Victor Wishna

(FULL-LENGTH, ONE ACT) The remarkable true saga of August Bondi, an idealistic Jewish immigrant who flees revolution in Europe for America and joins the fight against slavery alongside radical abolitionist John Brown—until he's forced to question whether his hero's righteous war has gone too far. From the streets of Vienna to the prairies of Kansas, Bondi animatedly relives the relationships, battles, and choices that shaped his life and the course of a fractured nation.

(60-MINUTE ONE ACT) When high-schooler Ruthie volunteers in a classroom for young refugees, she clashes with Patience, a sharp and guarded student who challenges her assumptions. But a chance encounter with a mysterious young woman—foreign yet oddly familiar—forces Ruthie to confront a critical question: What does it truly mean to welcome the stranger, and what am I willing to do about it? Inspired by real-life experiences of young refugees, First Generation is a thought-provoking and urgently relevant new play about identity, belonging, and the power of empathy—inviting audiences to explore the complexities of finding home in a new world.

(FULL-LENGTH, TWO ACTS) A Finalist in the 2022 National Jewish Playwriting Contest: Sixty-something widower Ken clings to his proud but slowly dying Jewish congregation in the tiny town of Wiconee, Iowa; visiting graduate student Marianela represents a burgeoning community of Colombians who have only recently rediscovered their Jewish roots. As Mari’s true intentions are revealed, the synagogue’s antique Torah scroll—the rolled parchment containing the handwritten five books of Moses, referred to in Jewish tradition as an etz chayim, “tree of life”—becomes a critical character in the bittersweet (and occasionally comic) drama that unfolds. Interlocking with the present narrative of Congregation Etz Chayim’s demise, the story of the synagogue’s origins and its Torah’s mysterious past plays out in the same space, a century before. Inspired by real events, through a tale that explores little-known realities of recent history and shifts between continents and across centuries, Tree of Life should provoke us to examine the elements of our own identities. How—through what connections—do we define who we are? Do we belong to our past, or does it belong to us? What do we hold onto, and when should we let go?

(FULL-LENGTH, ONE ACT) A group of (mostly) Jewish theatre makers decide it’s time to do right by Hanukkah and create the best Hanukkah show EVER for playhouses and JCCs nationwide to produce every holiday season. You know, like A Christmas Carol… but Jewish-er. But what should it be? What stories should they tell? As they struggle to come up with a show before their first performance, we are treated to a series of sketches that will leave audiences of all stripes in stitches and begin a new holiday tradition.

(FULL-LENGTH, ONE ACT) Amanda, a hospital volunteer with a guardian-angel complex, meets her newest assignment, Bud, a terminally ill patient with very little patience. She's a benevolent soul; he’s a bitter Navy vet with one last mission to complete—and he insists it’s a solo. An irresistible force meets an immovable, bed-ridden object, and as the conversation jumps from cancer to kabballah to hypno-birth to day-drinking in front of koalas at the San Diego Zoo, both are forced to reexamine what they want, why they’re here, and what exactly they are going to do about it. With warmth, wit, and bite, DNR explores the complexities of human connection and asks, what does it mean to be alone? What does it mean to be alive?

(FULL-LENGTH, TWO ACTS) Ben, a struggling novelist, has lucked into the gig of a lifetime: ghostwriting a memoir for Esther Lindman, the colorful and infamously outspoken widow of one of the 20th century’s greatest American artists. But when the stories don’t add up, and new pressures mount at home, Ben just digs deeper, soon discovering that truth—like art—is in the eye of the beholder.

(SHORT ONE-ACT) When her locker is vandalized with a swastika, Jewish high-schooler Joni asks to meet with the fellow student who drew it--rather than have him expelled--in the hope that he might come to understand the impact of what he has done, even as it is too late to prevent unintended consequences.

"Thank You For Meeting Me Here" was commissioned by the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City as part of the Jewish Federations of North America's national Shine a Light on Antisemitism initiative.

(10-MINUTE) Billy and Morty, two goats (just go with it) en route to the Temple in Jerusalem, discuss the profound implications of what might happen when they arrive. "A short midrash in one act" on the chapter of the Torah that is read on Yom Kippur.

(SHORT ONE-ACT) An aging television actor gets the dreaded call from the man upstairs--his producer.

(SHORT ONE-ACT) A young woman encounters a young man, an expectant father, in the waiting room of a hospital near Disneyland; a conversation that tackles fears of the future and frustrations of the past ultimately comes full circle.

(10-MINUTE) At an art gallery opening, a young man interrupts a young woman who is waiting to meet her online date—and urges her to reconsider her first impressions.

(10-MINUTE) At the starting gate of a dilapidated dog-racing track, in the moments before what will turn out to be their final race, three relatively contemplative and articulate greyhounds—the young hotshot Flash O’Lightning, the grizzled vet Blue Smoke Risin’, and the morally conflicted Atta Girl—consider their current situation and the changed life awaiting them.