National Jewish Theater Foundation Remembrance Readings 2027 (NJTF RR) Seed Grants
Invitation for members of Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) & Alliance for Jewish Theatre (AJT) SEED GRANT PROGRAM: National Jewish Theater Foundation-Holocaust Theater International Initiative (NJTF-HTII) is proud to launch our 12th annual NJTF RR. Prior grants have supported collaborations between members of Theatre Communications Group and Association of Holocaust Organizations. The 2027 NJTF RR seed grant program is focused on the members of the ATHE and AJT. The NJTF HTII Advisory Board committee will grant $250 seed grants towards costs associated with acquiring rights, readings and post-program panels and audience Q&A. All 2027 grant recipients will receive recognition on the NJTF website.
DESCRIPTION: In 2015 NJTF RR was established as a global Holocaust remembrance and education program to deepen historical understanding, civic dialogue, and public engagement. NJTF RR consists of Holocaust plays, musicals, cabarets, scenes, and monologues selected by participants from the NJTF HTII Holocaust Theater Catalog (HTC). They are traditionally read publicly on dates on or around International Holocaust Remembrance Day-January 27th, Yom HaShoah-May 3 & May 4 and Kristallnacht November 9 & 10 at venues large and small. However organizations are welcome to participate throughout 2027 on any date(s) based on schedules that are beneficial to their constituents. Applicants choose their own material from the NJTF HTII HTC. If the play is not listed, please submit for consideration here. All material from the catalog is subject to usage rights.
COMMITTEE: Grant recipients will be recommended by members of the NJTF HTII Advisory Board Seed Grant committee, led by HTC lead scholar Dr. Alvin Goldfarb, President Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Western Illinois University. Other committee members include Karen Berman, Dean Emerita, College of Fellows of the American Theatre; Past President, Association for Theatre in Higher Education. Dr. Gail Humphries, Dean, College of Fellows of the American Theater-current and Mira Hirsch, Past President AJT, Senior Education Consultant, NJTF HTII. ATHE and AJT Members Apply Now through November 1, 2026. Grant recipients notified by November 15, 2026.
More information about NJTF RR can be found at njtfoundation.org.
Teresa Eyring / Former Executive Director Theatre Communications Group (TCG), Member NJTF Advisory Board presentation to members of Association of Holocaust Organizations (AHO)
TCG is a national organization for theatre, based in New York. Our mission is to lead for a just and thriving theatre ecology. And we have numerous programs and services, such as conferences, research, publishing of plays, and American Theatre magazine, grantmaking, and federal advocacy.
My involvement in the Holocaust Theater International Initiative began at the very first meeting in Miami 10 years ago. I vividly remember that first meeting sitting around the table and hashing out how this new platform could work. And it is exciting to see a continuing commitment to the program and to utilizing the vast catalog of plays to ensure that the atrocities of the Holocaust are not forgotten or denied.
Over the years, TCG has helped spread the word to theatres across the country about the Remembrance Readings, encouraging them to participate by staging a reading and conversations around the play.
TCG has close to 500 member theatres across the US. Past participants in the readings include North Coast Repertory, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Berkeley Rep, Illusion Theatre, The Old Globe. Sometimes multiple theatres work together. community centers and museums have read the same play in multiple venues. For example, in 2017 Dialogs by Elie Wiesel was done in multiple locations across the country.
Even though many organizations have participated–and I am grateful to all of them–we need to double, triple, quadruple those numbers and impact. And so I am extremely thrilled to announce that TCG will be helpful in pairing theatre companies with Holocaust Museums across the country to amplify these efforts.
The goal is not only to increase participation, but also to be able to deepen the conversations and actions that come out of the Remembrance Readings over time. To foster a movement that increases Holocaust awareness and the resounding pledge: Never Again.
It is especially important now. With anti-semitism and acts of hatred and hostility increasing, with a reduced sense of safety at synagogues and in community settings, with anti-semitic comments showing up more frequently in the entertainment sphere. Now is the time for us to double down on countering this violence and these horrific narratives.
Now it is more important than ever to lift up theatre as an artform that can transform, enlighten, build empathy, and foster activism toward awareness that counters anti-semitism. And to quote and expand upon Michael Berenbaum’s words on this topic “Theater is the Counter Testimony,” the counter narrative that helps us see each other as humans equally entitled to a life of peace, safety and security. Though we are far from this reality today, it is a dream worth fighting for.
It’s also important to recognize how deep the issues run historically in the US. After all, the Nazis learned how to codify racism by studying US racist/white supremacist laws and practices. Oppression in our country is complex and runs deep. As we continue emerging from the COVID 19 pandemic, theatre has a larger role than ever in bringing about healing, restoring kindness and caring among all people– where it has diminished or been entirely lost.
But it is an uphill climb, since we are drowning in so many forms of electronic media that encourage people to stay at home, that fuels political divisiveness, in some cases to be more reactionary, rather than being reflective about and committed to how we function as a healthy society.
This Holocaust Theater Catalog is so unique. I don’t know of anything else quite like it. I love that it encourages people, whether or not they are trained actors, to participate in the readings. And I look forward to continuing our partnership to expand access and use of the Holocaust Theater Catalog in the coming years. I know that these efforts will be amplified through collaboration with museums, and once again I look forward to the collaboration.
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