Theater J at the Edlavitch DC JCC – To engage seven playwrights who are Jews of Color in a learning process that includes studying modern Jewish history, Jewish theater, and Jewish texts, with the goal of developing racially and ethnically diverse Jewish narratives.

What keeps you awake at night?

This is a scary time for the American theater. How long before our audiences will be ready to return to the live performing arts? And while we wait, what will it mean for arts organizations and, more importantly, for individual artists? We are at dire risk of losing a great treasure if artists leave the field due to lack of work and lack of support. We risk losing our interpreters, our storytellers, and our inspiration as a culture. Our artists are our soul, and we must rally behind them and show them how much we, as a community, value them.

How will this project transform the landscape of Jewish theater?

The landscape of Jewish theater has long been dominated by white, Ashkenazi voices. Adding seven new plays that center ethnically and racially diverse Jewish narratives will be a game-changer for Jewish and non-Jewish theaters around the country. We will be introducing an entire new volume into the canon of Jewish theater, and one that more accurately depicts the Jewish story. Hopefully, this will inspire other Jewish playwrights of color and of Sephardic and Mizrachi backgrounds—beyond our seven commissioned writers—to see that there is an important place for them in the American Jewish theater.

This project prioritizes the voices and perspectives of Jewish playwrights of color. What do you hope other Jewish arts organizations can learn from this work?

We all have a role in ensuring that the picture we’re painting of Jews in America is an accurate depiction of the extraordinary range and diversity of our people. It’s not about us white Ashkenazi Jews welcoming in Jews of color (which implies that these are our spaces and they are guests), but instead it’s about giving them the keys and letting them know we are eager to see what they create in our shared homes. It is time to invest our resources in sharing leadership, curation, and control.

Learn more at theaterj.org/expandingthecanon.