A Festival of Favorites and Firsts at Theater J

Contact: Travis Hare, KRPR Travis@KendraRubinfeldpr.com 240 507-4238 (Travis Hare) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Theater J Presents: Festival of Favorites and Firsts! A play reading festival celebrating 100 years of the Edlavitch DC JCC May 30, 31 & June 6 WASHINGTON, DC (May 18, 2026)— Theater J is excited to announce, A Festival of Favorites and Firsts, a series of public staged readings taking place on May 30, 31 and June 6, 2026. The festival is being held as part of the 100-year anniversary of the Edlavitch DCJCC of which Theater J has been a part of for 36 years. The festival will bring together beloved works from Theater J’s past alongside powerful new voices shaping the future of theater. In March, Theater J asked its audience to vote on their favorite play from the past 36 years. Several titles emerged to the top of the rankings, but the top three were The Last Night of Ballyhoo by Alfred Uhry, Queens Girl in the World by Caleen Sinnette Jennings, and The Sisters Rosensweig by Wendy Wasserstein. The public will get to see these beloved plays brought back to the EDCJCC for one performance. The Festival will also feature readings of two brand new plays from young Jewish playwrights. Theater J Artistic Director Hayley Finn will direct the reading of Ali Viterbi’s Linguicide, and Mosaic Theater Company of DC Artistic Director Reginald L. Douglas will direct the reading of Kendell Pinkney’s I Know of Plagues. Each ticket to the reading includes a special chance to schmooze with Theater J artists and fellow theater lovers either in the form of a bagel brunch, a cocktail reception, or desserts. Full details of the play readings featured are as follows: The Last Night of Ballyhoo By Alfred Uhry Directed by Aaron Posner 2pm, May 30th In 1939 Atlanta, Georgia, the social event of the season is Ballyhoo – part-festival, part-ball for high society members. The Freitag family’s hopes are pinned on the last night of Ballyhoo, in this play full of romantic sparks and family secrets. Run Time: 2 hours 30min incl. a 10min intermission Linguicide By Ali Viterbi Directed by Hayley Finn 7:30pm, May 30 After the hit world premiere production of The World to Come, Theater J presents a staged reading of playwright Ali Viterbi’s new play, Linguicide. In 1984, a mother goes door to door campaigning for her 22-year-old son. In 1870, a newlywed couple creates a radical newspaper. In 1939, a young politician proposes to his illicit lover on the brink of war. And in 2055, a student and teacher meet atop all their graves. Linguicide is a love letter to the dying language of Ladino, the families who spoke it, and the worlds they built. It asks: how can a language die? And when it does, what happens to the identity it shaped? Run Time: 2 hours incl. a 10min intermission Queens Girl in the World By Caleen Sinnette Jennings Directed by Danielle A. Drakes Starring Deirdre Staples 2pm, May 31 It’s summer 1962 in Queens, New York. The sounds of doo-wop music fill the night and 12-year-old Jacqueline Marie Butler is on the verge of adulthood. When Jacqueline’s parents abruptly transfer her to a progressive, predominantly Jewish school in Greenwich Village, she is thrust out of her comfort zone. As one of only four black students, Jacqueline discovers a new city and a whole new world. After having its world premiere at Theater J in 2015 as part of the Women’s Voices Theatre Festival, Queens Girl in the World went on to win awards across North America and have a successful Off-Broadway run. Playwright Caleen Sinnette Jennings went on to write Queens Girl in Africa and Queens Girl: Black in the Green Mountains. Run Time: 80min The Sisters Rosenweig By Wendy Wasserstein Directed by Jess Chayse 1pm, June 6 The sisters Rosensweig are three extraordinary Brooklyn-born Jewish women. Sara lives an ostensibly happy, man-free life in London with her intelligent daughter, Tess. Pfeni is an eccentric travel writer who pursues an unsatisfactory relationship with Geoffrey, a bisexual theatre director. And Gorgeous has the perfect husband and family in Massachusetts, where she pursues a ‘funsy’ career as a radio agony aunt. When they meet up at Sara’s home in Holland Park, reawakened familial bonds cause each woman to confront her past and her future. Run Time: 2 hours 45min incl. a 10min intermission I Know of Plagues By Kendall Pinkney Directed by Reginald L. Douglas 7:30pm, June 6 The Shapiro-Rosenblatt-Cunningham clan has gathered in White Plains, New York to do what it does every Passover: commemorate, sanctify, dispute, remember, rehearse, indict, celebrate and “passively regress” the ancient feast of Jewish liberation. When estranged daughter Skye returns home with an unexpected guest and a pet-project in tow, everyone is forced to confront long simmering grievances and repressed truths that threaten to wreck the holiday, and maybe the family, for good. I Know of Plagues excavates the unique ways that only family can fracture when race, politics, religion, and generational grudges can no longer be kept at bay. Run Time: 2 hours 30min incl. a 10min intermission All access passes are available for $100 for the whole festival, and individual tickets to each reading are $28. Subscribers to Theater J’s 2026-2027 season get 50% off all access passes and individual tickets. More info at: https://www.edcjcc.org/theater-j/festival/ ### About Theater J Theater J is a nationally-renowned, professional theater that celebrates, explores, and struggles with the complexities and nuances of both the Jewish experience and the universal human condition. Our work illuminates and examines ethical questions of our time, inter-cultural experiences that parallel our own, and the changing landscape of Jewish identities. As the nation’s largest and most prominent Jewish theater, we aim to preserve and expand a rich Jewish theatrical tradition and to create community and commonality through theater-going experiences. About the Edlavitch DCJCC Theater J is a proud program of the Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center (EDCJCC). Guided by Jewish values and heritage, the EDCJCC engages individuals and families through its cultural, recreational, educational, and social justice programs by welcoming people of all backgrounds to connect, learn, serve, and be entertained together in ways that reflect the unique role of the Center in the nation’s capital. The Edlavitch DCJCC embraces inclusion in all its programs and activities. We welcome and encourage the participation of all people, regardless of their background, sexual orientation, abilities, or religion, including interfaith couples and families. THEATER J INFORMATION LOCATION: Edlavitch DCJCC’s Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater (1529 16th Street, NW Washington, DC) Four blocks east of Dupont Circle. PARKING: The latest information on available parking in the area can be found at edcjcc.org/theater-j/visit/ METRO: Dupont Circle Station Red line TICKET OFFICE: 202.777.3210 or email boxoffice@edcjcc.org