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The question of defining what constitutes “Jewish” or “Jewishness,” particularly onstage, continues to challenge Jewish theater. Many of the artists referenced here are profoundly secular, of mixed heritage, and do not always create specifically Jewish theater. Many artists continue to grapple with the Holocaust, as the last survivors pass away and audiences face modern reminders of genocide. Conflicts about Zionism and Israeli/Palestinian theater have also proved difficult to navigate, and the political climate in the United States often makes collegiality difficult to maintain. As a result of the #MeToo movement, a number of Jewish men in the theater industry have been exposed as sexually and emotionally abusive.

Antisemitic acts and violence on the arts have also been profoundly discouraging. For example, at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Shana Cooper’s production of Indecent went into rehearsal just a few months after the murders of Jews in Poway and Pittsburgh. This production of Indecent was also the first to include Jews of color (Rebecca S’Manga Frank and Bill DeMerritt), who faced racism from the audience, including from white Jews, who questioned their Jewishness. Indeed, many portrayals of Jews on stage remain based on a white, “Ashkenormative” idea of Jewishness, even though it has been 25 years since Wasserstein’s An American Daughter featured an observant Black Jew, Dr. Judith Kaufman. Today, reflecting the demographic changes in America and the American Jewish community, a growing number of performers garnering acclaim are Jews of color including Frank, Demerritt, Nicolette Robinson, and Daveed Diggs of Hamilton (And “I Want a Puppy for Hanukkah”) fame. But questions about representation of Jews on stage and screen continue, especially about who gets to be Jewish on stage. Indecent’s success created more opportunity for Jews to be Jews in theater. Indeed, many involved in productions of Vogel’s play remark that it was the first time they got to be Jewish for a play; for Jews of color, this is even more significant.

Newer companies like the Jewish Plays Project, a competition and development initiative, and theatre dybbuk, a company committed to Jewish performance and education, have begun to offer more opportunities for Jewish artists to make positive change in the theater. HowlRound and American Theatre magazine have recently published articles on Jewish themes and questions. There are also new spaces for observant Jews to be able to practice their art, such as 24/6, a theater that honors Shabbat, and the training program Kol Neshema, founded by Robin Garbose, which invites girls and women to study theater and film with a Torah perspective.

Stella Adler’s question of almost a century ago—how artists can practice their craft in ways that will do less harm to themselves and others—continues to resurface. Intimacy Direction has emerged as a new field within theater, and Jewish women including Sarah Lozoff, Rachel Flesher, and Maya Herbsman are rising in prominence as this new collaborative role committed to physical and emotional safety becomes more common.

Questions about how Jewish American artists work have risen to the forefront as people emerge from the forced shutdown of the COVID-19 pandemic and the cries for justice and equality that reverberated so profoundly after the murder of George Floyd and many other people of color.  During the pandemic shutdown, many institutions reckoned with a powerful document issued in 2020 by a collective of theater artists entitled We See You, White American Theater. Among the signers are a few Jews of color. It has been a time of difficult conversations and anti-racist work, which sits alongside the work to improve conditions and increase opportunities for women. Rachel Chavkin’s impassioned 2019 Tony speech captured the feeling of many artists: “There are so many women who are ready to go. There are so many artists of color who are ready to go. And we need to see that racial diversity and gender diversity reflected in our critical establishment, too. This is not a pipeline issue. It is a failure of imagination by a field whose job is to imagine the way the world could be.”

No one article can encompass the entire history of Jewish American women’s contribution to theater in the United States. For example, trans artists, stage managers, and agents and managers are not included, and certainly many actors, writers, directors, designers, and more have been missed. Despite great progress, many women have had no choice but to hide their Jewishness, and even today some feel that stinging tradition lingers. Theater, though, has provided space to so many Jewish women, who have  contributed their many talents, pushing the art of the theater to greater heights and giving strength and depth to its intellectual and creative foundations. They have written great plays. They have performed onstage with skill, strength, and sensitivity. They have been innovators in lighting, costume, and scenic design. They have directed productions. They have challenged and inspired with their critical writing. They have founded and run their own theater companies. And they have nurtured talent as teachers. Jewish women have been there from the beginning, they have performed with distinction, and they will continue to do so.