Celebrating Jewish Pride – A Free Reading of A PEOPLE by L M Feldman at Island City Stage on August 25th

28 Monday Jul 2025

Posted by Carol Kassie in Uncategorized, YI Love Jewish, Yiddishkayt Initiative

Tags

A People, Ana Marie Caise, Autumn Kioti-Horn, Avi Hoffman, Eytan Deray, Free Reading, Island City Stage, Jewish Identity, Jewish Pride, L M Feldman, Laura Turnbull, Lela Elam, LGBTQ+, Rayner Gabriel

Celebrating Jewish Pride

Love Jewish to present a Free Staged Reading of
A People
by L M Feldman
Directed by Avi Hoffman
August 25^th at Island City Stage
Love Jewish is dedicated to give a voice to contemporary Jewish LGBTQ+
artists and content creators.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com /561-445-9244

July 28, 2025

WILTON MANORS, FL: In celebration of Jewish Pride, Love Jewish, a division of Yiddishkayt Initiative, will present a staged reading of playwright L M Feldman’s theatrical mosaic A People as their inaugural season presentation. The performance will take place on August 25^th at 7 pm at Island City Stage.

Directed by Avi Hoffman and featuring South Florida favorites Ana Marie Calise, Eytan Deray, Lela Elam, Rayner Gabriel, Avi Hoffman, Autumn Kioti-Horn, Laura Turnbull, and others, A People will take audiences on a magical lyrical journey into heritage, tradition, religion, and humanity.

Feldman holds up a mirror to 5000 years of Jewish identity and history, reminding us that we are all descendants from somewhere, and we can choose to deny our lineage, wrestle with it, or embrace it. Sometimes hilarious and sometimes terrifyingly honest, A People’s ensemble will take on a mass of old and new-world personalities to create snippets of life the way we see it, the way we want it, and the way it is.

Utilizing the performing arts, media, publishing, education, language, and literature, the mission of Love Jewish is to Advocate for Jewish Pride, Build Cultural Bridges and Challenge Antisemitism Through the Arts by promoting Jewish history and life, and their far-reaching impact on the contemporary world. Based in Miami-Dade County, in proud partnership with the University of Miami and Florida Atlantic University, YI Love Jewish builds engagement and forges multicultural and diverse connections through an immersive and varied range of programming for audiences worldwide.

Tickets for A People are free, with a suggested donation of $10, and are now available. They can be purchased online at www.YILoveJewish.org/events. Island City Stage is located at 2304 North Dixie Highway in Wilton Manors (33305).

For more information about A People, Love Jewish, and Yiddishkayt Initiative please visit https://yilovejewish.org. To arrange interviews, photos, or requests to see the performance, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244.

A People
By L M Feldman
Monday, August 25^th at 7 pm
Tickets: FREE ($10 Suggested Donation)
To reserve: https://yilovejewish.org/events
The performance will take place at
Island City Stage
2304 North Dixie Highway
Wilton Manors, FL 33305

L M Feldman is a queer, feminist playwright (and circus artist) who pens plays that are wildly theatrical but deeply intimate. Formally ambitious plays that move and take up space. Plays that are questioning, wrestling, and asking. Plays without answers. Plays about women and queers, plays about outsiders and searchers. Plays grappling with voice and agency, opportunity and access, history and its wake. Plays about the human connection. Plays that seek to be a greater, communal, rare theatrical event in which something transcendent transpires – for those both onstage & off.

Her plays include Thrive, or What You Will (Page 73 Residency, New Georges Audrey Residency); Another Kind Of Silence (Magic Theatre Virgin Play Festival, PlayPenn Conference, Playwrights Realm Fellowship, FEWW Prize Honorable Mention); Amanuensis (Georgetown University); A People (Orbiter 3, Jewish Plays Project); The Egg-Layers (Jane Chambers Honorable Mention, New Georges/Barnard College commission); Grace, or The Art of Climbing (Denver Center, Art House Productions, Nice People Theatre, ATCA/Steinberg New Play Award Nomination, Barrymore Nomination); ensemble-devised works, including Gumshoe (New Paradise Labs + Free Library of Philadelphia + Rosenbach Museum), War of the Worlds: Philadelphia (Swim Pony + Drexel University), And If You Lose Your Way, Or A Food Odyssey (The Invisible Dog, New York Innovative Theatre Award Nomination), and others; and a baker’s dozen of short plays. She has been nominated for the Barrie and Bernice Stavis Playwright Award, Wendy Wasserstein Prize, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and the Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award. She was awarded an artist grant through the Boomerang Fund and a creation grant from the State of Vermont, and she has been an artist-in-residence at Terra Firma, SPACE at Ryder Farm, the School of Making Thinking, Tofte Lake Center, Montana Artists Refuge, Montana Repertory Theatre, Sewanee University of the South, Cornell University, and Theater Emory/Brave New Works Festival. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, L is also a New Georges Affiliated Artist, a devised-work collaborator, a teacher of playwriting (Bryn Mawr College, Lantern Theatre/Jefferson Medical School, PlayPenn), and a freelance dramaturg.

