Jewish Plays Project Unveils The 15th National Jewish Playwriting Contest Finalists

The Jewish Plays Project has announced the 7 finalists for the 15th National Jewish Playwriting Contest, chosen from over 325 submissions from 27 states and 7 countries.

"It's never been more important to tell diverse, exciting and relevant Jewish stories," says Artistic Director David Winitsky. "Our seven finalists include important new voices and award-winning playwrights covering everything from tensions on campus to wild apocalyptic visions to good old fashioned madcap comedy, all with a clear focus on creating great theater that deserves to be produced all over the country."

Literary Manager Heather Helinsky led the JPP's innovative Artistic Democracy process. A panel of 75 Artist Readers, including dramaturgs, writers, directors, designers, and actors from around the country, logging 1,000 hours of engaged reading and discussion, assisted by Literary Apprentice Jake Allen.

Selected plays will receive development in the JPP's signature Jewish Dramaturgy Lab, under the guidance of Director of Artistic Programs Illana Stein, as well as national exposure in the Contest's regional events. The Finalists are:

• A Play about a Baby Carrot by Juliet Roll (she/her) - New York/Newton, MA
  A grieving mother, over the 7 days of shiva, starts to see her child in a baby carrot.
• Contact Combat by Rebecca Salzhauer (she/her) - New York, NY
  When their synagogue is attacked, a group of congregants at Temple Beth Shalom gather for krav maga classes. As drills get more intense and self-defense gets dangerous, the group has to grapple with what Jewish safety means - and how far they'll go to ensure that they're protected.
• Flatbush Lysistrata by Lila Rachel Becker (she/her) - Brooklyn/Washington, D.C.
  Three Orthodox women gather at an axe-throwing parlor to plan a sex strike. They kibbitz, they scheme, they hurl axes. Also, there are a lot of interesting birds. A play about fundamentalism: what draws us to it and how women carve spaces for themselves within it.
• Havurah by Margot Connolly (she/her) - Brooklyn/Pleasantville, NY
  After a mass shooting at a synagogue near their college campus, a Jewish club and a group of Christians dedicated to social justice have to learn to navigate the aftermath and figure out what it means to be in community with each other.
• The Fish by Madeline Sayet (she/they) - Los Angeles, CA/Mohegan (CT)
  The water is rising and everything is at stake in this Noah's ark allegory about three Mohegan/Jewish siblings figuring out what to hold onto from the past in order to survive.
• This Place Stinks by Jacob Surovsky (he/him) - Los Angeles, CA
  A highly theatrical retelling of Noah's Ark that doesn't omit the dark and ugly parts of the story. Noah is a perfectionist who has been told to save the world, while his family is desperate to live up to his standards. Do you need to destroy the world to save it?

In addition, the JPP will be showcasing a timely documentary play from Israel as a Special 7th Finalist

• Shura: The Mission of Identifying Life by Roee Joseph (he/him) - Tel AvivAfter October 7, a reservist assigned to identify the dead begins to write-quietly, obsessively-amid silence, violence, and routine. His documentation becomes an attempt to understand what it means to name the dead and remain among the living.

The Contest process connects thousands of audience members across the country and in Israel with this new cohort of nascent plays. Partner organizations will host regional performances and panels in Houston, Philadelphia, Hartford, Silicon Valley, Toronto, New York City and Tel Aviv. Once again, the Marlene Myerson JCC Manhattan will host the National Finals on June 1, 2026.

"The experience of being chosen by the Jewish Plays Project for PROVENANCE was unlike any other. The year of dramaturgical support, the enthusiasm of the theatres all over the world reading and presenting the play, the opportunity to get to know the fellow playwrights of the cohort's work, the workshop in the Berkshires were incredible gifts. And the knowledge that the support from JPP continues is priceless."

- 14th Contest Winner Jennifer Maisel

The JPP also recognized an additional set of plays as Semi-Finalists:

• Ada & Mee by MJ Kang
• Almacén by Julian Mesri
• Anne Frank in Mt. Vernon, Ohio by Isaiah Stavchansky
• As We Like It by Oded Gross
• i can fix him by Sarah Jae Leiber
• Impact by Rebecca Goldfarb
• jessica of venice by Rachel Greene
• Judith Imeinu by Natalie Welber
• Kiss Me Somewhere Else by Jacqueline Reingold
• Kriah // A Tearing by Ben Schrager
• Luminous Genesis by Monica Raymond
• Movement of Life by Sari Boren
• Metuta by Claire Abramovitz
• Pizza Bagels by Matthew Libby
• Sarah by Marshall Botvinick
• Tell Me About It by Andrea Trotenberg
• The Dyer's Hand or The Merchant of Mexico by Doris Baizley
• The Mikveh Lady by Elizabeth Savage
• The Spanish Prayer Book by Angela J. Davis
• The Trial of William Shakespeare by Alexander Poch Golden
• Winners by Emma Goldman-Sherman
• The Shiva of Ethel Zimmerman by Elana Gartner
• Writing on the Wall by Jill Remez

The full list of recognized plays can be found at jewishplaysproject.org/jpc. Interested producers, agents, and literary managers can email contest@jewishplaysproject.org.

About The Jewish Playwriting Contest

The Jewish Playwriting Contest seeks to discover, highlight, and nurture contemporary Jewish drama by engaging with artistic and Jewish communities throughout the English-speaking world. The Contest has received and vetted over 2,800 plays by 1,800 writers in 34 states and 10 countries. The JPP has actively developed 60 of those plays,419 of which have gone on to production in cities across the globe, including New York, Los Angeles, London, and Tel Aviv, playing for more than 100,000 audience members.

About The Jewish Plays Project

The Jewish Plays Project, founded in 2011, identifies, develops, and presents new works of theater via one-of-a-kind explorations of contemporary Jewish identity between audiences, artists, and patrons. The JPP's innovative and competitive development process engages Jewish communities in the vetting, selecting, and championing of new voices and secures mainstream production opportunities for the best new plays.

The JPP has featured some of the best artists working in New York, including writers David Hein and Irene Sankoff (Come from Away), Robert Askins (Hand to God), and Lauren Yee (Cambodian Rock Band); directors Marc Bruni (Beautiful), Stephen (A Strange Loop), and Tamilla Woodard (Yale School of Drama); and actors Joshua Malina (The West Wing, Billions), Ronald Guttman (Mad Men, Homeland), Alysia Reiner (Orange is the New Black), and Obie and Drama Desk nominee Marcia Jean Kurtz.