←Jewish Plays Project

The Jewish Plays Project recommends SPEAK FREELY as a Semi-Finalist for the 11th annual Jewish Playwriting Contest. Our community of readers appreciated this story of assimilation, social aspiration and inherited trauma. This play has strong characterization and builds tension with not knowing who to trust, as well as slowly building the anxiety as characters never get the full truth from loved ones. SPEAK FREELY rose to the top of 20 out of 250 plays and we hope this play swiftly finds opportunities to reach new audiences.

The Jewish Plays Project recommends TAMAR, The Two-Gated City as a Semi-Finalist for the 11th annual Jewish Playwriting Contest. Our community of readers found this play highly compelling as it critiques a history that has marginalized and brutalized women, and examines the impact of not speaking out, in a manner that feels new and relevant. We enjoyed the poetic vision, the tension between perspectives, and the deep questioning of stories that we take at face value. TAMAR rose to the top 20 out of 250 plays and we hope this play swiftly finds opportunities to reach new audiences.

The Jewish Plays Project recommends THESE AND THOSE as a Semi-Finalist for the 11th annual Jewish Playwriting Contest. Our community of readers found this piece compelling as it dramatizes debates facing the modern Orthodox community today, and how beliefs change when violence becomes closer and more real. The play questions if it's more important to be right or safe---with characters that are highly recognizable and specific. THESE AND THOSE rose to the top 20 out of 250 plays and we hope this play swiftly finds opportunities to reach new audiences.

The Jewish Plays Project recommends WHERE THE LOVELIGHT GLEAMS as a Semi-Finalist for the 11th annual Jewish Playwriting Contest. Our community of readers felt this was an exciting, compelling story told in a highly theatrical, stylized way of fire, smoke, and shadows with beautiful poetic language that grabs our imaginations in how this will be staged. This play explores characters who have been dehumanized by society yet are deserving of love and redemption. WHERE THE LOVELIGHT GLEAMS rose to the top 20 out of 250 plays and we hope this play swiftly finds opportunities to reach new audiences.

The Jewish Plays Project recommends THE SECRET WISDOM OF TREES as a Semi-Finalist for the 11th annual Jewish Playwriting Contest. Our community of readers highly enjoyed this love letter and deeply moving tribute to a family coming to terms with multiple kinds of losses. This play explores the emotional journey of parents trying to keep promises to their deceased child that may cause more family turmoil. A beautiful play of enduring love through hardships. THE SECRET WISDOM OF TREES rose to the top 20 out of 250 plays and we hope this play swiftly finds opportunities to reach new audiences.

The Jewish Plays Project recommends SIMPLY SO MUCH NIGHT as a Semi-Finalist for the 11th annual Jewish Playwriting Contest. Our community of readers highly enjoyed the strong stylistic choices made in this story of women who dedicated their lives to tikkum olam and gives them a second chance at what they've denied themselves. This piece is a warm, ethereal dream-like world as characters discover life is not just about being a Mensch, but living fully. SIMPLY SO MUCH NIGHT rose to the top 20 out of 250 plays and we hope it swiftly finds opportunities to reach new audiences.

The Jewish Plays Project recommends NIGHTS OF BROKEN GLASS as a Semi-Finalist for the 11th annual Jewish Playwriting Contest. Our community of readers were compelled by how this play photographs a complicated, hardened matriarch and gives insights to her heartache. It captures the themes of loneliness, intergenerational trauma, entrenched grief, and letting go---as we can rarely capture a person wholly. The photography scene between the women is truly a stunning moment of theatricality. NIGHTS OF BROKEN GLASS rose to the top 20 out of 250 plays and we hope this play swiftly finds opportunities to reach new audiences.

The Jewish Plays Project recommends L'DOR v'DOR as a Semi-Finalist for the 11th annual Jewish Playwriting Contest. Our community of readers highly enjoyed how this play vocalized the inner struggles of a biracial Jewish multi-generation family in a way that feels fresh and different. This play asks:'what can be gleaned from past generations as we move forward with our lives?' and addresses the difficulty in moving forward. L'DOR v'DOR rose to the top 20 out of 250 plays and we hope this play swiftly finds opportunities to reach new audiences.

The Jewish Plays Project recommends FEMALE, ASHKENAZI WITH A SEWING MACHINE as a Semi-Finalist for the 11th annual Jewish Playwriting Contest. Our community of readers were compelled by the strong theatricality while bringing awareness to a genetic mutation within Ashkenazi community, through one woman's journey of love, sickness, and soul-searching. Our readers were highly moved and related to this poetic story of grace, love, and imagination as Anna discovers her identity. FEMALE, ASHKENAZI WITH A SEWING MACHINE... rose to the top of 20 out of 250 plays and we hope this play swiftly finds opportunities to reach new audiences.

The Jewish Plays Project recommends BERLINDIA! as a Semi-Finalist for the 11th annual Jewish Playwriting Contest. Our community of readers highly enjoyed the formal experimentation of this play capturing themes of migration, displacement, and wandering that feel inherently Jewish. This play asks the question: "if my family is my only home, what anchors me when my family grieving intergenerational trauma or disappears? This play is intersectional and gives JewBu characters their moment in the sun (or moon!). BERLINDIA! rose to the top of 20 out of 250 plays and we hope this play swiftly finds opportunities to reach new audiences.