(Click on each image to enlarge it, then right click on the enlarged image and ‘save image as’ or ‘copy image’)

Love Jewish to Present Avi Hoffman in CELEBRATING ‘YOSL’: REMEMBERING JOE PAPP! at the Triad Theater June 22nd

05 Thursday Jun 2025

Posted by Carol Kassie in Clients, YI Love Jewish, Yiddishkayt Initiative

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Avi Hoffman, Blythe Danner, Estelle Parsons, F. Murray Abraham, John Lithgow, Joseph Papp, Kathryn Grody, Mandy Patinkin, The New York Shakespeare Festival, The Public Theatre, theatre, Triad Theater, Tribute to Joe Papp

Love Jewish proudly presents Avi Hoffman in
Celebrating ‘Yosl’: Remembering Joe Papp
A live and streaming concert event featuring Celebrity Video Testimonials

Theater icon Joseph Papp, aka Yosl Papirofsky, creator of the New York Shakespeare Festival & Public Theater, to be remembered and honored in a live and streaming concert celebrating his 104th birthday at the Triad Theatre on June 22, 2025, at 1 pm (EST).

“The single most creative and controversial figure in American theater”
– Newsweek

For Immediate Release
Contact: Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

June 5, 2025
New York, NY – Joseph Papp (1921-1991), born ‘Yosl Papirofsky’, revolutionized modern theater as we know it. This theatrical icon – winner of 28 Tony Awards – will be the subject of a memorial concert on what would have been his 104th birthday on June 22 at 1 pm. This tribute will be presented by Love Jewish (a division of Yiddishkayt Initiative) at the Triad Theatre, 158 W. 72nd St., New York, NY 10023.

The concert event will also feature pre-recorded celebrity testimonials from Mandy Patinkin and Kathryn Grody, F. Murray Abraham, Blythe Danner, John Lithgow, Estelle Parsons, and many others.

Joe Papp’s vision led him in 1957 to establish the “Shakespeare in the Park” free theatrical productions. Ten years later, he founded The Public Theater in the building that had formerly housed the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), a haven for newly arrived refugees fleeing persecution. The building was saved from demolition through Mr. Papp’s efforts after a long negotiation with the City of New York. It became the permanent home of the New York Shakespeare Festival/Joseph Papp Public Theatre (The Public) and is currently designated as a New York City Historical Landmark.

Hair, A Chorus Line, and Runaways, are among the most famous shows to evolve from his ‘workshops’, along with over 700 other shows Papp nurtured and/or produced. Modern blockbusters like Hamilton were also developed at The Public. He championed the cause of multi-ethnic casting and socially relevant topics and was a social activist who also helped develop other off-Broadway experimental theaters. He worked to preserve the historic Broadway Theatre District and was considered one of the most philanthropic providers of inner-city access to the arts, believing that “if public libraries were free, public theatre should be free as well.”

Celebrating Yosl is a tribute that features YI Founder and CEO, Drama Desk Award nominee (Death of a Salesman) and world-renowned actor and Jewish cultural activist Avi Hoffman, who Joe Papp mentored in the 1980s with the creation of the Joseph Papp Yiddish Theatre.

Avi Hoffman was recently awarded Congressional recognition, invited to the Vatican to meet the late Pope Francis, and was inducted into the Bronx Jewish Hall of Fame for his lifetime dedication to advancing Jewish culture, Yiddishkayt, and Holocaust Awareness. He is best known for his Too Jewish Trilogy: Award-winning, one-man shows Too Jewish, Too Jewish, Too! (PBS, Performer of the Year ’95 – NY Press Magazine; L.A. OVATION award – Best Actor In a Musical 2001; NY Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle award nominations) and Still Jewish After All These Years. On TV, he was featured as Sid Raskin in the Starz TV series Magic City, as well as on Netflix’s Bloodline, A&E’s The Glades, and on the NBC series Law and Order. He has recently starred in several indie films: You Will Not Play Wagner and the International Award-winning short Yiddish Films: Shehita (Best Thriller – HollyShorts Festival), Boxed, and the motion picture – The Imported Bridegroom. Avi has performed all over the world, has numerous acting and directing credits, and has received many awards and nominations.

