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Spring Theater with The Braid is a series of three theatrical events in partnership with The Braid at the Museum of Jewish Heritage’s Edmond J. Safra Hall.


Rainbow Jewish star for Out Loud: Queer Stories Through a Jewish Lens event with images of performers below

Out Loud: Queer Stories Through a Jewish Lens
Thursday, June 22 from 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm ET

This disarming and charming show not only celebrates the beauty of the LGBTQIA+ community through true stories but also explores the power of love and the journey of finding one’s place in the world. Laugh as two women find each other through an unlikely dating scenario. Cry as a Persian son struggles to make peace with his deceased mother who never accepted his queerness. Discover how a strong Latine woman might have to give up her foundation and her family when she falls in love with a trans man. Connect with the concern of a Jewish mom as she worries about her nonbinary kid crossing the country. These stories will grab hold of your heart and not let go!

Michael Gabiano (Actor) is proud to return to The Braid after appearing in last June’s Out Loud performance for Santa Monica Pride. His Braid premiere was in Sex, Addiction & Love in the 21st Century. He can also be seen in Saved by a Showtune, which he wrote as part of The Braid’s acclaimed StoryNosh series. Gabiano holds a BA in theatre from Western Connecticut State University and is represented by MINC Talent. NYC Theatre: World premieres of Awaken the Wolves (Spotlight On/New Village Productions), Steven McElroy, director; The Amazing Colossal Thing (Vital Theatre Co.), David Hilder, director. LA Theatre: The Man Who Came to Dinner (Group Rep), Bruce Kimmel, director; Hillary and Monica (Argus Productions), Joel Zwick, director; Reunion (Blackhart Productions), Kay Cole, director; Saturday Night at Grossinger’s (TheatreWest), Susan Morgenstern, director; Naked Christmas (P6/Celebration Theatre), Jonathan Levit, director. Film: Sam Hu’s Last Day, Never Say Macbeth. Television: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, General Hospital, Days of our Lives, and Sean Saves the World.

 

Vicki Juditz (Actor/Writer) has performed her original stories at theaters and festivals across the country and beyond, including The National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN, The Toronto Storytelling Festival, and the Jewish Arts Festival of Hong Kong. She won the 2021 Ladies of Laughter Storytelling Competition, was featured in the LA Story Collider episode Difficult Decisions, and was invited to participate in the USA TODAY NETWORK Storytellers Project. A frequent performer at The Moth, she was honored to have her story Dancing at Joe's air on The Moth Radio Hour. Her solo shows include Where Do Babies Come From?, Life After Life and Teshuvah, Return, which was nominated for an Ovation Award and adapted for a long run at The Braid as Sacred Resistance. On TV, she has had comic roles on Coach, Everybody Loves Raymond, My Name is Earl and Yes, Dear, as well as in countless commercials.

Victoria Rani (she/they) is a Queer-identifying Mixed Asian American. A 2nd-Gen kid raised in Palm Springs by her Chinese and East Indian immigrant mother, she later graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in LA. Their former career at Universal Studios was production managing animated and live-action theme park ride media. Now a full-time actor and voice-over artist based in Los Angeles, they are committed to sharing stories that help those who feel “in-between” find belonging anywhere.

Jed Resnick (Actor) Broadway/National Tours: Avenue QRent; Off-Broadway: The Wanderers (Roundabout), Fairview (Soho Rep, TFANA, Pulitzer Prize), Avenue Q (New World Stages). Regional: Berkeley Rep, City Theatre, Actors Theatre Louisville, Weston Playhouse, Peterborough Players, Williamstown. TV/Film: “Dear Edward” (Apple TV+), She’s Marrying Steve. Resnick earned his BA at Brown University.

Presented in partnership with:

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Watch a trailer for the event here:


 

Pricing

In-Person Pricing:
– Non-members: $36 per show

– Seniors/Students: $18 per show


– Museum Members: $26 per show


(Become a member to receive this discount. If you are already a member, log in and the member discount will be reflected in your cart. Email membership@mjhnyc.org for registration assistance.)

If you purchase 10 tickets or more, a 10% discount is applied at checkout. 

Doors Open at 6:30 pm ET for in-person shows. These are live events and will not be made available after. 

The Museum is free and open to all on Thursdays from 4:00 to 8:00 PM, and LOX will serve Jewish and Russian fare and drinks before the event. Currently on view: The Holocaust: What Hate Can DoSurvivors: Faces of Life After the Holocaust, and Andy Goldsworthy’s Garden of Stones.

By signing up for this event, you will be automatically registered to receive email communications from The Braid. 


Past Events

Remembrance of Things Present
Thursday, April 20 from 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm ET

The story of the Holocaust continues far past liberation. Those born in the generations that followed especially feel the deep and resounding imprint in all aspects of their lives. In these surprisingly inspiring and heart-opening stories, we learn how the daughter of a French resistance fighter must choose between a life of activism and her own survival. We see how the son and grandson of Tuvia Bielsky, leader of the partisans, contend with the legacy of a hero. We’ll see the unexpected fear one grandson feels as he visits his family’s home in Germany, 65 years after his family fled the Nazis. As one daughter wonders if the price of encouraging her father to give testimony is greater than the benefit. Victims of the Holocaust are mourned, and those who survived have imprinted the next generations in innumerable ways.

