24/6: A Jewish Theatre Company to Present TELEPHONE PLAYS Featuring Plays from Dael Orlandersmith and More

When theaters shut down during COVID, the effects of social isolation have been acutely felt by senior citizens and those who are housebound. In response, 24/6: A Jewish Theater Company has commissioned a diverse group of 16 playwrights to write 10 minute plays to be performed over the telephone one-on-one by individual volunteers to individual senior citizens and others who are housebound and don't have easy access to the internet. 24/6 piloted the project with two social service organizations in Manhattan, the Jewish Community Council of Washington Heights & Inwood and the Center for Adults Living Well @ The YM&YWHA of Washington Heights & Inwood. Since last October, 24/6 expanded Telephone Plays via a partnership with DOROT's University Without Wall program in which each play is performed over the phone for a group of up to 15 seniors followed by a conversation about how the themes of the play relate to their own lives. The fall season of Telephone Plays via DOROT's University Without Walls from September 12 - November 28, 2022.

Last month WCBS NewsRadio 880 featured Telephone Plays as part of their "Difference Makers" series and artistic director Yoni Openheim and the company were honored with Multiplying Good's Jefferson Award.

The commissioned playwrights represent a cross section of American Theater ranging from Pulitzer Prize finalist Dael Orlandersmith, Obie winner Caridad Svich, and acclaimed playwright Catherine Filloux. Playwrights currently capturing the theater community's attention: Catherine Weingarten, Deneen Reynolds-Knott, Lameece Issaq, Margot Connolly, Molly Olis Krost, Rokhl Kafrissen, and Vichet Chum. Writers who have long been involved with 24/6: Jessica Schechter, Avi Mermelstein, Miryam Madrigal, Jonathan Bernstein, Orian Israelsohn and Tyler Herman.

All performances via DOROT's University Without Walls telephone program.

Section A:

Monday September 12, 2022
Monday September 19, 2022
Monday October 3, 2022

Section B:

Monday November 14, 2022
Monday November 21, 2022
Monday November 28, 2022

Seniors can register for free for TELEPHONE PLAYS via DOROT's University Without Walls: Call 1-877-819-9147 E-mail uww@dorotusa.org or register online at: https://dorotusa.jotform.com/92925604466161? To view UWW catalog: https://www.dorotusa.org/sites/default/files/2022-08/UWW_Fall_2022_Catalog.pdf

If these dates/times do not work, please email info@246theater.com to schedule an alternate time of performance.

TELEPHONE PLAYS is made possible in part with funding from UMEZ Arts Engagement, a regrant program supported by the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation (UMEZ) and administered by LMCC.

About 24/6: A Jewish Theater Company

24/6: A JEWISH THEATER COMPANY, founded in 2010, is a home for professional Sabbath-observant artists in New York. 24/6 is committed to cultivating innovative theater grounded in a rigorous engagement with Jewish tradition, believing that the performing arts play a critical role in the vitality of American Jewish life. 24/6 was featured on the PBS/WNET Channel 13's Theater Talk. Past productions: World premiere translation of Last Tree in Jerusalem by Israeli playwright Dani Horowitz and A Page of Talmud by Dani Horowitz.World Premiere of Looking Through Glass by Ken Kaissar, A Dybbuk for Two People, If Not Now by Ken Kaissar, an original translation and adaptation of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, staged for the Jewish arbor day of Tu Bishvat as a ritual seder and invited to Limmud NY 2015; a performance of Passover Plays an evening of short works for the holiday, including Tony Kushner's Notes on Akiba, two original works by company members Ken Kaissar and Chai Hecht, and an excerpt of August Strindberg's rarely done play Through Deserts to Ancestral Lands (Moses). The company debuted with the original piece Sabbath Variations: The Splendor of Space, a collection of short plays based on interpretations of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel's texts. Sabbath Variations made its international debut several months later as part of the Stage One English Language Play Festival in Israel and its regional debut at LimmudPhilly in 2012. In its first year, 24/6 also went on to produce a modern-day Purim-time adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's classic A Doll House, which was reviewed to critical acclaim in the New York Post, The Jewish Week, and Ibsen News and Comment. The Sixth Street Synagogue invited 24/6 to be the theater company in residence for the 2011-2012 season, featuring a successful reading series that included Brooklyn Boy by Donald Margulies, Searching for Eden: The Diaries of Adam and Eve by James Still, and The Victims: Or What Do You Want Me To Do About It? written by company member Ken Kaissar. On its first anniversary, 24/6 was commissioned to write and perform a short musical for John Zorn presents: Nittle Nacht (Xmas Eve) Radical Jewish Culture Blowout. 24/6 continues to grow and participate in broader cultural conversation. It collaborated with Theater Communications Group (TCG) for SHINSAI: Theaters for Japan, a national theater benefit for the 2010 earthquake victims in Japan. To mark the 70th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, 24/6 partnered with New Jersey Repertory Company for their staged reading of the Richard Rodgers Award-winning musical To Paint the Earth by Jonathan Portera and Daniel F. Levin. 24/6 continues to expand its reach through the development of a children's theater program including an interactive The Purim Story written and directed by Stacy Horowitz. It has received seed funding from the Dorot Foundation to create a show for Jewish middle-school students addressing bullying and peer harassment. 24/6 is a recipient of a 2017 and 2019 Creative Engagement Grant from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts. 24/6: A Jewish Theater Company is incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

Led by Yoni Oppenheim, 24/6: A Jewish Theater Company is the first of its kind: a professional Jewish theater company and an artistic home for professional Sabbath-observant Jewish artists. It aims to provide a space for these artists to create cutting-edge, contemporary work, featuring a talented ensemble of actors, writers, directors, dancers, and puppeteers. 24/6: A Jewish Theater Company was founded by Avi Soroka, Jesse Freedman and Yoni Oppenheim.

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