Theater J is a professional theater company located in Washington, DC, founded to present works that "celebrate the distinctive urban voice and social vision that are part of the Jewish cultural legacy" as a self-mission.

Organization

The company performs in the Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater, part of the Washington, D.C. Jewish Community Center

Washington, D.C. Jewish Community Center

The Washington, D.C. Jewish Community Center is a Jewish Community Center located in the historic district of Dupont Circle. It serves the Washington, D.C...

's Morris Cafritz Center for the Arts in D.C.'s Dupont Circle neighborhood. The Artistic Director is Ari Roth

Ari Roth

Ari Roth is an American theatrical producer, playwright, director and educator. Since 1997, he has served as the Artistic Director of Theater J in Washington, D.C...

.

Plays

Theater J has shown premieres by Richard Greenberg

Richard Greenberg

Richard Greenberg is an American playwright. He is the author of over 25 plays including eight South Coast Repertory world premieres: Our Mother's Brief Affair, The Injured Party, The Violet Hour, Everett Beekin, Hurrah at Last, Three Days of Rain Richard Greenberg (1958–present) is an American...

 (Bal Masque), Ariel Dorfman

Ariel Dorfman

Vladimiro Ariel Dorfman is an Argentine-Chilean novelist, playwright, essayist, academic, and human rights activist. A citizen of the United States since 2004, he has been a professor of literature and Latin American Studies at Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina since 1985.-Personal...

 (Picasso’s Closet), Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates is an American author. Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published over fifty novels, as well as many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction...

 (The Tattooed Girl) and Wendy Wasserstein

Wendy Wasserstein

Wendy Wasserstein was an American playwright and an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University...

 (Third

Third (play)

Third was the last play written by Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein.-Production history:Third premiered at Washington D.C.'s Theater J, in January–February 2004 as a one-act play, directed by Michael Barakiva and featuring Kathryn Grody.The Lincoln Center for the...

).

Critical response

Theater J has been described by the New York Times as offering "professional polish, thoughtful dramaturgy

Dramaturgy

Dramaturgy is the art of dramatic composition and the representation of the main elements of drama on the stage. Dramaturgy is a distinct practice separate from play writing and directing, although a single individual may perform any combination of the three. Some dramatists combine writing and...

 and nervy experimentation," and by Hadassah Magazine as "one of the most successful and avant-garde

Avant-garde

Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....

" of contemporary American Jewish theaters

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.” The Association holds an annual conference. Members include theaters, Artistic Directors of theaters, solo performers, and playwrights,...

. The company is also known for its record of premiering new works. The New York Times called Theater J "The Premier Theater for Premieres."

External links

• Theater J Homepage
• http://www.afjt.com/theatres.htm