90 minutes, 7 actors, 3 playwrights, and ONE WINNER - we need your votes and voice to choose!
In collaboration with Charter Oak Cultural Center, Mandell JCC, Emanuel Synagogue and the Jewish Plays Project, Playhouse on Park is hosting the 9th Annual Hartford Jewish Playwriting Contest. The Hartford Community Readers Panel has chosen their top 3 plays: THE WORLD TO COME by Ali Viterbi (Atlanta, GA); PROVENANCE by Jennifer Maisel (Los Angeles, CA); and ON THE EDGE by Motti Lerner (Ramat HaSharon, ISR).
Join us for a reading of an excerpt from each of the three plays. You then vote for the play you would like to see advance to the finals in New York! To learn more about the playwrights, the plays and/or the Jewish Playwriting Contest visit www.JewishPlaysProject.org. The Jewish Plays Project identifies, develops, and presents new works of theater through one-of-a-kind explorations of contemporary Jewish identity between audiences, artists, and patrons.
Charter Oak Cultural Center, a beautiful historic landmark and vibrant non-profit multi-cultural arts center, doing the work of social justice through the arts. To learn more visit www.CharterOakCenter.org.
The Mandell JCC Serving people of all backgrounds and at every age and stage of life, the Mandell Jewish Community Center is a gathering place and resource for the Hartford region. To learn more visit www.MandellJCC.org.
Emanuel Synagogue in an inclusive, multi-generational Conservative congregation emphasizing Jewish values, community and strives to serve their members through all lifecycle stages. To learn more visit www.EmanuelSynagogue.org.
7pm, dessert reception begins at 6pm
$10* General Admission
*plus $2.50 service charge
ALI VITERBI is a playwright, television writer, and educator. Her play In Every Generation (the winner of JPP's 2019 National Jewish Playwriting Contest) received its world premiere at Victory Gardens Theater in 2022 and its west coast premiere at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley in 2023. Ali’s work has been developed and/or commissioned by Geffen Playhouse, The Kennedy Center, La Jolla Playhouse, Round House Theatre, National New Play Network, San Diego REP, Carthage College, HERE Arts Center, The Barrow Group, and North Coast Repertory Theatre, among others. Ali won the 2019 National Jewish Playwriting Contest and has developed projects in TV. She is a recipient of a 2024 Macdowell Residency and was a member of the Geffen Playhouse Writers' Room. Ali received her B.A. from Yale University and her M.F.A. in Playwriting from UC San Diego.
MOTTI LERNER selected productions in Israel: "Kastner", "Pangs of the Messiah", "Paula", "Pollard", "Exile in Jerusalem", "Passing The Love of Women", "Doing his Will", "The Abondoned Melody" , "The First Lady" "Autumn", "Hard Love" in Haifa Theatre, "The Hastening of The End" ,"The Admission" , "On the Edge". His productions abroad include: "Kastner", "Autumn", "The Muder of Isaac" in Heilbronn Theater, Germany, "Exile in Jerusalem" in Stuttgart, Berlin and Vienna, "Hard Love" in New York, Rome and Berlin, "The Murder of Isaac" in Centerstage, Baltimore, "Passing the Love of Women" in Theater J, DC, "Pangs of the Messiah" in Theater J, Silk Road, Chicago, Theater of Ideas, NY, Alliance theater, Atlanta. "Benedictus" in Golden Thread Theatre, San Francisaco, and in Theater J, "Paulus" in Silk Road, Chicago, "The Admission" in Theater J, "After The War" in Mosaic Theater, DC. Eichmann's Trial in The National Theatre in Bucharest.
JENNIFER MAISEL: THE LAST SEDER premiered Off-Broadway after productions around the world. Her Sundance-developed OUT OF ORBIT was awarded an Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P Sloan rewrite commission for plays about science and technology, made the 2016 Kilroy List and won the Stanley and the Woodward/Newman Awards before premiering at Williamston Theatre and Bloomington Playwrights Project. Her PEN West Literary finalist THERE OR HERE had its London premiere in 2018. @thespeedofJake, also a Pen West Literary finalist, premiered in LA with Playwrights’ Arena. Jennifer has written movies for major networks and cable, as well as independent features and has sold original pilots. Jennifer was one of five writers invited into the prestigious Humanitas 2018 PlayLA workshop where she developed BETTER. Her YELLOW WALLPAPER 2.0 2020 was part of the Lucille Lortel Alcove project and her EIGHT NIGHTS premiered at Antaeus Theatre, garnering the Ovation award for Best Playwriting.