Jennie Berman Eng

Jennie Berman Eng is the 2020 Winner of The Jewish Play Prize for her play, A Moving Picture. She was a 2017-2018 member of Playwrights Arena at Arena Stage and a 2014 and 2016 Theater J Locally Grown Playwright. Jennie’s plays have been performed in New York, DC, Colorado, and Los Angeles. Jennie is currently a screenwriter at WILL Interactive, and has served as a teaching artist for Ford's Theatre, Young Playwrights Theater, Writopialab-DC, and as a writing coach/mentor through Shout Mouse Press. MFA, The New School for Drama. Member,The Dramatists Guild.

Jennie Berman Eng is the 2020 Winner of The Jewish Play Prize for her play, A Moving Picture. She was a 2017-2018 member of Playwrights Arena at Arena Stage and a 2014 and 2016 Theater J Locally Grown Playwright. Jennie’s plays have been performed in New York, DC, Colorado, and Los Angeles. Jennie is currently a screenwriter at WILL Interactive, and has served as a teaching artist for Ford's Theatre, Young Playwrights Theater, Writopialab-DC, and as a writing coach/mentor through Shout Mouse Press. MFA, The New School for Drama. Member,The Dramatists Guild.

Scripts

A Moving Picture

by Jennie Berman Eng

Synopsis

Four NYU film students are chosen for an elite screenwriting class, to be taught by legendary screenwriter, Solzberg. The class is cross-listed with Holocaust Studies, and students are tasked with writing scripts about that era. One of the students, Ivy, finally confronts her own family history in the Holocaust, and as her script about Jewish women in a Mercedes Benz’ labor camp is read in class, it comes to...

Four NYU film students are chosen for an elite screenwriting class, to be taught by legendary screenwriter, Solzberg. The class is cross-listed with Holocaust Studies, and students are tasked with writing scripts about that era. One of the students, Ivy, finally confronts her own family history in the Holocaust, and as her script about Jewish women in a Mercedes Benz’ labor camp is read in class, it comes to life onstage--with her classmates and professor as fellow prisoners and Nazi guards. As they analyze Ivy's script for accuracy and storytelling, Solzberg's own integrity comes into question. When he demands Ivy kill off her protagonist, the class and the teacher confront some ugly truths about themselves, the business they're in, and human nature.

Exit Carolyn

by Jennie Berman Eng

Synopsis

When Lorna and Julie face the loss of their mutual best friend, they struggle to fill the void in their lives (and their apartment) with sympathy danishes, a bizarre new roommate, and unexpected romance. In the midst of grief and gorging their friendship is put to the test. Can it survive?

When Lorna and Julie face the loss of their mutual best friend, they struggle to fill the void in their lives (and their apartment) with sympathy danishes, a bizarre new roommate, and unexpected romance. In the midst of grief and gorging their friendship is put to the test. Can it survive?

Cherry

by Jennie Berman Eng

Synopsis

18-year-old high school student Kim puts her virginity for auction on eBay. Her political candidate mother demands she remove it before it ruins her campaign. Her lawyer father makes jokes about how her "first time should be special". And her best friend Perry, secretly in love with her, can't understand why she'd do it with a stranger, but not him. Set in the 1990s as the internet is becoming a growing part of...

18-year-old high school student Kim puts her virginity for auction on eBay. Her political candidate mother demands she remove it before it ruins her campaign. Her lawyer father makes jokes about how her "first time should be special". And her best friend Perry, secretly in love with her, can't understand why she'd do it with a stranger, but not him. Set in the 1990s as the internet is becoming a growing part of daily life, and just as third wave feminism is sweeping campuses, teenager Kim must reconcile what it is to be a young woman with agency.

Whenever You're Near Me I Feel Sick

by Jennie Berman Eng

Synopsis

Twenty-something’s Wendy and Andre are in love with each other, but to admit that would mean taking chances, making a commitment and being adults. And so when Andre tells Wendy he does love her, has always loved her, she makes jokes, and he moves away and moves on. Except that neither ever really moves on, and neither really grows up. Apart from each other, Wendy and Andre stagnate professionally, and stumble...

Twenty-something’s Wendy and Andre are in love with each other, but to admit that would mean taking chances, making a commitment and being adults. And so when Andre tells Wendy he does love her, has always loved her, she makes jokes, and he moves away and moves on. Except that neither ever really moves on, and neither really grows up. Apart from each other, Wendy and Andre stagnate professionally, and stumble through marriages to other people. When they run into each other eight years later, with children in tow, they are forced to confront what they have always felt. Can they finally be grown-ups?

Bethesda

by Jennie Berman Eng

Synopsis

Diplomat Barry and his family have recently returned to Washington, D.C., after a mysterious scandal abroad involving Barry's mistress. Barry is now very far down the State Department ladder, and wife Joy is working her networking magic and reinstate Barry as quickly as possible. But their teenage kids can’t seem to get on the perfect Bethesda family bandwagon, as they’re still confused by the abrupt exit from...

Diplomat Barry and his family have recently returned to Washington, D.C., after a mysterious scandal abroad involving Barry's mistress. Barry is now very far down the State Department ladder, and wife Joy is working her networking magic and reinstate Barry as quickly as possible. But their teenage kids can’t seem to get on the perfect Bethesda family bandwagon, as they’re still confused by the abrupt exit from Bolivia, and unwilling to join the socialite ranks at fast-paced Sidwell Friends School. When son Kevin discovers his sister Hildy is cheating on her Bolivian boyfriend, he runs away. The family tracks him down to the airport, where he’s trying to return to La Paz, and all of the past and its secrets come to head in a violent clash between father and son.

A Letter to the Draft Board

by Jennie Berman Eng

Synopsis

It's 1970 and Jon's draft number is up. He goes in search of a way out, and finds himself in a psychiatrist's office. But before Dr. Klein will help him, Jon has to prove himself.

It's 1970 and Jon's draft number is up. He goes in search of a way out, and finds himself in a psychiatrist's office. But before Dr. Klein will help him, Jon has to prove himself.

Don Quixote: The Tales of Don Q

by Jennie Berman Eng

Synopsis

In this updated, young audience-friendly version of Don Quixote, our hero, Donald, is a teenager with a propensity for reading. While his peers are busy texting and taking selfies, Donald reads about knights and chivalry. Feeling so disillusioned with his generation, Donald decides to become a knight errant, seeking adventures in his native land of suburban Denver. He enlists his neighbor, eight-year-old Julia...

In this updated, young audience-friendly version of Don Quixote, our hero, Donald, is a teenager with a propensity for reading. While his peers are busy texting and taking selfies, Donald reads about knights and chivalry. Feeling so disillusioned with his generation, Donald decides to become a knight errant, seeking adventures in his native land of suburban Denver. He enlists his neighbor, eight-year-old Julia, who he calls Sancho Panza, and she becomes his squire. Using their scooters and a broom for horses, and garbage can lids as armor, they encounter a wind farm, which Donald mistakes for giants attacking them. Time after time, Donald mistakes an innocent situation for an attack on his knighthood. Though his quest to win the love of his paramour, Dulcinea, is unrequited, Donald remains dedicated to chivalry. With original, comedic songs, Don Q convinces everyone around him to live in the moment, look up from their screens, and embrace a life of adventure.