Theater J
Theater J, located in the heart of Washington, DC, is the nation’s pre-eminent professional Jewish theater. Founded in 1990 as a program of the EDCJCC, Theater J began with a series of staged readings and in 1991 produced its first plays, under the leadership of founding Artistic Director Martin Blank. Theater J’s initial home was a forty-seat black box theater at 1836 Jefferson Place, NW, the original home of the EDCJCC. In 1993, Artistic Director Randye Hoeflich took the helm, producing the first full season and preparing the theater to move to a larger, permanent home. In 1997, the DCJCC moved into its current space, the Irwin P. Edlavitch Building, at 1529 Sixteenth Street, NW, which housed a newly built 238-seat proscenium theater.
The Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center, home to Theater J.
When we had the opportunity to talk with Theater J’s Artistic Director Adam Immerwahr. he told us: “Theater J is always striving to present the best of Jewish theater concerning Jewish culture and heritage that is thought-provoking, joyful and engages the audience. Now more than ever, it’s critical that we tell stories of our history and learn from lessons of the past and we need plays that teach us resilience.”
Immerwahr said: “Theater J aspires to produce exciting plays that connect with Jewish ideas and values and what excites me the most is discovering forgotten plays. The Jewish Queen Lear,” for example, is a masterpiece of the Yiddish theater and I’m thrilled to be able to bring it to the stage for Washington, DC audiences. The production is the first full production of the Yiddish Theater Lab. Theater J’s new initiative is dedicated to preserving and reviving the forgotten literature of the Yiddish Theater. With the Lab, directors and playwrights will uncover and re-interpret nearly-forgotten Yiddish classics in new English language readings, workshops, commissions, and eventually productions.”
“Yentl” at Theater J. (Top row, L. to R.): Brandon McCoy, Amy McWilliams, Mark Bergman, Lindsay Elizabeth Williams, and Shane O’Loughlin. (Bottom row L. to R): Aaron Bliden, Sara Dabney Tisdale, Shanta Parasuraman, Judith Ingber, and Joe Brack.
He continued saying: “It is vital that Theater J’s plays illuminate and examine the ethical questions of our time, bringing forth inter-cultural experiences that parallel our own and present the changing landscape of Jewish identity.”
“Everything Is Illuminated” at Theater J (L.- R.) Billy Finn, Eric Hissom, and Alex Alferov in rehearsal for at Theater Photo: Laurie Levy-Page).
He went on to say: “I’m also very excited about the renovation of the EDCJCC, and theatergoers will see a renewed and refreshed theater with new seats, lighting, carpet and much more modernized when the historic building reopens. As far as the selection of the theatrical season, I am the ultimate decision maker, but there is a Theater J Advisory Council, Literary Director and Associate Producer that I work with each year.”
“To help support Theater J, there is an innovative method called “Free Refills,” which allows subscribers to come back to a show they love as many times as they want. Theater J also believes access to art is a right, not a privilege and offers a “Passports Free Ticket Program” that is designed to provide meaningful access to art to critically underserved communities.”
“And every season, Theater J provides over four-hundred free tickets to clients of homeless and women’s shelters, low-income senior citizens, and students throughout the D.C. metro area. My goal as Artistic Director is to offer our Theater J patrons, an extraordinary experience in an intimate setting and now with anti-semitism on the rise, it’s paramount to show how we need to understand our differences and empathize with “the other.” Most importantly, I hope all the plays that are presented at Theater J will get audiences ‘thinking and open to new conversations.’”
Susan Rome as Louise Nevelson in Edward Albee’s “Occupant” at Theater J. (Photo: C. Stanley Photography, courtesy: Theater J).
Theater J’s on-going initiative, Yiddish Theater Lab, is dedicated to preserving and reviving the forgotten literature of the Yiddish Theater. Join us as directors and playwrights uncover and re-interpret nearly forgotten Yiddish classics in new English language readings, workshops, commissions, and eventually productions. The Yiddish Theater Lab is supported by The Marinus and Minna B. Koster Foundation, Natalie Wexler and James Feldman, and The Leshowitz Family Foundation, Terry Singer.
June 2020 Readings include “Miriam” by Alix Sobler, freely adapted from Peretz Hirschbein’s “Miryam,” directed by Laley Lippard, June 7th at 5:00 PM, live on Zoom, or available to stream until June 10 at midnight. Theater J commissioned Alix Sobler to write this adaptation in the first year of the Yiddish Theater Lab, during the 2017-2018 season. Over the past two years, Theater J has supported the development of this play through numerous conversations and by hosting a closed reading of an early draft of the play in the spring of 2018. “Miriam” is already garnering national attention, having been chosen as a finalist for the 2019 O’Neill Festival.
Second in their Yiddish Theater Lab series is “One of Those” by Paula Prilutski, adapted and translated by Allen Lewis Rickman, directed by Kevin Place, June 18th at 5:30 PM, live on Zoom, or available to stream until June 21 at midnight. “One of Those” is a forgotten gem of the Yiddish Theater, recently given new life through Allen Lewis Rickman’s beautiful adaptation and translation which was presented as a staged reading by YIVO in May of 2018. Without a doubt, Prilutski’s epic, proto-feminist drama was ahead of its time when she wrote it in 1912. We feel strongly that it still has something to say about independent women living in an un-free world today.
2019-2020 Reading Series included “A Hidden Corner,” by Perest Hirschbein, translated by David S. Lifson, directed by Brendon Fox, February 3, 2020.
Recent productions include “The Pianist of Willesden Lane” featuring Mona Golabek, “Actually,” Lanford Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize winning play “Talley’s Folly,” and Jacob Gordin’s “The Jewish Queen Lear, “ directed by Theater J’s Artistic Director Adam Immerwahr.
Theater J’s ZOOM classes include: “Inside the Actor’s Process with Naomi Jacobson; “The Actor’s Approach to Torah” with Tyler Herman, “The Actor’s Art of Communication and Persuasion” with Paul Morella, “Writing Your Life Story” with Caleen Sinnette Jennings, “The Business of Show Business” with Theater J Managing Director, Jojo Ruf; and “Beyond the Script” with Theater J Artistic Director, Adam Immerwahr.
Theater J has been honored with the Washington D.C. Mayor’s Arts Award for Excellence in an Artistic Discipline, over seventy Helen Hayes nominations and nine Helen Hayes Awards. Notable productions include: Dan O’Brien’s “The Body of an American”, winner of the 2014 Horton Foote Prize for Outstanding New American Play; “Golda’s Balcony;” the world-premiere of Caleen Sinnette Jennings’ “Queens Girl in the World;”and Tony Kushner’s “The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures.” For info: Theater J is located at 1529 16th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036, (202) 777-3210, www.theaterj.org
Tovah Feldshuh as Golda Meir in “Golda’s Balcony” at Theater J.
