Jennie Berman Eng's A MOVING PICTURE Wins 2020, Ninth Annual Jewish Playwriting Contest

The Jewish Plays Project has announced that A Moving Picture, by Jennie Berman Eng of Alexandria, VA, has won the 2020, Ninth Annual Jewish Playwriting Contest.

"Being a part of the Jewish Plays Project gave me the extraordinary opportunity to stay connected with my community, reach a national audience, and meet other playwrights and actors," said Ms. Berman Eng. "During a dark time, the JPP brought art into people's homes. And though I'm not accustomed to seeing my audience in their pajamas in bed, their gratitude for the chance to laugh, to question, to be transported, will stay with me always."

In her winning play, A Moving Picture, a Hollywood auteur legendary for his heroic, ripped-from-life film about African genocide comes to NYU to teach. He pits four film students against each other in a quest to write an authentic - completely factual - Holocaust screenplay. After the one Black student in the class - a Holocaust Studies major - outs his famous film as an invented white-savior narrative, the class has to decipher their fidelity to telling a true story. After all, she says, "statistically speaking, every character in a Holocaust film should die."

Ms. Eng's play became this year's choice through the JPP's signature process, which combines the efforts of artists, Jewish clergy and lay leaders, and theater-savvy audiences from across the U.S. and Canada. This year, the JPP dramatically expanded opportunities to participate in the process when the COVID-19 crisis hit.

"Normally, in the spring, we travel to put on live Contest events all over the country", said Artistic Director David Winitsky. "They are a combination of TED Talk, a play reading, and American Idol. When the crisis hit, we decided to invite a group of great young theater directors to create seven to ten minute video excerpts from the Top 7 plays instead, and to put those online for people to vote."

The response was incredible - over 1,500 people in nine cities viewed the excerpts and voted. The JPP created livestreamed versions of its unique Contest events, which drew double the audiences. With the new technology, the JPP was even able to hold its first ever Contest in Israel, in partnership with Center Stage in Ra'anana outside Tel Aviv.

This October, the JPP will produce a workshop of Ms. Eng's play, which will livestream for audiences all over the world. Casting and creative team will be announced in the fall.

254 playwrights from 26 states and five countries submitted plays to the Contest. The Top 7 plays tackle some of the critical questions in the Jewish world today: the global refugee crisis, generational trauma, vexing debates over Israel within the American Jewish community, and the joys and pitfalls of making art.

"This was one of the strongest groups of plays we have ever had," said Mr. Winitsky. "Amazing writing, daring subjects, and plays that are ready to be produced. Every one of them had passionate fans around the country and the world, and I can't wait to see the bright futures for all of them."

The other finalists were 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, and Refuge Malja ???? by Bess Welden.

Full information about all the plays, including playwright and agent contact information, can be found at the JPP's website, www.jewishplaysproject.org. Interested producers, agents, and literary managers can email literary@jewishplaysproject.org.

Jennie Berman Eng is a playwright, screenwriter, and educator based in the DC metro area. Her play, A MOVING PICTURE received a workshop reading at Spooky Action Theater and at Mosaic Theatre in Washington, DC. She was a 2017-2018 member of Playwrights Arena at Arena Stage and a 2014 and 2016 Theater J Locally Grown Playwright. DC productions include EXIT CAROLYN (Nu Sass Productions), WHENEVERY YOU'RE NEAR ME I FEEL SICK (2015 Women's Voices Theater Festival), BETHESDA (DC Capital Fringe). NYC productions include EXIT CAROLYN, A STALL OF ONE'S OWN, and FAMILY. Jennie was a member of the all-female comedy group, The Greasy Girlz, which toured New York and Los Angeles when Jennie was younger and had better knees. Jennie is currently a screenwriter at WILL Interactive. She has two fantastic children and a loving and tolerant husband who she is pressuring for a pet dog.