Theater J to Host “Festival of Favorites and Firsts” Play Readings

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The staged reading series celebrates the Edlavitch DCJCC's 100-year anniversary at Theater J.

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Theater J has announced A Festival of Favorites and Firsts , a series of public staged readings taking place on May 30, 31 and June 6, 2026. The festival is being held as part of the 100-year anniversary of the Edlavitch DCJCC of which Theater J has been a part of for 36 years. The festival will bring together beloved works from Theater J's past alongside powerful new voices shaping the future of theater.

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In March, Theater J asked its audience to vote on their favorite play from the past 36 years. Several titles emerged to the top of the rankings, but the top three were The Last Night of Ballyhoo by Alfred Uhry , Queens Girl in the World by Caleen Sinnette Jennings, and The Sisters Rosensweig by Wendy Wasserstein . The public will get to see these beloved plays brought back to the EDCJCC for one performance.

The Festival will also feature readings of two brand new plays from young Jewish playwrights. Theater J Artistic Director Hayley Finn will direct the reading of Ali Viterbi's Linguicide, and Mosaic Theater Company of DC Artistic Director Reginald L. Douglas will direct the reading of Kendell Pinkney's I Know of Plagues.

Each ticket to the reading includes a special chance to schmooze with Theater J artists and fellow theater lovers either in the form of a bagel brunch, a cocktail reception, or desserts.

Full details of the play readings featured are as follows:

By Alfred Uhry Directed by Aaron Posner

2pm, May 30th

In 1939 Atlanta, Georgia, the social event of the season is Ballyhoo – part-festival, part-ball for high society members. The Freitag family's hopes are pinned on the last night of Ballyhoo, in this play full of romantic sparks and family secrets.

Run Time: 2 hours 30min incl. a 10min intermission

By Ali Viterbi Directed by Hayley Finn

7:30pm, May 30

After the hit world premiere production of The World to Come, Theater J presents a staged reading of playwright Ali Viterbi's new play, Linguicide. In 1984, a mother goes door to door campaigning for her 22-year-old son. In 1870, a newlywed couple creates a radical newspaper. In 1939, a young politician proposes to his illicit lover on the brink of war. And in 2055, a student and teacher meet atop all their graves. Linguicide is a love letter to the dying language of Ladino, the families who spoke it, and the worlds they built. It asks: how can a language die? And when it does, what happens to the identity it shaped?

Run Time: 2 hours incl. a 10min intermission

By Caleen Sinnette Jennings Directed by Danielle A. Drakes Starring Deirdre Staples

2pm, May 31

It's summer 1962 in Queens, New York. The sounds of doo-wop music fill the night and 12-year-old Jacqueline Marie Butler is on the verge of adulthood. When Jacqueline's parents abruptly transfer her to a progressive, predominantly Jewish school in Greenwich Village, she is thrust out of her comfort zone. As one of only four black students, Jacqueline discovers a new city and a whole new world. After having its world premiere at Theater J in 2015 as part of the Women's Voices Theatre Festival, Queens Girl in the World went on to win awards across North America and have a successful Off-Broadway run. Playwright Caleen Sinnette Jennings went on to write Queens Girl in Africa and Queens Girl: Black in the Green Mountains.

Run Time: 80min

By Wendy Wasserstein Directed by Jess Chayse

1pm, June 6

The sisters Rosensweig are three extraordinary Brooklyn-born Jewish women. Sara lives an ostensibly happy, man-free life in London with her intelligent daughter, Tess. Pfeni is an eccentric travel writer who pursues an unsatisfactory relationship with Geoffrey, a bisexual theatre director. And Gorgeous has the perfect husband and family in Massachusetts, where she pursues a ‘funsy' career as a radio agony aunt. When they meet up at Sara's home in Holland Park, reawakened familial bonds cause each woman to confront her past and her future.

Run Time: 2 hours 45min incl. a 10min intermission

By Kendall Pinkney Directed by Reginald L. Douglas

7:30pm, June 6

The Shapiro-Rosenblatt-Cunningham clan has gathered in White Plains, New York to do what it does every Passover: commemorate, sanctify, dispute, remember, rehearse, indict, celebrate and “passively regress” the ancient feast of Jewish liberation. When estranged daughter Skye returns home with an unexpected guest and a pet-project in tow, everyone is forced to confront long simmering grievances and repressed truths that threaten to wreck the holiday, and maybe the family, for good. I Know of Plagues excavates the unique ways that only family can fracture when race, politics, religion, and generational grudges can no longer be kept at bay.

Run Time: 2 hours 30min incl. a 10min intermission

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/washington-dc/article/Theater-J-Will-Host-FESTIVAL-OF-FAVORITES-AND-FIRSTS-Play-Reading-Series-20260519)._