HOLD ME, HEAL ME To Have L.A. and Bay Area Premiere In March

Hold Me, Heal Me, a new work sharing surprising moments of kindness that serve as a bolt of hope and inspiration, will premiere on March 15, 2025. This show will be performed across Los Angeles, the Bay Area, and live on Zoom for a global audience. 

In a world full of brokenness, these true Jewish stories of kindness will make you laugh, cry, and want to do good. Hold Me, Heal Me, performed by a cast of professional actors, brings these inspiring stories to life in the Salon Theatre style pioneered by The Braid, the world's leading center for Jewish storytelling.

Hold Me, Heal Me first charmed and inspired audiences in 2014. The Braid's artistic director, Ronda Spinak, decided to bring it back and add new stories to reflect the moment. “I honestly felt we all needed it,” she shares. “I came close to losing my home in the Los Angeles wildfires, and so many of my friends lost theirs. Having evacuated to a hotel room, I turned on the TV looking for something positive and instead found a world that seemed racing to outdo itself in cruelty. I felt despondent. Then I turned off my TV and went out into my community. There I experienced strangers helping each other, firefighters acting heroically, a city coming together… and I realized that kindness was everywhere. So I decided to shine a light on the best of humanity.”

Stories from the original show include works by famed Holocaust survivor and author Dr. Edith Eger, award-winning playwright Faye Sholiton, and poet/art therapist Anna Belle Kaufman. Spinak has updated the show with new material, including her own story of two mysterious men who helped protect her house from the approaching fire. Audiences will be deeply moved by the tale of a sickly young boy befriended by a grandfatherly train enthusiast. They'll smile at an unexpected bonding between a Beverly Hills caller and a customer support worker worlds away. And in many other stories and songs, they'll discover a world that's actually full of heartfelt kindness.

The show will be co-directed by Susan Morgenstern, The Braid's producing director and an experienced helmer of countless Salon Theatre-shows, and long-time Braid actor Jasmine Curry. Curry remarks,

“It has been really wonderful to have been invited to put on my director hat. There are many pieces that resonate with me. It will help me and everyone watching to take a moment to restore and nurture our souls, to remind ourselves that good is not lost from the world, and then filled with this, to go out and fight for what is right.”

Morgenstern agrees, “I'm proud of the Braid's decision to meet the moment with a show about something so deeply needed, and something we all are able to give, if we just stop for a moment to be kind.

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