The Braid

The Braid, formerly Jewish Women’s Theatre, is the go-to Jewish story company and the leading nationa What is Salon Theatre?

A gathering of people in gracious homes to discover new art, enjoy music, hear plays read, and share ideas. Ticket price includes a fabulous dessert buffet, a terrific show and a Q & A with the talent and artists post-performance.

09/03/2026

Meet writer Suzanne Levy! ✍️ Suzanne hails from North London, lived in NYC for a stretch, and settled in LA. An award-winning journalist who got her start at the BBC, Suzanne is now a senior editor at LAist / NPR where she oversees food, art, and local history. She also writes a regular column about her life as a Brit in SoCal, called ”American as a Second Language.”

We’re thrilled to feature her funny and romantic story “Love Across the Pond” in our upcoming Candlelight Storytelling show: Begin Again featuring Lauren Schaffel and JOSHUA SILVERSTEIN.

This event is part of NuRoots nurootsla‘s High Holiday Citywide Festival: Sweet Return. ✨

You have two opportunities— 9/19 and 10/1 — to see Suzanne’s story and 5 others come to life. The evening included dinner before and a sound-bath experience after the show. You won’t want to miss this!!

Tickets will go fast!
Link in bio 🍎🍯✡️🤩

09/01/2026

Back by popular demand! Get tickets at https://the-braid.org/comedy

08/27/2026

Meet the writers of Candlelight Storytelling: Begin Again! ✍️

First up is LISA TRANK with her hilarious and heartwarming true story “The Time I Cancelled Shabbat.” Everyone can relate to a little Shabbat chaos, amiright? 😆

Lisa is a writer and a storyteller for all ages. She has performed her stories throughout Colorado, as well as with Listen to Your Mother/Boulder, Better Said Than Done, and the Museum of Motherhood. She’s thrilled to have a second story performed by The Braid. Lisa’s work has been anthologized in So Glad They Told Me: Women Get Real About Motherhood, The Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction Contest, and Primal Picnics: Writers Invent Creation Myths Around Favorite Foods. Her articles have appeared in PJ Library Proof Magazine, Tablet, Kveller, The Jewish Journal, among others.

When not writing or performing, Lisa enjoys her work as a Rested Path guide, a yoga nidra facilitator, and nonprofit storytelling consultant. She’s happy to call Colorado home with a gorgeous view of the Rocky Mountains. 🌄

You have **two opportunities** to catch Candlelight Storytelling: Begin Again, which is part of NuRoots ‘s High Holiday Festival “Sweet Return” — September 19 & August 1. Tickets will go fast! 🎟️ Link in bio! 🍎🍯✡️

08/13/2026

Don't miss these laughs! Join Monica Piper and Friends on Sept 13 for two performances only! Get tickets at https://the-braid.org/comedy

05/20/2026

Meet writer Mariposa (Kimberly) Dueñas! ✍🏼🦋

Mariposa is a California-born community leader, storyteller, and social impact builder whose work lives at the intersection of ancestral wisdom and regenerative futures. A graduate of American Jewish University and valedictorian of her class, she is a Pomegranate Prize recipient, Schusterman ROI community member, and founding member and director of learning at Jewtina y Co., where she’s built transformative programming at the intersection of Latin and Jewish identity.

In recent years, Mariposa returned to El Salvador alongside her father, Solomon—who founded and ran a beloved bakery in Orange County—in pursuit of return, rerooting, and a mission to support local farming families and communities. From that homecoming, “Yugo Colectivo” was born — a father-daughter initiative and collective of local farmers growing ancestral foods and plants, including cacao, coffee, and corn. 🌽 🌱 🍃

Today, living between California and El Salvador, she leads wellness retreats to weave together ancestral storytelling, agriculture, and healing.

We’re honored to share Mariposa and her father Solomon’s story “A Journey of Return” performed by Zoë Hall and Marcelo Tubert in our current Salon show “L’Chaim America!” - a celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday. 🎉

Through poignant and humorous contemporary stories, the show illuminates the richness and diversity of Jewish experience, and the America we hold in our hearts. 🫶

At a time when the world feels intent on dividing us, this show offers a meaningful respite from the rhetoric. We look forward to seeing you there! For the full schedule and tickets 🎟️ visit the-braid.org/calendar

For the full schedule and tickets, visit https://the-braid.org/calendar/

05/19/2026

Meet writer Emily Bowen Cohen! ✍🏼

Emily is a Los Angeles-based artist, who creates comics that explore intersectional identity. She is Jewish and a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, and uses personal experience to tell stories that examine contemporary American and Jewish culture.

A graduate of Harvard University, Emily grew up in rural Oklahoma and spent her teenage years in suburban New Jersey. Emily’s graphic novel, “Two Tribes” is published by Heartdrum, HarperCollins’ Native-focused imprint.

The Braid is honored and excited to present Emily’s story “Rooted Here” performed by Zoë Hall and Kimberly Green in our current Salon show “L’Chaim America!” - a celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday. 🎉

Through poignant and humorous contemporary stories, the show illuminates the richness and diversity of Jewish experience, and the America we hold in our hearts.

