Congregation Bet Ha'am

05/28/2024

Our 6th (and final) featured playwright at this Saturday's "A Staged Affair" fundraiser is David Lipschutz. Be sure to come on June 1st to hear all 6 new Jewish plays that will be sure to keep you thinking long after the event is over.

https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/s8nawde/lp/5fc38aba-54bd-4333-975f-f33f26b02aaa?source_id=2c34cf56-1db4-4645-8c01-38547abeae06&source_type=em&c=Jow0nAghfkex417MTd-i2_kUgmKLB_JwwJw1gH0UgglnSKA9GEBKvg==

The Good Dybbuk, by David Lipschutz
When a young man goes to clean out his grandparents’ attic, he discovers more than he expected.

David Lipschutz is excited to have another play included at "A Staged Affair" fundraiser, after The Shomer was performed last year. David is a Chicago-based artist and company member of Hell in a Handbag Productions. His plays have been performed throughout the United States, Canada, England, and Australia, and he is a TANYS Award Recipient for Excellence in Playwriting for G'Oy Vey! with Spoonie Theater. Several of his plays have been published, including Ahavah and hYdration (Best Ten-Minute Plays/Smith & Kraus) and The Shomer (Best Men's Monologues/Smith & Kraus). Thanks to Congregation Bet Ha'am for the opportunity, and to Erin and BC/KJOC. davidlipschutz.com

05/21/2024

We are so excited to be rehearsing the 6 fantastic scripts that are part of this year's Gala "A Staged Affair." Today's featured playwright is Christine Benvenuto, whose play "The Bridge of her Nose" is a complex look at a challenging issue in Israel today. Be sure not to miss all 6 readings on June 1st at our annual fundraiser.

The Bridge of Her Nose, by Christine Benvenuto
A former Israeli intelligence officer relives a traumatic event from his army service in a meeting with a woman who sometimes speaks as his wife, and also might be his therapist, his confessor, a voice inside his head, or the Palestinian woman whose death he describes.

Christine Benvenuto lives in Western MA and Milo, Maine. Her plays have been performed at Boston Theater Marathon; International Human Rights Art Festival, Sixth Festival and Queens Short Play Festival, NYC; The Braid, LA; Clamour Theater, Florida; Fern Street Festival, CT; LAVA Center, Western MA; and online. A play is available as a podcast from Onstage/Offstage; another was performed by Orpheus Theatre Company, PA, and included in the anthology Borderless Thalia. Monologues are forthcoming in the anthologies Frozen Women/Flowing Thoughts from Venus Theatre, Best Men’s Monologues 2024, and Fool’s Gold from Dramatic Chaos Productions, and plays will be performed this year in University of North Alabama’s One-Act New Works Festival and Boston Theater Marathon. Her two books are published by St. Martin’s Press, and stories and essays have appeared in many newspapers, magazines and anthologies. She has been selected as a 2024 member of New Perspective Theatre’s Women’s Work Short Play Lab, NYC, and is a recipient of a 2024 grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

05/13/2024

Our fourth play at this year's "A Staged Affair," a fundraiser featuring six world premiere Jewish themed plays, is Rosa & Leo, by Adam Szudrich. Be sure to get your tickets now to hear all of these fantastic new scripts on Saturday, June 1st. All proceeds benefit Bet Ha'am's community programs.

https://www.bethaam.org/events/bethaam-gala/

Rosa & Leo, by Adam Szudrich
Five decades after secretly falling in love in a N**i concentration camp, Rosa and Leo rediscover each other on opposite sides of the world.

Adam Szudrich’s plays have been selected for 100+ international festivals and received 49 awards. Adam’s recent directorial film debut has gained an “official selection” @ International Film Festivals in America, South America, Canada, Africa, India, Europe, the Middle East & Australia, winning 11 awards. Learn more about Adam @ www.adamszudrich.com

05/10/2024

Meet Dana Leslie Goldstein, author of "Powerless," one of the 6 world premiere plays that are part of "A Staged Affair" this June 1st. For tickets or more information, visit https://tinyurl.com/bddvser2

Powerless, by Dana Leslie Goldstein
Amy needs help caring for her grandfather. But her grandfather is pretty sure that she needs more help than he does. Their conflict takes an unexpected turn in this intergenerational superhero origin story.

