THE BAR MITZVAH OF JESUS GOLDFARB Returns To New York City

Andrew Heinze's award-winning comedy THE BAR MITZVAH OF JESUS GOLDFARB returns to New York City for the 2019 Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival. The play goes up at the festival's opening night, Tuesday, August 20 at 7 pm at the Vineyard's Dimson 15thStreet Theatre, 108 E. 15thStreet, New York, NY.

THE BAR MITZVAH OF JESUS GOLDFARB premiered in 2011, when it won both Judges' Choice and Audience Choice for Best Play at the 17th Annual New York City Fifteen-Minute Play Competition (American Globe Theater). More recently the play was named a Finalist for the 2018 National Award for Short Playwriting, a competition hosted by Miami's City Theatre.

Directed by Eli Thacker Taylor, THE BAR MITZVAH OF JESUS GOLDFARB features Keith Weiss as Jason Goldfarb, a precocious teen who wants a new name for his Bar Mitzvah, and Bethanne Haft as Rabbi Deborah Silverman, for whom Jason's unusual request is a very big problem.

In an interview for Samuel French, playwright Andrew R. Heinze ("Moses, The Author" 2014 New York International Fringe Festival, Encore Selection) spoke about the inspiration behind this play. "From my own life, which had included a long period of deep involvement in the practices of Judaism, I was drawn to the idea of earnest rebellion against religious tradition," Heinze said -- "So a funny idea popped into my head: what if a Bar Mitzvah boy, one who was very bright and earnest and impassioned, insisted on adopting the name Jesus for the occasion of his Bar Mitzvah? I had to see what would happen."

Tickets for the August 20, 7 pm show, which includes plays by Emily J. Daly and Michael Pisaturo in addition to THE BAR MITZVAH OF JESUS GOLDFARB, are available for purchase at: http://www.oobfestival.com/?page_id=15835.