At a time when the world feels intent on dividing us, this show offers a meaningful respite from the rhetoric. We look forward to seeing you there! 🎭 For the full schedule and tickets, visit https://the-braid.org/calendar/ 🎟️

05/18/2026

Meet Writer Esther Amini! ✍🏼

Based in Manhattan, Esther is an author and a psychoanalytic psychotherapist whose writings have appeared in Elle Magazine, Tablet, The Jewish Week, and Lilith, among others. Her work has also been published in two of Zibby Owens’ Anthologies: “Moms Don’t Have Time To”
and “Moms Don’t Have Time To Have Kids.”

A longtime member of The Braid’s family of writers, eight of Esther’s stories have been performed in LA Salon shows, and two were staged at the 92nd Street Y in the show “Saffron and Rosewater.” She was awarded the Aspen Words - 2016 Emerging Writer Fellowship. In 2019, The Braid named Esther an Abby Freeman Artist-in-Residence.

Esther also penned “Concealed — Memoir of a Jewish-Iranian Daughter Caught Between the Chador and America” about growing up first-generation American in an Iranian-Jewish home in Queens. She is currently working on a collection of short stories.

We’re thrilled to include her story “A Persian Thanksgiving” - performed by Zoë Hall - in our current Salon show “L’Chaim America!” — a celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday. Through poignant and humorous contemporary stories, the show illuminates the richness and diversity of Jewish experience, and the America we hold in our hearts.

At a time when the world feels intent on dividing us, this show offers a meaningful respite from the rhetoric. We look forward to seeing you there! For the full schedule and tickets, visit https://the-braid.org/calendar/ 🎟️

estheramini.com

05/15/2026

Meet Writer Robin Russin! ✍🏼

Robin Russin is a professor of dramatic writing and chair of the Department of Theatre, Film & Digital Production, at UC Riverside. Robin directed the multi-award-winning indie feature films “When I Sing” and “The Anxiety of Laughing” and co-wrote the studio feature “2 Hearts” starring Jacob Elordi, all currently streaming.

He is currently working on “The Rescuers: The Mystery of Goodness” - a documentary series about the diplomats who saved Jewish lives during the Holocaust.

On stage, his play “Painted Eggs” was reviewed by the LA Times as “ambitious, heart-felt and hypnotic,” and his play “The Face in the Reeds” had a sold-out four-month run at the Ruskin Group Theater. He is co-author with William Missouri Downs of “Naked Playwriting and Screenplay: Writing the Picture.” Robin is a Rhodes Scholar with degrees from Harvard, Oxford, RISD, and UCLA, and is proud to be an Artist-in-Residence with The Braid.

Robin’s riveting true story “The Man from Laramie”, about growing up as the only Jewish boy born in Laramie, Wyoming, is part of our stellar line up in our current Salon show “L’Chaim America!” - a celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday. Through poignant and humorous contemporary stories, the show illuminates the richness and diversity of Jewish experience, and the America we hold in our hearts. 🇺🇸🫶

At a time when the world feels intent on dividing us, this show offers a meaningful respite from the rhetoric. We look forward to seeing you there! For the full schedule and tickets, visit https://the-braid.org/calendar/ 🎟️

05/14/2026

Meet writer Susan Baskin! ✍🏼

Susan wrote the Academy Award-winning film “Violet” and has written extensively for television and film. Her essays have been published in The LA Review of Books, Los Angeles Magazine and The Los Angeles Times Magazine, among others.

A longtime Braid writer and supporter, we are thrilled to feature her piece “A Simple Phrase” performed by Zoë Hall & Joshua Reuben Silverstein in our latest Salon show “L’Chaim America!” Other stories presented by The Braid include “Windows” and “I, Citizen”, which were commissioned pieces. Susan also wrote “Like A Monkey”, which won the StoryNosh, Best Story of the Year Award.

A celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday, “L’Chaim America!” illuminates the richness and diversity of Jewish experience and the America we hold in our hearts through poignant and humorous contemporary stories.

At a time when the world feels intent on dividing us, this show offers a meaningful respite from the rhetoric. We look forward to seeing you there! 🤩

For the full schedule and tickets 🎟️, visit https://the-braid.org/calendar/

05/13/2026

Meet Writer Natalya Bogopolskaya! ✍🏼

Natalya has a unique origin story having emigrated from Yalta, Ukraine to San Francisco after the fall of the Soviet Union—when she was just seven years old. Multilingual in over three languages, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Claremont McKenna College, a master’s degree from the Teachers College, Columbia University, and a doctorate in school psychology from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Natalya is a full-time public school psychologist, a board member of the American Foundation for Su***de Prevention Greater Los Angeles, and a mentor/facilitator for Oxiana Fellowship, a virtual teen program based in Uzbekistan. She’s also an active member of Temple Isaiah and lives in Los Angeles with her partner and three children.

We’re thrilled to feature Natalya’s beautiful story “Identity Shift” in our current Salon show “L’Chaim America!” Her story was adapted from interviews conducted by The Braid’s Artistic Director Ronda Spinak and our Marketing Manager and writer David Chiu.

🎉 A celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday, “L’Chaim America!” illuminates the richness and diversity of Jewish experience, and the America we hold in our hearts, through poignant, humorous, true contemporary stories.

At a time when the world feels intent on dividing us, this show offers a meaningful respite from the rhetoric. We look forward to seeing you there! 🎭

For the full schedule and tickets, visit https://the-braid.org/calendar/ 🎟️

Address

3435 Ocean Park Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA
90405

Telephone

+13103151400

Website

http://www.the-braid.org/

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