Dana Leslie Goldstein is a playwright, lyricist and librettist who has won the New England New Play Competition, Harold and Mimi Steinberg Playwriting Prize, Different Voices New Play Award, ACTF New Play Award and numerous development grants. Her work has been seen at Manhattan Theatre Club, Cherry Lane, Culture Project, Women’s Project, York, Theatre80, New Dramatists, Vineyard Playhouse, Brave New World, Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga, Clamour (FL), American Stage Company (FL), Left Edge (CA), Pacific Theatre (Canada), TischAsia (Singapore), Baggage Productions (Australia), Red Brick Theatre (U.K.), NYMF, on Ellis and Liberty Islands, at the UN and more. Dana’s play “Daughters of the Sexual Revolution” and her collection “Birth, Death & Bourbon: 3 Short Plays by Dana Leslie Goldstein” are published by Next Stage Press. Member: BMI, Brave New World, Workshop Theater, PlayGround-NYC, Dramatists Guild. www.danalesliegoldstein.com Agent: Michael Moore, [email protected]

05/09/2024

Today's featured playwright is Rachel Leighson. Come see her play "Moses Never had to Make a Brisket" at the Bet Ha'am Spring fundraiser "A Staged Affair" on Saturday, June 1st. For tickets or more information, visit https://tinyurl.com/bddvser2

Moses Never Had to Make a Brisket, by Rachel Leighson
When Aviva struggles to make her first Seder after her mother's death, it might take an ancestral visitor to give her the strength she needs. A story of grief, love, laughter through tragedy, and the power of good food.

Rachel Leighson is a bi-coastal script writer and performer. Writing credits include: Little Egg, Big World (honorary mention for the 2022 Jane Chambers award in feminist playwriting/second rounder Austin Film Fest), Blood on My Mother's Apron (nominated for nine 2021 Broadway World awards, including best new play), The Bender Girls (Coverfly Red List for top rated Westerns), The Scarcity of Illness (The Skeleton Rep(resents) Theatre Co., and La Morte Finale (StageLeft Theatre). Currently, Rachel is a commissioned playwright for Feminist Fairytales Season 2: a modern radio play podcast and a cohort writer for PlayGround-NY. In all of her creative work, Rachel strives to highlight gray morality and female-centered voices throughout history. She hopes to find humor in horror and lessons in frivolity. www.RachelLeighson.com

05/08/2024

Our Spring Gala fundraiser on June 1st once again features the best new Jewish plays from around the world. Our first playwright, Melinda Gross, is the author of Bubbie's Best. A description of the play and her bio appears below. For tickets or more information, visit https://tinyurl.com/bddvser2

Bubbie’s Best, by Melinda Gros
In the aftermath of the Hamas attacks of October 7th, two Jewish cousins consider how - and even if they should - reposition their soon-to-open kosher bakery to appear less Jewish on social media.

Melinda Gros writes mostly about women - betrayed, betraying, playing mah jongg, bowling, hustling on a subway station, cleaning hotel rooms, facing down the pandemic, muscled by tech giants, pregnant (as overheard by her developing fetuses), re-connecting after estrangement, drunk on life or just plain drunk. Food plays a prominent role. Melinda looks with compassion on her characters’ lives, their regretted might-have-beens, and their still unrealized dreams – they may be buffeted by the world but they have agency. Pain is confronted, truths revealed and kindness sometimes, but not always, offers redemption. These are stories of women’s lives: sometimes messy, often tumultuous, always real. Melinda started writing plays after careers in dance and costume and clothing design/manufacture. Since 2018, her work has been presented in New York, Louisiana, Indiana, California, Connecticut and Massachusetts. In 2023 she joined PLAYGROUND-NY. Melinda has credits on several dance films and dance film restoration projects.

04/03/2024

Due to significant winter conditions tonight and tomorrow, our building will be closed tomorrow, Thursday, April 4. Stay safe and warm.

We expect to be open again on Friday, with Shabbat worship and study and religious school proceeding as usual this weekend. If that changes, we'll let you know here, on our voicemail, and on our website calendar.

📸: WGME Staff

09/07/2023

Welcome to the first weekend of school!
Our hardworking teachers have been preparing to meet students.
Morah Marcie’s Hebrew classroom is ready to welcome first graders on Sunday!

05/15/2023

Religious School early bird registration is open.

We look forward to a fantastic 2023-24 school year. Call or email Sam with school questions.

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04/07/2023

Spring Gala Event Tickets Are On Sale Now!

Purchase Your Tickets Today!   Spring Gala Event Tickets Are On Sale Now! The evening of May 20th is shaping up to be a wonderful event! Join Acorn Productions and Mad Horse Theatre Company as they pe

03/18/2023

Tonight’s SPORTY’s 80’s night has been postponed to late Spring! We apologize this was missed! Keep your eye out for the updated date!