish-Playwriting-Contest-20260427?fbclid=IwY2xjawRg4U9leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFoZW10SUFPcFRQOWx4SGxwc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHq2rbqLnafcmT21Q60oaGTg4zg2U4H5XaIn3tObLYUEaDYP99sJHInYkJTvR_aem_69z_wSe6AOPQCz3hXclX8w

Holocaust Museum LA, the Jewish Plays Project, and The Ebell of Los Angeles will present the second annual LA Jewish Playwriting Contest, featuring excerpts from three finalist plays with audience voting to select a winner.

04/26/2026

Going to Toronto for the first time next week with great partners - Deanna DeLillo at Miles Nadal JCC, Sam Mogelonsky Art and Kultura Collective, Koffler Arts and David Eisner and Avery Saltzman at Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company. HUGE thank you to JPP producer Hershel Blatt, director and MC Illana Stein. And a shoult out to the awesome JPPers in this photo - Rory Kulz, Ali Stoner, Lauren Schaffel Braunstein Zo Tipp and photographer Caelen Curlough.

The Jewish Plays Project partnered with Miles Nadal JCC and Kultura Collective to host Toronto's first Jewish Playwriting Contest, featuring three finalists chosen from over 325 submissions across 28 states and 7 countries.

04/26/2026

In our final Jewish Dramaturgy Lab, Laura Limonic, Associate Professor of Sociology at SUNY's College of Old Westbury, gave us a look into the historical and social context that influenced THE DYER'S HAND OR THE MERCHANT OF MEXICO.

We learned about the complicated reality faced by Jews and conversos in the New World following the Spanish Inquisition. This opened the door to a fascinating conversation about why we carry on traditions, even in the face of persecution. - https://mailchi.mp/750c1bb8178d/jewish-dramaturgy-lab-feature-9305177

03/29/2026

During the Jewish Dramaturgy Lab for Jacob Surovsky's THIS PLACE STINKS, artist, educator, and community engagement specialist Ariel Warmflash had everyone doing some Torah scholarship by introducing new depth and complexity to the story of Noah's Ark!

Typically taught at a young age with no attempt to understand the nuances of each character, we discussed the complex ethics of Noah as a character and the flood that wiped out nearly all life on Earth.

- https://mailchi.mp/eefc39ab929e/jewish-dramaturgy-lab-feature-9304666

03/12/2026

Rabbinical candidate and host of the Kosher Qu**rs podcasy Jaz Twersky guided the JPP through a fascinating Jewish Dramaturgy Lab on Madeleine Sayet's Mohegan/Jewish sibling tale THE FISH, which asks the question, "Why, when the world was destroyed in the flood, did G-d save the fish?" Learn more about the Lab and how YOU can take part! - https://mailchi.mp/6308e4c12efe/jewish-dramaturgy-lab-feature-9304524

02/25/2026

As part of our Jewish Dramaturgy Lab on Lila Rachel Becker's FLATBUSH LYSISTRATA, renowned tour guide Frieda Vizel took us through "A Hilf Faren Kind" - in Yiddish - Breshis (genesis) and Shemos (exodus) and expanded our notion of Hasidic Life!