Association for Jewish Theatre

The Association for Jewish Theatre is an American cultural organization dedicated to helping its members produce “plays relevant to Jewish life and values.” [ [http://www.afjt.com/bylaws.htm Jewish Ensemble Theatre ] ] The Association holds an annual conference. [ [http://www.afjt.com/upcoming.htm Jewish Ensemble Theatre ] ] Members include Artistic Directors of theaters devoted to Jewish content, solo performers, and playwrights.

The Association held its first general meeting and first annual Jewish Theatre Festival at Marymount Manhattan College in June, 1980. . [ [http://www.afjt.com/about.htm Jewish Ensemble Theatre ] ] The association sees itself as part of the ethnic theater movement, inspired especially by the black and Latino theatre movements. Norman Fedder and Steve Reisner are credited with being the prime movers behind the founding of the AJT. [ "Jewish Theatre Festival 1980," by Tina Margolis and Susan Weinacht, The Drama Review: TDR, Vol. 24, No. 3, Jewish Theatre Issue (Sep., 1980), pp. 93-95] According to the New York Times, the Association had “more than a score of members representing theater groups in the United States and Canada, from Phoenix, Ariz., to Winnipeg, Manitoba” by 1989 and was held to exemplify the “comeback” of explicitly Jewish theater in America. [ “Jewish Theater Is Making a Comeback, by Richard Shepard, March 24, 1989, New York Times [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE2D6173AF937A15750C0A96F948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all] ]

The organization sponsors yearly conferences, which are at times accompanied by theater festivals. in 2007, the AJT had its first international conference, in Vienna. In 2009, the conference is scheduled for New York, and it will be accompanied by a Festival of Jewish Theater and Ideas. In 2010, the conference will be hosted by Habimah, in Tel Aviv. This conference will also be accompanied by a festival.

External links

* [http://www.afjt.com/ The Official Web Site]
* [http://www.jewish-theatre.com/ All About Jewish Theater] , a web site devoted to chronicling Jewish theater and co-sponsor of the 2010 AJT conference
* [http://www.jewishculture.org/ Foundation for Jewish Culture]

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