In the photos below:
Joseph Papp
Avi Hoffman
Photo credits: Unknown
~
What: CELEBRATING ‘YOSL’: Remembering Joe Papp!
Where: Triad Theatre, 158 W. 72nd St., New York, NY 10023
When: Sunday, June 22nd at 1:00 pm EST
Click: General Admission Tickets: $36
Click: 20 VIP/Reserved Seating and Private Post-Show meal with Avi: $90
Click: Balcony Student Tickets: $18 (with any valid student ID)
Click: Streaming Tickets: $18/$36
To sponsor this event, please contact Ana Marie Calise anac@whyilovejewish.org
~
YI Love Jewish is a division of Yiddishkayt Initiative (YI), a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization that builds Jewish engagement and forges multi-cultural connections through an immersive and varied range of programming for audiences around the globe. YI offers a global clearinghouse of Jewish culture and entertainment staffed by experts in subject matter and production. The organization works with a wide range of organizations, including the University of Miami’s Sue and Leonard Miller Center and the George Feldenkreis Program in Contemporary Judaic Studies. YI partners with local Jewish Federations, JCCs, synagogues, Hadassah chapters, Hillel chapters, men’s groups, women’s guilds, special interest clubs, youth groups, summer camp programs and educational institutions worldwide.

THE RIGHTEOUS a New Play by Jeff Cohen at Miami New Drama April 22nd Only

14 Monday Apr 2025

Posted by Carol Kassie in Clients, Uncategorized, YI Love Jewish, Yiddishkayt Initiative

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Avi Hoffman, Chiz Chisholm, Craig Bierko, Dave Corey, Irene Adjan, Jeff Cohen, Laura Turnbull, Miami New Drama, Patti Gardner, Peter W. Galman, Stephen Schnetzer, The Righteous, University of Miami Miller Center for Contemporary Jewish Studies, YI Love Jewish/Yiddishkayt Initiative

Yiddishkayt Initiative and The University of Miami Center for Jewish Studies
in Association with Miami New Drama and Second Serve Productions
to present a staged reading of
The Righteous
A new play by Jeff Cohen

In a World filled with turmoil and amorality, what does it mean to be Righteous?

For Immediate Release
Contact: Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

April 14, 2025

MIAMI BEACH, FL: In honor of Yom HaShoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day – Yiddishkayt Initiative (YI Love Jewish) and The University of Miami Miller Center for Judaic Studies in association with Miami New Drama and Second Serve Productions will present a staged reading of Drama Desk Award-winner Jeff Cohen’s (The Soap Myth) new play The Righteous. The event will take place at Miami New Drama (at The Colony Theatre) on April 22^nd at 7:30 pm.

What would you do if you learned that your country planned to exterminate an entire race of people? That is the horrible question faced by Eduard Schulte, a captain of German industry and member of Hitler’s inner circle. The Righteous is the true story of the man who sounded the alarm of Hitler’s plan to murder all the Jews in Europe. Schulte’s warning reached the desk of President Roosevelt in December 1942. Roosevelt refused to act.

Schulte’s identity was a closely guarded secret for over forty years and his heroic act to stop the Holocaust was kept hidden from his family and from the world. The Righteous tells his story through the lens of Priscilla Schulte, the American granddaughter who never knew him. She uncovers a compelling and poignant portrait of a man who risked his life and the lives of his family to stand up against evil. In 1988, Eduard Schulte was posthumously honored by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations – a Righteous Gentile.

The Righteous will be directed by the playwright Jeff Cohen, and feature Tony Award nominee Craig Bierko (The Music Man) and two-time Drama Desk Award nominee Avi Hoffman (Death of a Salesman), along with an award-winning cast of some of South Florida’s most talented actors, including Laura Turnbull, Patti Gardner, Irene Adjan, Peter Galman, Chiz Chisholm, Stephen Schnetzer, and Dave Corey.

The Righteous will be staged for one night only at Miami New Drama (The Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, FL 33139). Admission to the reading is FREE, however reservations are required, and can be made online at https://yilovejewish.org/events.

For more information about The Righteous, to arrange for interviews, for photos, and/or to arrange to see the performance, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244.
~
The Righteous
By Jeff Cohen
Tuesday, April 22 at 7:30 pm
Admission: FREE (Reservations required)
For reservations: https://yilovejewish.org/events
Or call 954-678-1496
The performance will take place at
Miami New Drama/Colony Theatre
1040 Lincoln Road,
Miami Beach, FL 33139
~

