AJT’s 2021 Virtual Conference
was Sunday, October 24 through Tuesday, October 26

Information for AJT’s 2022 Conference will begin to come out next year. 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.

AJT’s 2021 Virtual Conference featured: two hands-on workshops (playwriting with Aaron Posner and physical theatre); several panel discussions (Climate Change & Jewish Theatre, Jewish Comedy, Jewish-Latinx Storytelling with Jewtina y Co, and Jewish Theatre-Making Around The World); a session with DNAWORKS on Discovering Personal Identity; a variety of Affinity Group Meetings; formal and informal opportunities for Networking; a range of Performances; a Q&A with Leigh Silverman; and more.

Check out the full Event Details »

(last updated on Tuesday, October 26, 2021)

Keynote Speakers:
Daniel Banks, Ph.D., Director, Co-Founder/Artistic Director, DNAWORKS
Adam W. McKinney, M.A., Dancer, Activist, Co-Founder/Artistic Director of DNAWORKS
Aaron Posner, Playwright, Director, Theatre Prof (Stupid Fucking Bird, My Name Is Asher Lev)
​​Leigh Silverman, Director of over 58 World Premiere Plays & Musicals, 2019 Obie

Opening Prayer:
Kendell Pinkney, Theatre Maker, Creative Producer, Founding Artistic Director of The Workshop

Land Acknowledgement:
Kyla García (Taíno Nation of Borikén), Indigenous Actor, Director, Activist based unceded Tongva Land

Panelists:
Melia Bensussen, Jewish & Mexican Director, Artistic Director of Hartford Stage
Eddie Chavez Calderon, Campaign Director of Uri L’Tzedek
Melanie Catan, Actress, Writer, Artistic Director & Producer of La Caja Negra, Uruguay
Daniel Goldstein, Director, Kleban Prize Winning Writer, Row, Unknown Soldier, Godspell
Victor Esses, Theatre Maker, Lebanese-Brazilian/UK Based, CASA Festival Associate
Sarah Hollis, Actor, Producer, Writer (My Divorce Party, Black White & Jewish)
Aya Kaplan, Theater Stage Director, Playwright, Lecturer & Teacher, Israel
Helen Marcos, Playwright, Psychodramatist, Artistic Director of La Caja Negra, México
Tsur Mishal, Climate & Communication Researcher (PhD Student), Tel Aviv University, Israel
David R. Peralto, Presidente Fundación Teatro Joven, Spain
Gab Reisman, Playwright, Director, Immersive Performance Maker
Lena Rubenfeld, Activist, Cultural Producer, FestivALT Artistic Co-Director
James Sherman, Playwright, Actor, Professor (The God of Isaac, The Ben Hecht Show)
Michelle Slonim, Playwright, Stand-Up Comedian
Gwydion Suilebhan, Playwright, Author (Punching Up), NPX Director
Janos Szasz, Theatre & Film Director, Professor, Hungary
Zach Steel, Clown, Actor, USC Head of Comedy, Assistant Professor in Medical Clowning
Julie Weitz, Video and Performance Artist (including My Golem)
David Winitsky, Founder & Artistic Director of Jewish Plays Project
Michelle Wejcman, Theatre Director, Producer, Cultural Manager, Consultant, Argentina
Sarah Zell Young, Associate Director, National Programs at Hazon

Moderators & Facilitators:
Jazmine Aluma, Writer, Playwright
Jeremy Aluma, Director, Producer, Executive Director of Alliance for Jewish Theatre
Alex Chester, Actor, Writer, and Producer and Editor-in-Chief of Mixed Asian Media Fest
Kimmy Dueñas, Experiential Educator, Community Manager at Jewtina y Co.
Debórah Eliezer, Social Activist, Artistic Director, foolsFURY Theater; San Francisco, CA
Hank Kimmel, Playwright, Dramaturg, President of AJT, Founding Member, Working Title Playwrights
Adam Immerwahr, Artistic Director of Theater J
Yehudah Jai Husband, NAACP Award Animator, Artistic Director of SH’MA Theatre
Shawna James (she/her), Board Liaison, Theatre Communications Group
Rebecca Joy Fletcher, Jewish Climate Theatermaker, Chicago Actor, Climate Coach
M.J. Kang, Playwright, Actor. Company of Angels, Barrow Group.
Wendy Kout, Writer, Producer of Stage, Screen and Social Justice Fundraisers
Danielle Levsky, Post-Soviet Writer, Clown, Educator, Producer, AJT Board
Catherine Miller, Trans Non-Binary Casting Director, Dramaturg and Gender Consultant
Ben Raanan, Director, Artistic Director of Phamaly Theatre
Jody Steiger, Artistic Producer, Designer & Vice Pres. of Teatro Espressivo, Costa Rica
Illana Stein, Freelance Theatre Director, AJT Theatremacher Program Director
Anike Tourse, Theatre & Multimedia Maker, Edinburgh Fringe
Ari Weinberg, Artistic Director of Winnipeg Jewish Theatre, Canada

Emcees:
Ben Rosenfeld, Standup Comedian, Creator of 4 Standup Albums, 2 Books, and a Gameshow
Michelle Slonim, Standup Comedian, Playwright, Author, and a Worried Jewish Mother

