Beth Harpaz

Susan writes a Jewish advice column and is troubled by letters from American families split by their contrasting views over Israel. As the play unfolds, she must cope with turmoil in her own family: One daughter gets kicked out of college after a pro-Palestine protest; another daughter announces she is moving to Israel; a third becomes engaged to a Muslim man. Only the youngest, prepping for her bat mitzvah, is above the fray. The strife is especially painful because Susan’s late husband was Israeli.
The story takes place during Sukkot. Susan awaits the arrival of biblical spirits associated with the holiday, hoping they might offer guidance, but is instead haunted by the ghost of the editor who originated the column she writes.
The play ends as the hostages are released, the war in Gaza ends, and Susan quits her job writing the column to forge a new beginning for herself.
"Susan and Her Daughters" takes its inspiration in part from "Fiddler," in which Tevye's values are repeatedly challenged by his wayward daughters and he is ultimately forced to abandon the old world of Anatevka. So, too, must Susan adjust her values and make a new start as the world around her changes.

“Katherine, Darling,” tells the story of a real-life transgender pioneer who lived in a small New England town in the 20th century. When a glamorous photo of her surfaces years after her death, those who knew her and loved her respond with an outpouring of stories about her, but ultimately come to realize that much of what she experienced is unknowable. NOTE THAT ACT I CAN BE PERFORMED WITHOUT ACT II.
ACT I: An LGBTQ+ teenager in crisis struggles to find acceptance on Pride Day. A passerby offers support by showing the teenager scenes from the life of Katherine Wells, who was a real-life transgender pioneer from a small New England town.
ACT II: The playwright of “Katherine, Darling,” defends the play to a critic who questions her right to write it. A writing teacher comes up with a new ending for the play that allows Katherine to express an aspect of her life that the critic felt was left out of Act I.

A woman refuses to replace her old kitchen appliances despite entreaties from her grown daughters.

A New Yorker and a tourist meet on the summer solstice on the Staten Island ferry. The tourist has lots of questions; the New Yorker only has some of the answers — along with a secret. (He’s homeless.) The tourist returns a year later with a baby girl, hoping to stay. Eighteen years later, the tourist’s daughter comes back to ride the ferry with the New Yorker whom her mother befriended long ago.

Larry and Lori argue in an airport as they wait for a family member who is late for the flight. A 10-minute drama about responsibility, compassion and addiction.

The Marquis de Lafayette comes to life out of a sculpture on July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. With him is a Black soldier, James Armistead, who served with him in the war. The two men find out that the democracy they fought for is in peril after speaking with an interracial lesbian couple on a Brooklyn street. They also find out that a Broadway show called "Hamilton" has made Lafayette a hero to a new generation. But can they use their time travel skills to alter history and save democracy in the 21st century?

Two people meet on the Staten Island Ferry. One is a student who's come to New York to study nursing and who hopes to stay here. The other is a native New Yorker with a secret. The student has a lot of questions about the contrasts she observes between the New York she's dreamed of and the New York she encounters in real life, but the New Yorker doesn't have all of the answers. The play takes its title from a line in an Edna St. Vincent Millay poem, "Recuerdo," about two people riding the ferry all night.

Victor was the worst cat who ever existed. He farted, he bit people, he vomited all over the place. So when he got old and sick, Lori didn't hesitate to have him euthanized by a veterinarian. But they say cats have nine lives, and Lori's husband Larry has to find a way to tell her that Victor might still have one life left.

A modern riff on the final scene in "The Odyssey," when Odysseus returns from years away to find suitors pursuing his wife Penelope. Only his old dog Argos recognizes him. In this new play inspired by that scene, "Homecoming," Jeff, the billionaire CEO of Cyclops Inc., tries to persuade Penny, publisher of The National Tribune, to sell the paper to him. The Trib is facing massive layoffs and bankruptcy, but Penny doesn't want to sell because she fears Jeff will compromise the Trib's editorial independence at a critical moment in U.S. history, when journalists must be watchdogs of power to help preserve our democracy. Also in the negotiation room are Leona, Trib board chair; Argos, Trib union shop steward and a veteran photographer who was attacked by a mob on Jan. 6; and a mysterious stranger who turns out to be Otis, a former star reporter who was fired years before in disgrace but has now returned with a secret plan to save the Trib.

Passengers on a train are confronted by a man spewing hate. To shut him down, they decide to start singing a song.

A mysterious stranger turns up in Venice Beach bearing good news as he wanders from the beach to Nowita Place to the canals and finally back to the mural of the Patron Saint of Venice. The locals think he’s a homeless man; his mother finally takes him home to Venice, Italy. It turns out that he is St. Mark, the Patron Saint of Venice.

CAITLYN is about to meet her fiancé BRIAN’s cousins at a family reunion. But first BRIAN’s brother JEFF has a few questions.

A diverse group of women who graduated from Archer High when it was an all-girl school gathers for a 40th class reunion. Amid their reminiscences about coming of age in the 1970s and being empowered by the feminist movement, they learn that their friend Ruby is in line for a seat on the Supreme Court. But Ruby’s success appears threatened by an incident from the past: She helped her friend Gabby get an abortion as a teenager after Gabby was date-raped, and a man who attended Archer after it went co-ed appears poised to derail Ruby’s nomination. Enter Heidi, another classmate with a tragedy in her past, who has a plan to quell the potential controversy.

Three neighbors gather during the COVID shutdown in New York City to witness a will-signing moments before the nightly 7 PM cheer.

A one-minute play about a complicated delivery at a bodega.

A wife flips out when her husband stinks up their hotel room by opening a can of sardines. Their comical bickering leads to tender revelations about Jewish culture and childhood memories.

A retired art teacher struggles to raise his troubled teenage grandson in New York City after the boy's mother dies in the pandemic. Grandpa comes to terms with his grief and his grandson through the healing power of art (including the iconic Japanese artwork for which the play is named) and a mysterious encounter with a stranger on a train. A series of women fill in for the missing boy's mother like a Greek chorus, offering reflections, warnings and hope.

A one-minute play in which a doctor informs a hospital visitor that their mother is dying and won't make it through the night.

A one-minute two-hander in which a mother is asked if the efforts she made to save her son were "worth it."

A one-minute play in which a young person in crisis texts an older person. They talk about grief and love.