In the aftermath of the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, and the start of Israel’s war in Gaza, Ali Viterbi’s award-winning play In Every Generation, a time-traveling Passover tale, that was slated to be produced in a theater Viterbi declined to name, was canceled. She found out about it via an email from the theater, which stated, “Given the world situation, there are both pluses and minuses for us as we reconsider the play.”

The playwright and director said she was shocked because the play explored American Jewish identity—not Israel. “I know other Jewish artists whose plays also got canceled. This happened all over the country, kind of quietly,” Viterbi said.

As a newly installed board member of the Alliance for Jewish Theatre (AJT), an international nonprofit that supports Jewish theater, Viterbi decided to transform her play’s cancellation into an opportunity. She spearheaded the creation of a resource guide for theaters, playwrights and directors producing Jewish work. There is a lot of diversity, equity and inclusion work happening in theaters, she said, “but that work often did not include Jewish artists, so that’s where the idea for this project came from.”

Launched in March, “Jewish Theatrical Resources: A Guide for Theaters Producing Jewish Work,” created with the help of over 50 theater professionals, is available as a free download. The guide covers eight broad topics, from marketing and community engagement to developing new plays. In the casting section, the guide emphasizes the importance of reflecting nuanced Jewish identities and states, “Jewish characters should be played by Jewish actors” when possible.

The guide has been downloaded by theater companies and directors around the country, including one of Viterbi’s idols, playwright and director Carey Perloff, who is also Jewish. Last summer, Perloff turned to the guide when she directed Tom Stoppard’s award-winning play Leopoldstadt, inspired by the fate of Stoppard’s Austrian Jewish family under Nazi rule, at Chicago’s Writers Theatre.

“I asked for the guide to help figure out how to approach this complex play from a Jewish perspective,” Perloff said. She also used it to help educate young actors in the cast and select accurate props, including a period Viennese seder plate used for a Passover scene. “The guide has beautifully informed our work on Leopoldstadt from the first day of rehearsal.”

Sharon Rosen Leib is an award-winning journalist. Her work has appeared in multiple outlets, including Variety, NPR, the Forward and Times of Israel. She is currently writing her first book, Hollywood Sol, an intimate look at her great-grandfather’s experience as a pioneering Jewish studio head.