The 10th Annual Hartford Jewish Playwriting Contest

It's a combination of a TED Talk, a play reading and American Idol ... and it needs your vote!

Join our Artistic Democracy and vote for Hartford's best new Jewish play of 2026.  Come see a fantastic cast in these plays.

Directed and Hosted by Illana Stein 
Generously supported by the National Endowment for the Arts

FLATBUSH LYSISTRATA 
Lila Rachel Becker, Washington, DC

Three Hasidic women gather at an axe-throwing parlor to plan a sex strike.  A play about how women carve spaces for themselves within fundamentalism.

HAVURAH 
Margot Connolly, Brooklyn, NY

After a shooting at a synagogue, a club of Jewish college students is left reeling, while their Christian counterparts try to help without knowing how.

SHURA: The mission of identifying life 
Roee Joseph, Tel Aviv, Israel

A playwright-soldier documents the impossible task of identifying the dead after October 7th, uncovering the fragile line between witnessing horror and choosing life.