Jeff Cohen (Playwright). Jeff Cohen’s drama The Soap Myth is considered one of the most important plays about antisemitism and Holocaust denial. Ed Asner toured the country in The Soap Myth as a “concert reading” and the play was filmed and broadcast by PBS starring Mr. Asner and Tovah Feldshuh. Other notable actors who have performed The Soap Myth include Richard Dreyfuss, Bob Gunton, John Rubinstein, Harris Yulin, and Jayne Atkinson. His play The Man Who Ate Michael Rockefeller was a NY Times and Time Out New York Critic’s Pick. He received international acclaim and a special 2002 Drama Desk Award for his response to the attacks of 9/11. The Tribeca Playhouse Stage Door Canteen, his 10-week USO-style variety show to “entertain the troops” (the rescue and recovery workers at Ground Zero) featured such stars as Kristen Chenoweth, Phylicia Rashad, Sandy Duncan, Colin Quinn and many more. He produced and directed a number of award-winning new plays including Christopher Shinn’s Four (NY Times Critic’s Pick)and Tristine Skyler’s The Moonlight Room (NY Times annual Ten Best productions). The NY Times Arts & Leisure profiled him alongside internationally acclaimed avant-garde artists Ivo Van Hove and The Wooster Group for his groundbreaking work adapting classic plays to an American milieu. In his five-decades in the theater, Mr. Cohen has helped launch the careers of Laura Linney, Kathryn Hahn, Christopher Shinn, Michael Ealy and DB Sweeney – to name just a few.

(Click on each photo to expand, identify and/or download)

ANNE BEING FRANK to be Presented at 3 Venues in South Florida in November

21 Monday Oct 2024

Posted by Carol Kassie in Clients, YI Love Jewish, Yiddishkayt Initiative

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Alexis Fishman, Anne Being Frank, Anne Frank, Aventura Arts & Cultural Center, Holocaust, Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, Miniaci Performing Arts Center, Ron Elisha, theatre, YI Love Jewish/Yiddishkayt Initiative

Anne Being Frank
Reimagines an Iconic Story to Pose Philosophical Questions

The Award-winning play will be presented at 3 Venues in South Florida

“An important play” … “a powerful reminder” … “heartbreaking” … “chilling” … “very moving” … “thought provoking” ~ Broadway Radio

For Immediate Release:
Contact: Carol Kassie
Carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244
Contact: Jenna Swanson
Jswanson@piersongrant.com / 954-776-1999, ext. 235

October 22, 2024

AVENTURA, FL: YI Love Jewish in partnership with the City of Aventura, and in collaboration with the Rose & Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center and the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts will present Anne Being Frank, a new play by Israeli-born Australian playwright Ron Elisha. Directed by Amanda Brooke Lerner, the production will run at three venues in South Florida: November 9^th (at the Aventura Arts & Cultural Center), November 10^th (in the Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center) and November 12^th (at the Miniaci Performing Arts Center).

Performed Off-Broadway to rave reviews, this one-woman show starring Alexis Fishman is a total reimagining of the iconic story of Anne Frank. The play, which received the 2023 Broadway World – Best Production award, takes place within three worlds: Anne and her family’s secret annex hiding place, the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where Anne died, and an imagined world where Anne survives WWII to go over the manuscript of her diary with her editor at a publishing house in Manhattan. But now, with her devastating new insight into the depths of human depravity, she has rewritten her entire diary at the great personal cost of constantly having to justify her choices to her editor, who wants to maintain the purity and innocence of the original story.

Anne Being Frank poses the philosophical question: “Had Anne known precisely what was in store for her and her family at the hands of the Nazis, would she still have written, ‘In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart’?”

Australian-born Fishman is a Helpmann Award-nominated actor and singer who currently lives in New York. She is a board member of 3GNY, an educational non-profit for the descendants of Holocaust Survivors and tells her grandparents’ story in New York public schools.

Anne Being Frank is presented as a commemoration of Kristallnacht by YI Love Jewish and Executive Producer Marc Levin.

Tickets for Anne Being Frank are on sale now at all three venues and can be purchased online at yilovejewish.org/events. Ticket prices begin at $52.

For more information about Anne Being Frank, to speak with anyone involved in the production, or to arrange to see a performance, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244 or Jenna Swanson at Jswanson@piersongrant.com / 954-776-1999, ext. 235.

Anne Being Frank contains adult language or content.

Anne Being Frank
A New Play by Ron Elisha
Saturday, November 9 at 8 pm
at The Aventura Arts & Cultural Center
3385 NE 188^th Street
Aventura, FL 33180
Sunday, November 10 at 8 pm
in The Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center
701 Okeechobee Boulevard
West Palm Beach, FL 33401
Tuesday, November 12 at 7:30 pm
at Rose & Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center
3100 Ray Ferrero Jr. Boulevard
Davie, FL 33314
Tickets: $52 and up.
To purchase tickets at any of the above venues, and/or for more information visit
https://yilovejewish.org/events