ZIONISTA RISING Wins 12th National Jewish Playwriting Contest

ZIONISTA RISING by Alexa Derman has won the 12th Annual Jewish Playwriting Contest. The play - a hilarious, sharp-witted play about the American Jewish obsession with Israel - was chosen from six Finalists by the combined efforts of over 500 audience members in 9 cities in the U.S. and Israel, including Silicon Valley, Boston, Houston, Charlotte, Chicago, Fairfax, Hartford, Tel Aviv and New York City.

ZIONISTA RISING by Alexa Derman (Providence, RI)
Two interns at a Jewish publication struggle with their latest assignment: rebranding Zionism as progressive, #girlboss, and Gen Z via Instagram. A playwright struggles, too.

Derman's play will receive two months of developmental support and be presented in the JPP's signature Reading+ format at the Marlene Myerson JCC Manhattan for industry and public audiences on September 11, 2023.

"My Jewish identity and my passion for playwriting are deeply intertwined," said Ms. Derman, "so I am honored that my play won this year's competition. I can't wait to continue to develop the play with the JPP this fall."

ZIONISTA RISING was voted the winner at the special National Contest Finals event last Thursday at the JTS Hendel Center for Ethics and Justice. This one-of-a-kind event is a combination of a TED Talk, a play reading and American Idol. Each play was introduced by Mr. Winitsky, then a 20-minute excerpt was read. The hybrid audience of over 150 theater lovers then took a final vote, and selected Derman's play as the most important and cutting-edge Jewish play of the year.

The cast for the event included Obie-winner and Drama Desk nominee Marcia Jean Kurtz, Annie Meisels ("Mrs. Maisel", "Blue Bloods"), Ella Dershowitz ("The Affair" on Showtime), Lambert Tamin (Julliard Group 53), Maia Karo (Clubbed Thumb, "The Blacklist"), Jeena Yi ("Good Enemy" on Audible) directed by Illana Stein (NYU Stella Adler) and Will Steinberger (Second Stage).

The other Finalists include VIENNA, VIENNA, VIENNA by longtime American Contemporary Theater Artistic Director Carey Perloff and RETURN by past JPP Finalist Beth Kander, as well as Audrey Lang (NYC), Stephen Kaplan (NJ) and Ron Elisha (Melbourne, Australia). The Finalists for the National Jewish Playwriting Contest were selected from over 250 submissions from 30 states and 5 countries.

Says Finalist Perloff, "As a finalist for JPP, I've loved being part of a cohort of writers exploring the many facets of Jewish identity at a fairly perilous moment in our history - it's been a joy and we've felt so well taken care of."

"This is one of our strongest groups of plays," said Mr. Winitsky, "covering the most pressing stories in the Jewish world. Jews confronting injustice, American Jews and Israel, Jews in the face of anti-Semitism, Jews facing off with each other. This is the reason the JPP exists - to find plays that matter, and to champion them as they move onto the best stages in the world."

Find full information on all of the plays - including writer or agent contact information - at the JPP's website: www.jewishplaysproject.org. Interested producers, agents, and literary managers can email plays@jewishplaysproject.org.

About Alexa Derman

Alexa Derman writes adventurous plays about gender, genre, systems, and speculation. Her plays include THE CREATURE (O'Neill NPC Finalist), PSYCHOPSYCHOTIC (Relentless Award Honorable Mention), GIRLISH (Fresh Ink), RESTORATION MASTER RESET (Cutting Ball in WAYS TO LEAVE A BODY), and I'LL BE IN MY HANUKKAH PALACE (sold-out at Ars Nova ANT Fest). Finalist: Playwrights Realm Writing Fellowship, the O'Neill, Jewish Plays Project (current), Seven Devils; semifinalist: Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Irons in the Fire; long-list: Theatre 503 International Playwriting Prize (x2). Other honors and experiences include: nomination for the Cherry Lane Mentor Project, L Arnold Weissberger Award, and the Susan Smith Blackburn; participation in Orchard Project's Audio Lab; selection as a Playwrights Center Core Apprentice (mentored by Sheila Callaghan); and recently working as a staff writer on a Netflix series. She is currently under commission from Manhattan Theatre Club via the Sloan Foundation. BA from Yale in Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies; brand-new MFA from Brown, where she studied under Julia Jarcho. alexaderman.com

About The Jewish Playwriting Contest

The Jewish Playwriting Contest seeks to discover, highlight, and nurture contemporary Jewish drama by engaging with artistic and Jewish communities throughout the English-speaking world. The Contest has received and vetted over 1,850 plays by 1,200 writers in 32 states and 9 countries. The JPP has actively developed 55 of those plays, 35 of which have gone on to production in cities across the globe, including New York, Los Angeles, London, and Tel Aviv, playing for more than 100,000 audience members.

About The Jewish Plays Project

The Jewish Plays Project, founded in 2011, identifies, develops, and presents new works of theater via one-of-a-kind explorations of contemporary Jewish identity between audiences, artists, and patrons. The JPP's innovative and competitive development process engages Jewish communities in the vetting, selecting, and championing of new voices and secures mainstream production opportunities for the best new plays.

The JPP has featured some of the best artists working in New York, including writers David Hein and Irene Sankoff (Come from Away), Robert Askins (Hand to God), and Lauren Yee (Cambodian Rock Band); directors Marc Bruni (Beautiful), Daniella Topol (Artistic Director, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre), and Tamilla Woodard (WP Theater, 3LD); and actors Andrew Polk (The Band's Visit), Ronald Guttman (Mad Men, Homeland), Kirrilee Berger (Amazon's Just Add Magic), and Obie and Drama Desk nominee Marcia Jean Kurtz.