←Jewish Plays Project

Lisa’s play garnered a lot of interest when we first saw it in 2014 (it was even a Semi-Finalist that year!). She’s gone back, workshopped, revised, and totally nailed it. I love when that happens.

This is going to sound hyperbolic, but I truly think if the American Jewish community can figure out how to talk about Israel, then the whole country can recover from disabling partisanship. That's how important Seth's play is; it's world peace.

Is there something uniquely Jewish about these particular 5 men - Robbins, Price, Sondheim, Laurents and Bernstein - closed in a room in midtown Manhattan, creating a masterwork? Yes, there is.

I’m thrilled that this play poses questions about the complex interplay between race and Jewishness, questions at the heart of what the JPP is about. These are the critical, 21st century issues that need to be on our stages. I’m so excited for our community of readers to dive into this play.

I am so excited by the complexity of Jewish representation in this play, especially the look at the Mashadi community, which rarely has appeared onstage. But more importantly, I was moved by the depth of feeling, the crisp and clear characterizations, and the way the plays unfolds.

This play is exciting and transgressive in all the right ways. It’s also searching and touching and even a tearjerker. I’m thrilled by it and scared by It in equal measure, but I can’t wait to hear what people - Jewish people especially - have to say about it.

This is a riveting play with unexpected turns and central relationships that present a kaleidoscope of perspectives on the connection between Jews and African-Americans, both in the 1980s, when the play is set, and today. The play captures a moment of great transition in the ongoing relationship between two important American communities.

WHO BY FIRE takes a genre that we see at the JPP - the family Seder play - and opens it up to embrace a broader and deeper idea of Jews in America. That’s exciting to me, and feels extremely aligned with our goal of discovering 21st Century Jewish theater.

I am so impressed by this play’s ability to look at violent anti-Semitic incidents and ask broader questions and find deeper answers. THE WRONG QUESTION forces us to look at the realities and limits of Jewish progressivism. This work is exciting and dangerous in equal measure.

This play is such a treasure! Themes of Jewish identity are in the bones of Alice Eve Cohen’s work. This work features a buoyant spirit, unreliable narrators and a ton of fun theatricality to rope audiences in.