December 7-10, 2014
Washington, D.C.

The Association for Jewish Theatre’s 2014 conference — Adaptation and Transformation of Jewish Theatre — will be December 7th through 10th, hosted by Theater J, in Washington, D.C..

Registration | Playwrights’ and Solo Performers’ Showcase

Check out the great conference schedule!

Keynote Speaker

Aaron Posner is a widely recognized director and adapter, whose most recent work Stupid F*cking Bird, an adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull, is currently playing at Wooly Mammoth Theatre Company in D.C. It received the 2014 Helen Hayes Award for the Best New Play and Outstanding Resident Production. Posner also adapted two of the most celebrated Jewish novels, both by Chaim Potok — The Chosen and My Name Is Asher Lev (Outer Circle Critics Award for Best New Off-Broadway play). Founder and former artistic director of Philadelphia’s Arden Theatre, Posner has directed at major regional theatre companies from coast to coast.

Additional featured presenters are Alisa Solomon and Derek Goldman.

• Professor Solomon is author of Wonder of Wonders the cultural history of Fiddler on the Roof. She directs Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism’s Arts and Culture concentration and won the George Jean Nathan Award for theatre criticism.
• Derek Goldman is Artistic Director of the Davis Performing Arts Center at Georgetown University and Co-Founding Director of the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, a joint initiative between the Theater and Performance Studies Program and the School of Foreign Service.

AJT Theatre Machers Fellowship

The AJT Theatre Machers Fellowship is an exciting new program, which provides substantial conference-fee subsidies for emerging theatre-makers, ages 20-35 years. It is generously supported by the Susan Perper Chapman Memorial Foundation.

Tuesday Night Special Offer

Tuesday night is an evening of theatre in Washington, D.C., with free or discounted tickets. The featured special offer, free for conference participants with advanced registration, is:

Workshop Performance / Staged Reading

Tuesday December 9th, 7:30pm
Gonda Theatre
Georgetown University, Davis Performing Arts Center

Remember This: Walking with Jan Karski
by Clark Young and Derek Goldman
Directed by Derek Goldman
featuring Academy Award Nominee David Strathairn as Jan Karski

Following celebrated performances in Warsaw and in Washington, DC as part of the Jan Karski Centennial Celebration, Golden Globe® and Academy Award® Nominee David Strathairn plays Jan Karski (1914-2000), a hero of the Polish Underground Resistance who tried to shake the conscience of the world in 1942 when there was still time to act to stop the Holocaust. A Roman Catholic, Karski volunteered at great risk to undertake a mission on behalf of the underground government to carry eyewitness reports to the free world about the destruction of the Jewish people of Poland. In this new politically-charged play, Karski, who after the publication of his best-sellling book Story of a Secret State became a legendary Georgetown University Professor, engages with a chorus of students who urge him to reckon with the ghosts of his past and to “go back”in his memory to revisit the episodes and memories that haunt him in order to bear witness for future generations. The chorus then begins to enact that history, filled with episodes of political intrigue, physical courage, harrowing escapes, tenderness, and devastation.

This one-night-only event, which precedes presentations in New York later that week, is presented by the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics (the Lab), the Jan Karski Educational Foundation, and the StreetSigns Center for Literature and Performance, and follows the recent successful performances at Teatr IMKA in Warsaw in conjunction with the opening of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, Poland.

Conference Hotels

The conference hotels are the Hotel Helix and the Hotel Rouge, both within walking distance of Theater J.

• Hotel Helix — 1430 Rhode Island Avenue, Washington, D.C.
  • Group block name: Association for Jewish Theatre Conference
  • Group room rate: $129/night (excluding taxes)
  • Reservation deadline (for conference room rate): November 10 (or until room block is full — so reserve early!)
  • Reservations (phone): 866-508-0658
  • Reservations (online; automatically includes group block): https://gc.synxis.com/rez.aspx?Hotel=26740&Chain=10179&group=11180102608
• Hotel Rouge — 1315 16th Street, Washington, D.C.
  • Group block name: Association for Jewish Theatre Conference
  • Group room rate: $149/night (excluding taxes)
  • Reservation deadline (for conference room rate): November 7 (or until room block is full — so reserve early!)
  • Reservations (phone): 800-738-1202
  • Reservations (online; automatically includes group block): https://gc.synxis.com/rez.aspx?Hotel=26756&Chain=10179&arrive=12/7/2014&depart=1 2/10/2014&adult=1&child=0&group=11120101918

Solo Performers’ and Playwrights’ Showcase

At this year’s conference, a single showcase will feature both playwrights’ and solo performers’ works. A panel of peers will curate short plays and solo performances for the conference Showcase. Pieces will be accepted based on quality, and connection to “Jewishness” (however the theatre-maker defines it). It is a plus if it in some way relates to the conference them, “adaptation and transformation.”

All pieces must be performed in under 8 minutes.

For accepted pieces, AJT will provide actors (for playwright pieces), a venue, lights (simple stage wash), ability to play recorded music, and simple tech (if you have specific needs, outline them in your application). AJT does not guarantee any stage set pieces, piano, or intricate technical cues.

The Showcase is on Monday, December 8th, in the afternoon, during the AJT Conference. A familiarizing with the stage, tops and tails, will be scheduled on the morning of December 8th. Rehearsals will be scheduled before the conference at the convenience of AJT, in Washington D.C. with local actors who will be paid a $25 stipend for their work. Playwrights can be present for these rehearsals if they choose; AJT is not responsible for their travel, room, or board.

If you have any questions, contact ajtshowcase@gmail.com.