Alliance for Jewish Theatre
AJT’s 2022 Virtual Conference Schedule from Sunday, October 23 through Monday, October 24
AJT’s 2022 Virtual Conference will feature: hands-on workshops, panel discussions, conversations with theatre makers and culture workers, affinity group meetings, formal and informal opportunities for networking, a range of performances, multiple Q&A sessions with industry professionals and more!
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2022
Event 1:
12pm EDT | 9am PDT (90 minutes)
Welcome from new AJT Executive Director Willow Jade Norton
-Land Acknowledgement with Seraph-Eden Boroditsky
-Keynote with director, playwright, producer, author and educator who served as Artistic Director of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, and of Classic Stage Company in New York Carey Perloff
-Q&A with Carey Perloff
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Event 2A:
2pm EDT | 11am PDT (1 hour)
Workshop: for individual artists with Artistic Director of The Workshop Kendell Pinkney & Actor, Writer, Filmmaker, Educator, Activist Rebecca S’manga Frank;
Event 2B:
2:30pm EDT | 11:30am PDT (1 hour)
Working Session: for member theaters– with Warren Hoffman and Miriam Steinberg-Egeth.
How the Jewish Community Can Become Truly Diverse and Inclusive in the 21st Century is the first book to tackle institutionalized biases and barriers to inclusion in Jewish institutions, offering not only stories and context about the issues facing Jews of all backgrounds, but more importantly offering practical and concrete advice that Jewish institutions can implement right away to change how they engage with diverse populations.
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Event 3:
4:00pm EDT | 1:00pm PDT (1 hour)
Theatre J’s Expanding the Canon Program with Johanna Gruenhut and panelists M.J. Kang, Carolivia Herron, & Harley Elias.
Theater J’s Expanding the Canon initiative has commissioned seven racially and ethnically diverse Jewish writers to create new full-length plays over the next two and a half years that thematically and visually center diverse Jewish narratives in order to correct and broaden the historically limited portrayals of Jewishness on stages in the United States and around the world.
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Event 4:
5:30pm EDT | 2:30pm PDT (1 hour)
Get to Know Your Theatre Company!
Networking with Theatres, individual artists get to have time with multiple member theatres to hear about their seasons, submissions process, and what they are looking for and more!
The New Jewish Theatre’s Artistic Director Rebekah Scallet
Theatre Ariel’s Artistic Director Jesse Bernstein
TheChutzpah! Festival Jessica Gutteridge
The Jewish Theatre of Bloomington’s Artistic Director Audrey Heller
Interplay Jewish Theatre’s Artistic Director Faye Sholiton
ShPIeL-Performing Identity based in Chicago and the Bunbury-ShPIeL Identity Theatre Project in Louisville, Artistic Director David Chack and Collaborator Casey Adler
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Event 5A:
7:00pm EDT | 4:00pm PDT (1 hour)-
Join Artistic Director Aaron Henne of theatre dybbuk for a conversation that delves into the company’s unique creative process, approach to community engagement, and innovative programming! What does group dramaturgical development look like? How does theatre dybbuk work in collaboration with stakeholders across disciplines? Hear how the company has pivoted, and continues to craft their programming to meet the moment and stay within their mission.
With Moderator of The Orchard Project’s Artistic Director Ari Edelson.
Event 5B:
7:30pm EDT | 4:30 PDT (1 hour)-
Musical Creation! What is the creative process, practices, and pipelines for making New Musicals and New Music!
With Director/Producer Will Pomerantz, Composer Joshua Hershfield, Actor Singer-Songwriter, Creative Tatiana Wechsler, Actor/Writer Bruce Sabath, and Culture Worker, Singer, Composer Anthony Russell. With Moderator by Barbara Bellman.
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Event 6:
8:30pm EDT | 5:30pm PDT (1 hour)
Announce Regranting recipients, Celebrate the AJT Theatremacher Program with a short video!
MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2022
Event 7:
Bursting ‘the Bubble’ a Panel Conversation
5:00pm Israel Time | 10am EDT | 7am PDT (1 hour)
Creating in Israel; the complexity of making whilst trying to burst the Israeli ‘Bubble’. Conversation led by Writer, Director, Actress Hadar Galron with Ethiopian actor-creator Emos Ayeno, Ukrainian theater graduate Julia Kovelova, French-Israeli writer-actress-director Miléna Kartowski-Aïach, British award-winning journalist & playwright James Inverne, Israel born/Australia-raised Founder and Artistic Director of Jerusalem Theatre Ensemble at Beit Mazia Gabriella (Gabi) Lev.
Event 8:
The Path of Questions: Art, Identity, and Inquiry
11:30am EDT | 8:30am PDT (1 hour)
Opening with writer, speaker, consultant, visual artist, and cultural activist whose focus is the intersection of culture, politics and spirituality Arlene Goldbard!
Event 9:
12:30pm EDT | 9:30am PDT (1 hour)
AJT Member Meeting
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Event 10A:
Panel for AJT Independent Artists, A Conversation on Playwrighting Entrepreneurship, and Making theater that meets the moment.
with Playwright Andrea Stolowitz, Activist/ Playwright Gab Reisman, Visual Artist/ Writer/ Performer Sara Nesson, & Co-Director of The Frontera Project Jessica Bauman. Moderated by American Leadership Forum of Oregon Executive Director and Playwright Sarah Greenman.
2:00pm EDT | 11:00am PDT (1 hour)
Event 10B:
AJT Artistic Director & Organizational Leaders Workshop: with author, performer, teacher, and internationally recognized improvisation workshop leader Stephen Nachmanovitch.
2:30pm EDT | 11:30am PDT (1 hour)
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Event 11:
Affinity Groups
3:30pm EDT | 12:30 PDT (1 hour):
Affinity Group Spaces open for conversations and connecting.
Our affinity spaces provide a space for folks who identify within their specific identity group to gather in community to share their challenges, successes, and dreams. The event will open to our Conference attendees to self-select into whichever group they are most connected to.
Check out the Affinity spaces we are offering, and who will be hosting them:
Mixed Identity Affinity Space – Shawna James
Black Affinity Space – Yehudah Jai Husband
Disability Affinity Space – Sara Nesson
Latinx and Sephardic Affinity Space – Adam Coy
API Affinity Space – Lucy Wang Halpern
Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Affinity Space – Brad Rothbart
MENA/Mizrahi Affinity Space – May Treuhaft-Ali
LGBTQIA+ Affinity Space – Hershel Blatt
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Event 12:
Conversation with Artists Amanda Gronich and Moisés Kaufman discussing Here There are Blueberries with moderator Adam Immerwahr.
5:00pm EDT | 2:00pm PDT (1 hours)
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Event 13:
Member Theatre Performances
With Stage Manager Amanda Horowitz
6:30pm EDT | 3:30pm PDT (1 hour and 20 minutes-ish)
Theater of Ideas – Exagoge
Seattle Jewish Theater Company – Arrivals
The Braid – Super Scar
SH’MA Theatre Group – Live!Werk!Purim!
Nephesh Theatre – Without an Evil Eye
Yiddish Theatre Ensemble – Earthling
CenterStage – RISE
Event 14:
8:00pm EDT | 5:00pm PDT
-Closing with Willow Jade Norton
Event 15:
Social Hour
This will be a casually structured social networking opportunity to connect with conference participants.
Sign-up for our email list to get all the latest details. Explore our website pages to see more information from our 2021 Conference and become an AJT Member.
