The Jewish Plays Project Extends National Jewish Playwriting Contest With Its First-ever Podcast Series

The Jewish Plays Project is proud to announce its first-ever podcast series, inviting national participation in the 11th Annual Jewish Playwriting Contest. Available today at jewishplaysproject.org/podcast, audiences can listen to short audio plays excerpted from the seven finalist plays and vote for their favorites.

The votes in the national Contest add to those cast after regional performances in cities including Houston, Charlotte, Chicago, Fairfax, Hartford, Silicon Valley, New York City and Tel Aviv. Over 1,500 people are expected to vote, with the Contest culminating in a live national celebration on Thursday, June 23rd, at 7 pm EST, hosted by virtualjcc.org.

"The JPP believes in democracy, so we are doing everything we can to expand participation in our national voting," said Artistic Director David Winitsky. "This stellar series of 15-minute episodes is a great way for theater lovers all over the world to have their voices heard in creating a new generation of Jewish theater content. Sign-up, listen, vote - it's so easy."

JPP Artistic Producer William Steinberger produced the audio plays; with sound designed, edited, and mastered by Multiband Studios (Chris Lane, Rashaad Pierre). Casting is by Judy Bowman, CSA; the contest dramaturg is Heather Helinsky.

The finalist plays, announced in January, come from writers who span the country, and who represent a diverse range of communities and experience, including current students and award-winning writers. The selected plays and their casts are:

• I WAS A STRANGER TOO by Cynthia L. Cooper, directed by Carolyn Levy: The stories of today's asylum seekers resonate with the Jewish past, and collide in shelters in Minnesota.

  • The cast features Kate Fuglei, Katya Stepanova, Purva Bedi, Debbie Bernstein, Abigail Ramsay, and Paula Pizzi.

• LILY INEFFABLE by Audrey Lang, directed by Sara Rodriguez: When child performer Lily hesitates to tell her family about a trauma, she is visited by Lilith, a Judaic demon with very strong opinions.

  • The cast features Maeve Press, Celia Mei Rubin, Laura Helm, Elsa Dees, Erika Wasko, and Molly Richardson.

• MADELEINES by Bess Welden, directed by Annette Jolles: Spiced with poetry, Yiddish, and Spanish, Madeleines is about a family of Jewish women grappling with how to love each other through shared grief and the solace of baking.

  • The cast features Annie Meisels, Kate Levy, and Laura Esterman.

• SAY GOODBYE by A.R. Cohen/Corwin, directed by William Steinberger: "He's alive, Mordie! He's alive!" In a European basement lab in 1956, Esthie has discovered something amazing. But will she use it to find peace... or feed her desire for revenge?

  • The cast features Liba Vaynberg, Jeremy Rishe, and Steven Hauck.

• STRAWBERRIES AT THE DATCHA by Gena Treyvus, directed by Illana Stein: Yelena's family immigrates from Belarus to a Russian-Jewish neighborhood in NYC. A play about assimilation and the things we gain and lose when leaving home.

  • The cast features Masha King, Artem Kreimer, Rachel Botchan, Ross Kramer, and Adrienne Nelson.

• TO REACH ACROSS A RIVER by Marshall Botvinick, directed by Ariella Wolfe: Yehudis and her husband spend years struggling with infertility. After her marriage falls apart, she adopts a biracial girl, forever altering her relationship with her ultra-Orthodox community.

  • The cast features Kristie Berger, Monique Sypkens, and David Loewy.

• TREE OF LIFE by Victor Wishna, directed by Joshua Silverstein: A declining, small-town Iowa synagogue welcomes a surprising visitor, as the tale of its origins-and its Torah's mysterious past-unfolds contiguously, a century before.

  • The cast features Alexandra Metz, Jeffrey Dorchen, Heidi Harrison Mendez, AJ Meijer, Jasmine Curry, and Leta Reneé-Alan.

The Acting Company includes Alexandra Metz (Magnum P.I.), Celia Mei Rubin (Matilda, A Christmas Carol on Broadway), Jeremy Rishe (Invasion, Madame Secretary), Kate Levy (Bernhardt/Hamlet on Broadway, Succession), Laura Esterman (The Blacklist, Mildred Pierce), Liba Vaynberg (The Plot Against America, New Amsterdam), Maeve Press (Everything's Gonna Be Okay), Purva Bedi (Dance Nation, India Pale Ale), and Steven Hauck (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt).

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

"The Jewish Playwriting Contest offers something more powerful than exposure: it offers Jewish playwrights a spiritual community, where they can share work and exchange ideas," said Adi Eshman, playwright and writer's assistant for HBO's Mosaic.