THE MELTING POT, THE SCRIBE & CROSSING DELANCEY Set for Theatre Ariel 6th Season
Jesse Bernstein directs a co-production with Philadelphia Artists Collective at the Arch Street Meeting House.
Theatre Ariel will celebrate 36 years of bringing Jewish stories to Philadelphia stages with a 2026-27 season spanning historic drama, solo performance and comedy.
Dubbed the company’s “Double Chai Season,” the lineup will begin this fall with The Melting Pot (Reheated), a new adaptation of Israel Zangwill’s 1908 drama presented in partnership with Philadelphia Artists Collective as part of America 250. The season will continue with Jesse Bernstein’s solo show The Scribe before concluding with the Jewish romantic comedy Crossing Delancey.
“Chai in Hebrew means ‘life,’ and the Hebrew letters that spell the word have a numerical value of eighteen,” Producing Artistic Director Jesse Bernstein said of the anniversary. “So eighteen and its multiples — like thirty-six — are considered lucky numbers in Jewish culture.”
See the season lineup below.
The Melting Pot (Reheated)
October 21-November 8, 2026
Arch Street Meeting House
Theatre Ariel will partner with Philadelphia Artists Collective to revisit Israel Zangwill’s The Melting Pot, the 1908 drama that helped popularize the metaphor of America as a “Melting Pot” of immigrants.
Adapted and directed by Bernstein, The Melting Pot (Reheated) will examine how Zangwill’s hopeful vision of America intersects with the country in 2026.
“We’re updating some of the melodrama to feel more contemporary,” Bernstein said, “but we’re not changing Zangwill’s inspiring and romantic vision. At the same time, we’re aware of presenting the play not in 1908 but in 2026.”
The production is presented as part of America 250 with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Rabbi Sam
January 30-February 7, 2027
Multiple Venues
Theatre Ariel’s Salon Series will continue with Charlie Varon’s Rabbi Sam, a dramedy about an ambitious rabbi who arrives at a synagogue preaching “21st century Judaism.”
When his ideas unsettle members of the synagogue board, his mission to save Judaism quickly becomes a fight to save his own job. The play explores pulpit politics and questions what communities expect from their faith leaders and institutions.
The Scribe
March 18-28, 2027
Louis Bluver Theatre at the Drake
Following a sold-out, one-night-only performance last spring, Bernstein’s The Scribe will return for a fully realized two-weekend run directed by Leah Walton.
Written and performed by Bernstein, the solo show takes an irreverent and comedic look at the origins of the Hebrew Bible and the story of how “in the beginning” really began.
The Scribe and The Melting Pot (Reheated) will be presented as part of Theatre Ariel’s newly named Joey Fischer Mainstage Series.
Crossing Delancey
May 15-23, 2027
Multiple Venues
The season will conclude with Susan Sandler’s Crossing Delancey as part of the Salon Series.
The romantic comedy follows Isabel Grossman, whose plans for the life she thinks she wants are disrupted when her grandmother and a matchmaker attempt to pair her with Sam, a pickle vendor she would never have considered dating on her own.
Theatre Ariel’s Double Chai Celebration
In addition to its productions, Theatre Ariel will mark its 36th anniversary with a new Double Chai fundraising campaign designed to sustain the company’s recent growth.
“We have doubled our audience and doubled our budget,” Board Co-President Marci Wilf said. “With the Double Chai campaign, we will bring in the resources to help us sustain that growth.”
Subscription and Flex Memberships for the season are now on sale and range from $65-$185. Single tickets for Mainstage and Salon performances will go on sale in September and range from $18-$36.
Founded in 1990, Theatre Ariel is a Philadelphia-based nonprofit dedicated to staging stories of the Jewish experience and using theater as a catalyst for conversation and change.
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