Dana Leslie Goldstein

Catherine and Pete have been divorced for years, but Pete has never been happy about it. When he wangles an invitation to their daughter’s holiday gathering, Catherine is surprised by more than just his presence.

Judith’s dream job is to work at Bardtopia, an extremely popular Shakespeare-themed amusement park. When she finally lands an interview, things don’t turn out exactly as she’d hoped.

Against her better judgment, Letty bails her grandson out of jail and takes him in. But what he really wants from her isn't something she's willing to give.

It’s time to come out of his room for dinner, but Sammy can’t stop when he’s so close to finishing the project that’s going to solve all his problems.

Amy needs help caring for her grandfather. But her grandfather is pretty sure that she needs more help than he does. Their conflict takes an unexpected turn in this intergenerational superhero origin story.

Sylvie and Tess are sisters, but they may as well have grown up in two different homes. Years later, Tess wants to know Sylvie, if it’s not too late.

Marion has resolved to face her fear of flying. What could go wrong?

Rennie is on the verge of losing his beloved comic book shop. When Alana walks in, everything starts to change. Secret identities are revealed, but it’s going to take more than super-strength to forge a new origin story.

Matthew and Leah are old hats at loss, unlucky in – well – pretty much everything. Can that change when they meet each other?

It’s 1976. Joyce and Nina are married suburban moms, and they’re having an affair. With each other. Joyce’s daughter, Stacia, has just started college, and she has nothing like the sexual constraints her mother experienced. Against the backdrop of post-Nixon America, valium abuse and the six million dollar man, every character in Daughters of the Sexual Revolution is confronted with ethical choices, as they wrestle with their own fears and notions of who they are, and what it means to be faithful.

Sally Kaplan’s hit comic book “Cyclone” is set in the glamorous, seedy Coney Island of the 1920's, where Cyclone, a sultry gypsy heartbreaker, and her freakish twin sister, the Pig-Faced Lady, always save the day. But in the real world, there are no superheroes, and Sally must find a way to become the hero of her own story. (Book & lyrics are by Dana Leslie Goldstein, music is by Rima Fand.)

On a liberal college campus in 1985, the students rally for divestment from South Africa. The faculty congratulate themselves on their past as warriors for civil rights. But when a controversial speaker is invited to campus, free speech becomes a battle cry, and those who fought together to end injustice are suddenly on opposing sides. Racially charged incidents occur, and every character is changed as they realize how far there still is to go and are forced to reevaluate their own role in the struggle.

Abraham Mendel escaped the Nazis and fought for Israeli independence. Now in his seventies, he’s a contractor in Brooklyn, with adult daughters who won’t do what he says. If he can’t let go of his regrets, he will never be the hero that he thinks his family needs him to be. But maybe a hero isn’t what they need.

Can love really conquer all? In this four-character, romantic farce, the answer is a resounding yes. George and Sylvia are senior citizens with a lust for life and each other. Ted and Christina are young academics who over-think everything. When Sylvia plays matchmaker for the younger couple, the results defy death, fate and a bad tarot reading. Love is in the air and in the cards.

Erica and Maggie couldn’t be more different, or at least that’s how it seems to them. When Erica, very pregnant and two weeks overdue, begs Maggie to use her acupuncture and massage skills to help her go into labor, the sisters embark on an unexpected path.

They’re an unlikely pair, but Elizabeth and Teddy have been happily married for decades. After Teddy’s passing, Elizabeth struggles to find a way to go on without him, but maybe she doesn’t have to.

Evan has been living in the woods, off the grid, for years. He abandoned his wife, his child, his job and his identity, with no explanation. When Evan’s father dies, Evan’s older brother, Mitch, comes looking for him. Arrows fly, blood is spilled, bourbon flows, and old wounds may have a slim chance at being healed.

Edie and Lang are having some issues in their marriage. When they visit an extremely unconventional therapist, everything changes in unexpected ways.

An estranged daughter comes to know her late mother, a cookbook writer, through the recipes and cooking tools she left behind. In a larger sense, EAT DESSERT FIRST is about how parents feed their children, not just with food, but with their own hopes and disappointments and absence. The title of the play refers to the title of one of the mother's cookbooks, but EAT DESSERT FIRST is also advice the mother gives, that ultimately leads the daughter on a journey toward forgiveness.

When elderly sisters Chana and Rifke visit Ellis Island to see the new American Immigrant Wall of Honor and search for their father’s name, the past becomes the present, and long-held questions may be answered.

This original musical for young audiences recounts the year leading up to the first recorded Thanksgiving in 1621, a time when Pilgrims and Wampanoag Native Americans worked together. Without help from the Native Americans, the colonists would never have survived. Enough for All is told from the perspective of both colonists and Wampanoag villagers, who eventually put aside their differences and learn to trust each other as human beings. When they sit down together to give thanks, they are beginning the tradition that we celebrate today. Though we know that this hopeful beginning is short-lived, at least for this moment, there is enough for all. (Book & lyrics are by Dana Leslie Goldstein, music is by Jonathan Goldstein.)

Eleanor Roosevelt had a view of American history few can rival. In this play for young audiences, she shares her amazing journey: from her sheltered childhood at the turn of the century, to her volunteer work, on to her support of women's suffrage, to her life as a first lady through depression and war, and then beyond that, to her active role in the blossoming civil rights movement, among other achievements. Whether writing her famous column, My Day, or presiding over a meeting of diplomats at the United Nations, Eleanor Roosevelt's perspective on the twentieth century was unique and fascinating.

“With Nothing but a Dream” is the story of four families from different corners of the globe who come to America in 1918, and pass through Ellis Island together. Only some are allowed to stay and pursue their dreams. This play is designed to be performed by and for students.

"Somebody in America" (book & lyrics by Dana Leslie Goldstein and music by John Bronston) is the musical story of four families from different corners of the globe who come to America in 1918, and pass through Ellis Island together. Only some are allowed to stay and pursue their dreams. This play is designed to be performed by and for students.

In this sometimes comedic and sometimes poignant monolog, Anzia Yezierska, a true-life, one-of-a-kind writer and celebrity, gives a more or less honest recounting of her ups and downs as a woman, an immigrant and an iconoclast, in New York and Hollywood.