Remembrance of Things Present features Jordan Bielsky, Lisa Ann Grant, Rosie Moss, and Tali Green and is directed by Susan Morgenstern.

Jordan Bielsky is from Rockaway Beach, New York City. He cut his teeth working on Tennessee Williams and John Patrick Shanley plays. He has since been in numerous television shows and films, most recently as a Krav Maga Instructor in Get Shorty on EPIX, an ex-con on his way to a wedding in the film Moving Violation, and is in the new Apple+ series Sugar opposite Colin Farrel. Bielsky’s voice has also appeared in several Netflix projects, including Fauda and Money Heist.

Tali Green was in Michael Anthony Theatrics’ Lights, Camera, Broadway at Chelsea Table + Stage. Her upcoming shows include performances at 54 Below and On The Spot Comedy. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Dramatic Arts.

Lisa Ann Grant is an Abby Freeman Artist-in-Residence with The Braid. Originally from New York City, Lisa appeared on Broadway as Eponine in Les Miserables, and in various roles in Leader of the Pack, DreamGirls, and Camelot. She appeared off-Broadway with Robert Downey Jr. and Jane Krakowski in American Passion, Radio City Music Hall as a soloist, and The Imaginary Invalid at the Laurie Beechman Theater. On television, she has appeared on Comedy Central, Disney Junior, Stacked, Charmed, ER, Family Matters, Family Law, and Crossing Jordan, as well as several commercials and voice-overs, including the animated feature Max and Me. Grant co-wrote a romantic musical comedy along that will premiere in NYC this fall.

Rosie Moss is an Abby Freeman Artist-in-Residence with The Braid and has performed in past salon shows including Star-Spangled Sabra, Guilty Parties, Family Secrets, and Jews in America. She starred in Epic Level Entertainment’s feature film Blood Born and Lifetime Network's digital series The Rookie. Her TV credits include appearances on ABC's The Conners and Freeform's Famous in Love. Moss originated the role of Ela in The Last Boy at New York City's Town Hall. Other theater credits include FUGU (WCJT), Macbethx5 (The Odyssey), and The Physicists (Sacred Fools). Film: To Be King, Strangers, One Halloween, and American Girl. She has also written, produced, and acted in two short films: The Pass and Enchanted, LLC.

Susan Morgenstern (Director/Producing Director) began directing musical-theatre concert readings in college while co-teaching American musical comedy with Tom Lehrer at UC Santa Cruz. She went on to teach and direct at the renowned Stage Door Manor performing-arts camp in Liberty, New York. Morgenstern has directed numerous Los Angeles plays and musicals at celebrated venues including Theatre West, The Garry Marshall Theatre, Whitefire Theatre, The Pico, Santa Monica Playhouse, and Cabrillo Music Theatre. She co-authored and directed 18 Minutes of Fame: A Musical Journey with Barbara Minkus in Los Angeles and NYC. Morgenstern has directed numerous shows with The Braid and is especially proud to be its producing director, working closely with a tremendous group of brilliant and passionately creative people.

Ronda Spinak is the founder and artistic director of The Braid, the largest independent Jewish theatre in the US. She created, curated, and produced 75 original shows in a new theatrical art form called Salon Theatre, at The Braid. Spinak developed and produced six one-person shows, including the LA Drama Critics Circle nominated, Not That Jewish, which ran for 16 months, and then moved to a successful run off-Broadway, Rain Pryor’s hit show Fried Chicken & Latkes, and Ovation-nominated Sacred Resistance. During Covid she produced on-film Stories from the Violins of Hope, which the United Nations Programme on the Holocaust shared in 30 countries. She developed a hybrid art show/theatre piece, “Holy Sparks,” which features the works of 24 Jewish women artists paired with the stories of 24 pioneering woman rabbis, that opened at the Heller Museum in New York City and is now touring in major cities throughout the U.S. Spinak’s play, Oscar Wilde’s Wife, was featured in the Ashland New Play Festival. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, a graduate of Stanford University, and holds advanced degrees from UCLA and USC.

Watch a trailer for the event here:


Matzo Ball Diaries
Thursday, February 23 from 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm ET

In The Matzo Ball Diaries, professional and lay writers reveal funny, poignant, and pivotal moments that reveal the power of food to heal – or destroy. One young woman in Iran learns what plucking chickens has in common with hair removal of a new bride. A boy decides to give up certain Jewish foods to lose weight, but will he lose his Judaism as well? Another man begins a food franchise only to realize the impact he made on others. A heartbroken woman learns how to say goodbye to her mate when making a tomato omelet for him for the last time. The Braid creates the perfect recipe for a meaningful and enjoyable evening through these and other moving and humorous stories.

Watch a trailer for the event here: