Identity, Heritage, Culture, and Allyship

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ShPIeL is a 501(c)3 non-profit arts and culture organization registered in Kentucky, and our mission is to develop, incubate, produce and promote Jewish, multicultural, and intersectional theatre out of identity, heritage, and authenticity. Through this ShPIeL promotes social justice, dialogue, knowledge, and responsibility in order to challenge antisemitism, racisms, and xenophobias of all kinds. Through promoting the power of Jewish and diverse identities and their stories, we truly believe that more understanding and inclusiveness can be achieved, that creates understanding, joy, allyships and tikkun olam (Heb.) - repair of the world.

Help ensure that our mission thrives.

Please consider an end of the year gift as we continue to build a more inclusive and equitable society, we need your help to ensure that our mission thrives. ShPIeL is a 501(c)3 non-profit arts organization and all donations are deductible to the extent of the law.

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Prayer for the French Republic By Joshua Harmon
at Kentucky Performing Arts

In March, about 350 people joined ShPIeL-Performing Identity for our production and discussions of Joshua Harmon’s powerful, award winning play, Prayer for the French Republic at Kentucky Performing Arts. There people experienced a unique story that was at once deeply personal. humorous, thoughtful, and urgently timely for today.

Celebrating cultural legacy, diversity from three continents, and the challenges brought about by ongoing antisemitism and hate — all were portrayed in Prayer for the French Republic and in one family’s sweeping story. Ultimately this hyphenated family, as so many of us are doing today, confront the question about whether any of us are safe in our homes and in our land today. Yet, as Daniel, in the play, says so poignantly in a prayerful moment, “I won’t let them (the haters) make me hate them.” And then one captivated audience member answered “Amen.”

Hollywood, Identity and a Catalogue of Noses

Lauren Schaffel of JewFace, a Los Angeles theater collective aligned with ShPIeL, has a her piece on Reboot, the Jewish Arts and Culture innovator. “The script for Catalogue of Noses was originally commissioned and workshopped as a play for the LA-based theater company JewFace under ShPIeL Performing Identity and was part of their inaugural Short Play Development Lab in Fall 2023. Fueled by the positive reception from the JewFace public reading, Schaffel began adapting the script into a short film to share the story with a wider audience.” READ ARTICLE

IN THE NEWS: Read Artistic Director David Chack's article in Forward, regarding the censorship of Paula Vogel's play Indecent, in Jacksonville, Florida.

The Bluegrass Schmooze: Teddy Abrams explores why so many Christmas classics were written by Jewish composers.

New York Times (behind paywall): Here We Are - How Jewish People Built the American Theater As We Know It.