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Theater J

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Coordinates:38°54′39.1″N77°2′8.9″W/ 38.910861°N 77.035806°W/38.910861; -77.035806
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the journal abbreviatedTheatre J.,seeTheatre Journal.
Theater J
TypeTheatre group
PurposeJewish Culture Theater
Location
Notable members
Martin Blank, Founding Artistic Director (1990–1993),
Ari Roth, Artistic Director (1997–2014),
Rebecca Ende Lichtenberg, Managing Director (2013-2022),
David Lloyd Olson, Managing Director (2021-present),
Hayley Finn, Artistic Director (2023-present)
Websitetheaterj.org

Theater Jis a professional theater company located inWashington, DC,founded to present works that "celebrate the distinctive urban voice andsocial visionthat are part of theJewish cultural legacy".[1]

Organization

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Theater J is housed in theWashington, D.C. Jewish Community Center(DCJCC).

Hailed byThe New York Timesas “The Premier Theater for Premieres,”[2]and recipient of 61 Helen Hayes nominations and awards,[citation needed]Theater J has emerged as a Jewish theater on the national scene.[according to whom?]A program of the Washington DC Jewish Community Center, Theater J performs in the Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater, part of theWashington, D.C. Jewish Community Center's Morris Cafritz Center for the Arts in D.C.'sDupont Circleneighborhood. Founding Artistic Director wasMartin Blank(1990-1993).[3]In December 2014,Ari Roth,Theater J's artistic director of 18 years, was fired after a series of widely publicized disagreements.[4]Between January 2014 and November 2015, Shirley Serotsky (previously Associate Artistic Director) served as Theater J's Acting Artistic Director. Adam Immerwahr served as Artistic Director from 2015 to 2022.[5]In 2015, the theater operated on a $1.6 million budget.[4]

Theater J performs in the 240-seat Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater in the Dupont Circle neighborhood. It has produced world premieres byThomas Keneally,Robert Brustein,Wendy Wasserstein,Joyce Carol Oates,andAriel Dorfman,with many debuts from emerging writers like Anna Ziegler, Sam Forman, and Renee Calarco. Theater J also supports the development of new plays by local playwrights. It has been called out byThe Washington Postas “simply one of the most important and worthwhile projects that any local theater has adopted." With successful productions includingTalley’s Folly, The Disputation, Honey Brown Eyes, The Chosen(a Theater J production presented by Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater),New Jerusalem, After the Fall, Our Class, RaceandFreud's Last Session,The Washington Postproclaimed that “Theater J propels itself to a new level of engagement with its audience, and, perhaps, to the forefront of theaters exposing Americans to drama that stirs the conscience as it illuminates aspects of Jewish culture.”

Winner of the 2008 Mayor’s Arts Award for Excellence in an Artistic Discipline,[6]Theater J also offers readings, panel discussions, cast talkbacks, youth initiatives, and outreach to adult populations with little contact to the performing arts.

Plays

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Since its establishment in 1990, Theater J has made new play development a critical pillar of its work. With over 40 world premiere productions, English language premieres, and second productions of newly revised plays, Theater J has made new work a key strategy for creating art that speaks to Jewish values and to the issues and concerns of the Washington D.C. community. In addition to producing new plays, each season Theater J conducts workshops and staged readings of plays in development in order to support playwrights in the creation of new plays.

Stefanie Zadravec’sHoney Brown Eyes,[7]recipient of the 2009 Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play, was published inAmerican Theatre Magazine.It went on to productions at The Working Theatre Off-Broadway and in smaller venues throughout the USA.Theodore Bikel’sSholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears,a one-man, three-musician musical which premiered at Theater J in 2008, went on to a successful run at the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene at Baruch Performing Arts Center in NY where Bikel was nominated for a 2010 Drama Desk Award for Solo Performance by an Actor. Subsequently, it has been produced in Los Angeles, Toronto, and toured throughout Eastern Europe.

For several years, Theater J hosted a festival called "Locally Grown", a new play development initiative that commissions and produces plays by local playwrights.[8]It was called “quite simply one of the most important and worthwhile projects that any local theater has adopted, in the cause of making this a more hospitable city for playwriting talent” byThe Washington Post.

Theater J has a long history of working with Israeli playwrights to develop the English-language premieres of their work, working withBoaz Goanon the English-language premiere ofBoged (Traitor): An Enemy of the People,Hillel Milepunkt’sThe Accident,Hadar Galron'sMikveh,with multiple premieres over the years fromMotti Lerner(Passing The Love of Women, Pangs of The Messiah, Benedictus,and the workshop presentation ofThe Admission).

Theater J also has a history of important second productions that bring plays to the attention of the theatrical world beyond their world-premieres, such as the production ofAnna Ziegler’sPhotograph 51,first produced by Active Cultures Theater in Maryland and later produced by many theaters.

Other second productions that included significant revisions includeJacquelyn Reingold’sString Feverin 2005, Kate Fodor’sHannah and Martinin 2005, Jennifer Maisel’sThe Last Sederin 2003,The Mad DancersbyYehuda Hymanin 2003, co-directed byLiz Lerman,The ArgumentbyAlexandra Gersten-Vassilaros,and the 2016 production ofAnother Way Homeby Anna Ziegler.

Theater J has shown premieres byRichard Greenberg(Bal Masque),Ariel Dorfman(Picasso’s Closet),Joyce Carol Oates(The Tattooed Girl),Wendy Wasserstein(Third),Aaron Posner(Life Sucks), and Caleen Sinette Jennings (Queens Girl in the World).[9]

Critical response

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Theater J has been described byThe New York Timesas offering "professional polish, thoughtfuldramaturgyand nervy experimentation, "[2]and byHadassah Magazineas "one of the most successful andavant-garde"of contemporaryAmerican Jewish theaters.[10]The company is also known for its record of premiering new works.The New York Timescalled Theater J "The Premier Theater for Premieres."[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^"Theater J: General Information".Washington DC Jewish Community Center.Archived fromthe originalon June 14, 2008.RetrievedSeptember 7,2008.
  2. ^abcGraham, Trey (May 15, 2005)."The Premier Theater for Premieres".The New York Times.RetrievedSeptember 7,2008.
  3. ^"History of Theater J".Washington D.C. Jewish Cultural Center.Archived fromthe originalon August 9, 2014.
  4. ^abPaulson, Michael (December 19, 2014)."Ari Roth, Director of Jewish Theater, Is Fired".The New York Times.RetrievedJanuary 1,2015.
  5. ^Rabinowitz, Chloe (July 8, 2022)."Theater J Artistic Director Adam Immerwahr to Become Artistic Director of Village Theatre".Broadway World.RetrievedNovember 7,2022.
  6. ^Bacalzo, Dan."Theater J Wins Mayors Arts Award".Theater Mania.RetrievedNovember 5,2022.
  7. ^Minter Jackson, Debbie."Honey Brown Eyes".DC Theatre Scene.RetrievedNovember 5,2022.
  8. ^"Theater J Kicks Off 4th Annual 'Locally Grown' Art Festival".March 22, 2015.RetrievedNovember 6,2022.
  9. ^Isherwood, Charles (October 7, 2015)."Women's Voices Theater Festival in Washington Is an Energizing Showcase".New York Times.RetrievedNovember 6,2022.
  10. ^Musleah, Rahel (October 2002)."The Many Stages of Jewish Life".Hadassah Magazine.RetrievedSeptember 7,2008.
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38°54′39.1″N77°2′8.9″W/ 38.910861°N 77.035806°W/38.910861; -77.035806

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