The Festival of Jewish Theater & Ideas

New York City, May 20 - June 14 2009

This festival explored the connection between our “Theater of Ideas” and Jewish theater in our Festival of Jewish Theater and Ideas. The festival spanned a wide variety of genres and styles, including documentary theater, puppet theater, adaptations, commedia del’arte, Yiddish theater, Israeli theater, midrash, cabaret, and burlesque. Subjects include Emma Goldman, Einstein, Freud, hematology, biblical characters, Tel Aviv, atheism, orthodoxy, belief, Jewish legends, Israeli war and politics, and the portrayal of Jews on the 19th century stage. It includes nine world premieres, an English-language premiere of a Sholem Aleichem play, and the New York premiere of noted Israeli playwright Motti Lerner.

Also, in conjunction with our festival, we hosted the Association of Jewish Theatre's annual conference on Jewish theater .