IF GOD WERE BLUE

by Carey Perloff

A wildly competitive group of painters vies for a big church commission in Renaissance Rome... while a woman poet named Beatrice ends up shaping the competition with her passionate advocacy for dangerous expression. This is a play about money, painting, censorship, the Church, and the endlessly messy process by which art gets made.

A wildly competitive group of painters vies for a big church commission in Renaissance Rome... while a woman poet named Beatrice ends up shaping the competition with her passionate advocacy for dangerous expression. This is a play about money, painting, censorship, the Church, and the endlessly messy process by which art gets made.

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IF GOD WERE BLUE

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  • Jewish Plays Project: IF GOD WERE BLUE by Carey Perloff
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    Jewish Plays Project congratulates IF GOD WERE BLUE for receiving our COMMENDED status for the 15th National Jewish Playwriting Contest in 2025. Commended plays received strong advocacy for consideration through our signature Jewish Artistic Democracy community reading process out of the 315+ plays we received. Our readers appreciated the centering of a Jewish women in the midst of the male Christian world of Renaissance Rome, and the message of empowerment, affirmation and legacy through Art.

    Jewish Plays Project congratulates IF GOD WERE BLUE for receiving our COMMENDED status for the 15th National Jewish Playwriting Contest in 2025. Commended plays received strong advocacy for consideration through our signature Jewish Artistic Democracy community reading process out of the 315+ plays we received. Our readers appreciated the centering of a Jewish women in the midst of the male Christian world of Renaissance Rome, and the message of empowerment, affirmation and legacy through Art.

    ”
5 men, 1 woman-- but she carries the play! This is not a literal history play, so Raphael, Bastiano and Michelangelo can be any race... the Cardinal and the Banker are older, the rest are in their 30's.

Development History

  • Workshop, Denver New Play Summit, 2025
  • Residency, Playmakers Rep, 2022
  • Reading, Roundabout Theater, NYC, 2022
  • Reading, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, 2020
  • Residency, Bogliasco Foundation Writer's Residency, 2019