Sarasota Jewish Theatre Reveals 2025-2026 Season

Sarasota Jewish Theatre has announced its 2025-2026 season and honored to celebrate Howard Millman’s profound impact on the theatre community by dedicating the season to his memory.

The season begins in October 2025 with short play offerings: We’ve Got Short Shorts includes two contemporary short comedies by Bruce J. Bloom, and “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” which is based on a play be Celeste Raspanti. The main season – February through April 2026 – consists of three plays: “Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski” by Clark Young and Derek Goldman, “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” by Charles Busch, and “Cherry Docs” by David Gow.

All plays and programs are presented at The Sarasota Players, inside the Crossings at Siesta Key mall, 3501 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. 

We’ve Got Short Shorts

We’ve Got Short Shorts is two fully staged short contemporary comedies by Bruce J. Bloom on stage October 10 and October 12 at 1:30 p.m. and October 11 at 7:30 p.m. In “Daniel Ortega and the Yom Kippur Blues,” Arthur Kleinman is looking for his lost faith in a Latino saloon where he finds it’s easier to sin than he ever expected. Luis Valencia is his guide, but where to, heaven or hell? In “The Last Request of Eddie Carmichael/Cohen,” Eddie Carmichael announces, on his deathbed, he's Jewish, not Catholic, and that his real name is Cohen. As his dying wish he asks a rabbi to marry him and Esther Goldman, a Jewish woman he met in the nursing home. Sister Veronica keeps insisting that Eddie is Catholic and delusional. Is he telling the truth? Is he lying? Or is he just plain crazy? Tickets for We’ve Got Short Shorts, on sale now, are $24.

I Never Saw Another Butterfly

“I Never Saw Another Butterfly,” based on a play be Celeste Raspanti, is being presented October 17 at 3:00 p.m., October 18 at 7:30 p.m., and October 19 at 1:30 p.m. This 60-minute adaptation of Raspanti’s play, based on a book of artwork created by children at the Terezin Concentration Camp during WWII, is offered in partnership with the Holocaust Education Program at the Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee. One of the camp survivors, Raja, tells the true story of giving the children hope when there was little reason for hope, creating a world of laughter, flowers, and butterflies behind the barbed wire. For the children, butterflies became a symbol of defiance, making it possible for them to live and play happily while waiting to be transported. Tickets for “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” are $29 and available now.

SJT’s main season runs from February into April 2026. Main season subscriptions ($117-$135) are on sale on now and can be purchased at theplayers.org or by phone at 941-365-2494. Single tickets ($19-$50) go on sale August 1. 

Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski

“Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski” by Clark Young and Derek Goldman (February 4-15, 2026) features SJT favorite Michael Raver in a virtuoso performance portraying Polish World War II hero and Holocaust witness Jan Karski. Karski risked his life to carry his report of the Warsaw ghetto from war-torn Poland to the Allied Nations and the Oval Office, only to be met with inaction and disbelief. This story of moral courage and individual responsibility is a cautionary tale about the dangers of complacency and the ways in which a self-described “ordinary little man” can become a true hero. 

Preview: February 4, 7:30 p.m.

Performances: February 6, 8, 11, 13, 15 at 1:30 p.m.; February 5, 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15 at 7:30 p.m.

The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife

“The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” by Charles Busch (March 4-15, 2026) is an uproarious, intelligently funny and satirically relevant comedy which ran for 777 performances on Broadway. When Marcia Taub, a middle-aged Upper West Side doctor’s wife who is devoted to mornings at the Whitney, afternoons at MOMA, and evenings at BAM, plunges into a mid-life crisis, the only thing that shakes her out of her lethargy is the reappearance of a fabulous, fascinating, and somewhat mysterious childhood friend. 

Preview: March 4, 7:30 p.m.

Performances: March 6, 8, 11, 13, 15 at 1:30 p.m.; March 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14 at 7:30 p.m.

Cherry Docs

“Cherry Docs” by David Gow (April 8-19, 2026) was presented by SJT via Zoom in its first season, during the pandemic. This play is even more relevant today than it was in 2020. When a white supremacist brutally attacks an immigrant and is assigned a Jewish public defender, both men’s lives are changed forever. “Cherry Docs” raises issues about immigration, antisemitism and the law that are as immediate as today’s news. 

Preview: April 8, 7:30 p.m.

Performances: April 10, 12, 15, 17, 19 at 1:30 p.m.; April 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18 at 7:30 p.m.

“Cherry Docs” is also the focus of the Community Conversation on April 21, 2026. The panel will include the actors and director of “Cherry Docs” with the conversation’s focus on thought-provoking issues raised in the play, and the confluence of incidents in the play to events that are happening in our country today. Tickets are $14-$24.

Be A Theatre Maven returns for a second season. These are two-hour deep dives into each of Sarasota Jewish Theatre’s main season productions. Each program, which begins at 10:00 a.m. with a continental breakfast, examines the play and the playwright with Artistic Director Carole Kleinberg and each play’s director. Participants meet the actors and learn about the challenges and techniques in bringing the characters to life on the stage; meet with the technical team to learn about the complex technical requirements; and receive a comprehensive study guide. Be A Theatre Maven dates are February 6 for “Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski,” March 6 for “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife,” and April 10 for “Cherry Docs.” Tickets, on sale now, are $29-$34 per program.