Association for Jewish Theatre

The Association for Jewish Theatre is a non-profit cultural/educational organization based in the United States and a worldwide alliance of theatres, performance groups, and independent theatre-makers dedicated to the creation and production of Jewish and Israeli theatre in all of its forms. 

The organization changed its name to the Alliance for Jewish Theatre in late 2016, to better reflect its focus and the times. 

AJT’S mission is to develop, innovate, promote, and preserve theatre with a Jewish sensibility.  As the leading organization for Jewish theatre worldwide, AJT:
 Advocates for Jewish theatre and theatre-artists doing Jewish content
 Provides an active online presence year-round to promote Jewish theatre
 Hosts annual conferences in cities throughout the United States and the world
 Provides education and networking to develop works with Jewish content
 Develops pathways, formal and informal, to cooperatively develop new projects
 Seeks collaborations with other like-minded organizations that share our mission

Members include theatres, Artistic Directors of theatres, solo performers, playwrights, and any other theatre practitioners interested in Jewish content. 

Organization

The Association held its first general meeting and first annual Jewish Theatre Festival at Marymount Manhattan College in June, 1980.  Norman Fedder and Steven Reisner are credited with being the prime movers behind AJT's founding. 

The President of AJT is Hank Kimmel.  Its Executive Director is David Chack.  The association sees itself as part of the ethnic theatre movement, inspired especially by the black and Latino theatre movements. 

According to The New York Times, the Association had  “more than a score of members representing theater groups in the United States and Canada, from Phoenix, Ariz., to Winnipeg, Manitoba” by 1989 and was held to exemplify the “comeback” of explicitly Jewish theatre in America. 

Festival and conferences

The organization sponsors yearly conferences, which are at times accompanied by theatre festivals. 
 
Recent conferences:

 2017 – Boston
 2016 – St. Louis
 2014 – Washington, D.C.
 2013 – Minneapolis
 2012 – Los Angeles
 2010 – Chicago
 2009 – New York 
 2007 – Vienna
 2006 – Phoenix
 2005 – New York
 2003 – Washington, D.C.
 2002 – St. Louis
 2001 – Sarasota, FL
 2000 – Montreal
 1999 – Atlanta
 1998 – Phoenix

External links
Official AJT Website
Foundation for Jewish Culture

Notes

Category:501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations
Category:Theatrical organizations in the United States
Category:Jewish theatre
Category:Jewish charities based in the United States
Category:Charities based in Illinois