Performance Project Lead Artists:
Avi Aharoni, Minneapolis-based Actor, Writer, and Improviser
Terry Baum, Lesbian Playwright & Artistic Director of Lilith Women’s Theater
Jesse Bernstein, Actor, Playwright
Bruce Bierman, Director, Co-Artistic Director, Yiddish Theatre Ensemble
Ori Black, Playwright, Actor, Summer of Semitism
Andras Borgula, Artistic Director of the Golem Theater
Shara Feit, Playwright, AJT Theatremacher
Sara Felder, Oakland-based Playwright and Circus Theatre Artist
Lawrence Goodman, Playwright, Heresy, The Disappearance of the Jews
Lisa Kenner Grissom, Playwright, Motherland; here comes the night
Yehuda Hyman, Movement Artist, Poet, Playwright and Jewish Faerie Creature
Si Kahn, Civil Rights, Union, and Community Organizer
Shekhiynah Larks, Author, Program Coordinator at Be’chol Lashon
Susan Morgenstern, Producing Director at The Braid
Ronit Muszkatblit – Theater Director of The Magic Letter, Founding Director of LABA Global
Alex Poch-Goldin, Award Winning Playwright, Actor, Director
Seth Rozin, Playwright, Human Rites & Two Jews Walk Into A War…
Howard Rypp, Artistic Director of Nephesh Theatre
Laura Sheppard, Producer, Co-Artistic Director, Yiddish Theatre Ensemble

Performance Project Actors and Additional Artists:
Serena Berman, Actor, Writer, Resident Artist at Ars Nova
Hershel Blatt, Actor and Writer
Wayne Burns, Award-Winning Actor, Writer and Producer
Alex Chester, Actor, Producer and Editor-in-Chief of Mixed Asian Media
Stephanie Clayman, Actor, Voice-over Artist, Teacher and Medical Communications Consultant
Joyce Cohen, Actor of Stage and Screen for Over 40 Years
Delia Cunningham, Actor, Writer, Director
Yuval David, Actor, Director, Filmmaker, with Over 75 Film Fest & 25 Theatre Awards
Clea DeCrane, Writer, Director, Actor based in LA and NYC
Robert Dorfman, Actor, Director, Broadway Veteran
Emma Ferreira, Actor, Director, Poet
Diane Flacks, Stage and Screen Actress and Emmy Nominated Writer
Ashley Frederick (she/her), Wearer of Many Hats in Theatre & Film
Emily Garrison, Actress
Daniel Gidron, Directo and Theater Instructor at UMass Boston
Cindy Gold, Actor in Settlements
Aaron Simon Gross, Director of High School Dybbuk
Maria Gurevich, Puppet Designer
Beatriz Hal, Dramaturge
Suzannah Hershkowitz, Actor
Jasminn Johnson, Actor
Becca Khalil, Actor in Settlements
Kate Levy, Actor, Succession (2018), The Deuce (2017) and The Pepper Project (2015)
Shiran Levy, Costume Designer
Aviv Looz, Playwright
Ryan Melling, Cinematographer, Filmmaker
Deborah Baer Mozes, Artistic Director, Theatre Ariel
Nick Olanka, Video Editor, TV and Theater Director Based in the Philippines
Heather Ondersma, Director of Mikvah
Reed Rejsa, Sound Designer, Composer, Musician
Steven Rishard, Actor in Settlements
Charlotte Williams Roberts, Actor in When the Mikvah Water Touches Your Black Hair
Renee Rogoff, Actress
Juliet Roll, Actor/Writer
Zohar Shoef, Set Designer
Tom Shoshani, Acting Student at Ryerson University
Ronda Spinak, Founder and Artistic Director of The Braid, formerly Jewish Women’s Theatre
Blayze Teicher (she/her), Theater & Film Director from Orlando, FL with roots in NYC
Noam Toplian, Lighting Designer
David Winitsky, Director of Settlements
Idan Yitzhayek, Musician

Organizations:
Jewtina y Co., Celebrating, exploring and raising awareness of the diverse Latin-Jewish community and experience via community workshops, cohort experiences and live connection points.

DNAWORKS is dedicated to dialogue and healing through the arts, focusing on identity, heritage, culture, and liberation.

The Braid, the national “go-to” Jewish story company that pioneered Salon Theatre.

The Jewish Plays Project puts bold, progressive Jewish conversations on world stages.

Theatre Ariel creates and produces new and established works reflecting on the global Jewish experience. 

Lilith Women’s Theater is named for Adam’s first wife, the primordial disobedient woman.  Founded in 1975 in Berkeley, Lilith is dedicated to exploring feminist and lesbian issues with seriousness and self-mockery.

Yiddish Theatre Ensemble (YTE) based in Berkeley, California produces plays and musicals from the rich repertory of the Yiddish theatre, plays by living artists and original works. YTE strives to bring a contemporary interpretation and relevance to their productions.

 

Conference Committee:

Jeremy Aluma, Director, Producer, Executive Director of Alliance for Jewish Theatre
Emma Gometz, Jewish-Colombian Playwright, Director, Cartoonist, AJT Social Media
Toby Klein Greenwald, Director, Raise Your Spirits Theatre/Na’na Playback, Israel
Adam Immerwahr, Artistic Director of Theater J
Shawna James, Director, Producer; Board Liaison at Theatre Communications Group, NY
Wendy Kout, Writer, Producer of Stage, Screen and Social Justice Fundraisers
Danielle Levsky, Writer, Clown, Educator, Producer, AJT Board
Deborah Baer Mozes, Artistic Director of Theatre Ariel
Illana Stein, Freelance Theatre Director, AJT Theatremacher Program Director
Ari Weinberg, Conference Chair, Artistic Director of Winnipeg Jewish Theatre, Canada