15th National Jewish Playwriting Contest Cast & Production Team Bios

JAKE ALLEN (JPP Contest and Lab Coordinator)

Jake Allen (he/they) is a New York based dramaturg and devising artist. They proudly serve as the Contest and Lab Coordinator for Jewish Plays Project. Jake received their BFA in Drama with a Dramaturgy Emphasis from the University of Oklahoma. They have devised works for OKC’s Theatre Crude Fringe Festival and had their own play “The Battle of Cable Street” produced by Co.llective Arts Productions in Oklahoma.

BENJAMIN BEHREND (Stage Directions in Flatbush Lysistrata / Me in Shura)

Benjamin Behrend is a Philadelphia-based writer, actor, and comedian. He has worked with Philadelphia’s leading theater companies: Arden Theatre Company, InterAct Theatre Company, Theatre Exile, and Act II Playhouse. He most recently starred in a production of The Angry Grammarian with Pier Players Theatre Company. Love to Emily.

JESSE BERNSTEIN (Casting Director for Nationals Contest)

Jesse Bernstein is the Producing Artistic Director of Theatre Ariel. As a director, performer, and playwright, he has worked at theatres around the country and locally, including the Walnut Street Theatre, Arden Theatre Company, Act II Playhouse, Lantern Theater, and more.

ROSS BESCHLER (Ilan or Erez in Shura / Stan in A Play about a Baby Carrot)

Ross Beschler is a founding member of the Wilma’s Hothouse ensemble; a member of the performance collective Die-Cast; and Head of Acting at Rowan University. Recent credits: The America Play, The Snow Queen (Wilma); Catastrophe, Suddenly Last Summer (Die-Cast). TV: Blue Bloods. Film: Flight of the Cardinal. MFA: Temple University. www.RossBeschler.com.

JUDY BOWMAN (Resident Casting Director)

JUDY BOWMAN, CSA is a proud board member/Resident Casting Director for JPP since 2016. RECENT/UPCOMING PROJECTS: Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library(Edinburgh Fringe 2026/Traverse Theatre), NYC: Peter Macklin’s Bullethead(dir. Scott Schwartz), The Blue Violinist, Not Nobody(59e59), REGIONAL: Effa Loves Baseball(Premiere Stages), Hatcher’s Dial M For Murder(Arizona Theatre Co/Pioneer Theatre), Come from Away(Sharon Playhouse/Hunter Foster). FILM: God Of Earth(dir. Andrew Lyman-Clarke). More at: www.judybowmancasting.com

HEATHER HELINSKY (JPP Contest Dramaturg)

Heather Helinsky (she/her) is a Philadelphia-based dramaturg, recognized on the 2025 Kilroys Web. Literary Manager for Jewish Plays Project since 2020, with past literary work at Playwrights Foundation (2019-2024), where she’s known for her unique community-centered anti-bias script reading practices. She’s been a teaching artist for ACTF for 15 years, working for Artistic Director Gregg Henry on new initiatives and playwriting awards. Past work: Great Plains Theatre Conference (7 years), and script reader for Sundance, the O’Neill, Seven Devils, PlayPenn, Philly PYP, Playwrights Realm & NNPN. Has worked at over 60 regional theatres. Recent Philly work: Power Street Theatre’s workshop of The Machu Picchu Play, an Indigiqueer Transfuturist work by Tyler Rocio Ecoña. LMDA member since 2006, MFA in Dramaturgy from A.R.T./MXAT Institute at Harvard, ’07.

JORDAN ELMAN (Production Assistant)

Jordan Elman is an actor, voice over artist, improviser, musician, puppeteer and comedian based in NYC. He is currently an MFA candidate with The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University (Class of 2027). Jordan is thrilled and honored to be a part of the JPP fam! www.jordanelman.com

ZOE NEBRASKA FELDMAN (Gali in Flatbush Lysistrata / Soldier Who Sings & Stage Directions in Shura / Clara in A Play about a Baby Carrot)

Zoe Nebraska Feldman is an Barrymore-nominated performer & producer working in Philadelphia and NYC on a range of creative projects including photography, theatre, and film. Select performance credits: LAZYBONES (Rabbit Rabbit Film Co.), The Wanderers (Lantern Theatre, Barrymore Award Nomination), Galilee (Azuka Theatre), SCABS (Tommy Butler & Eva Steinmetz). www.zoenebraska.com

ANNA FAYE LIEBERMAN (Eva in Flatbush Lysistrata / Rosa in Shura / Heather in A Play about a Baby Carrot)

Anna Faye Lieberman (she/they) is a scrappy, queer, theatre artist. Selected collaborators include: People’s Light, Virginia Theatre Festival, Arden Theatre Co., Inis Nua, New Light Theatre, and Theatre Horizon. Favorite recent credit: Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors at People’s Light. Upcoming: Liberation at Philadelphia Theatre Co. @annaliebz www.annafayelieberman.com

SABRINA PROFITT (Soshi in Flatbush Lysistrata / Shehade in Shura)

Sabrina Profitt is a Philadelphia-based AEA/SAG-AFTRA actor who believes new plays matter — who are we, and how do we find each other? She has spent 30 years lending her voice to that work, most recently in development on multiple projects, including a new play for InterAct Theatre Company.

ILLANA STEIN (JPP Director of Artistic Programs / Director of Flatbush Lysistrata & A Play about a Baby Carrot)

(she/her) is an international theater director based in NYC. Directing: Julius Caesar Tour (Hudson Valley Shakespeare), A Lost Leonardo (Amphibian Stage), Hans & Sophie Director/Co-writer with Sean Hudock and Deborah Yarchun (Outstanding Director & Play, Amphibian Stage) Workshop Director of Stages at Hannah Playhouse in Wellington, New Zealand. Off-Broadway, Associate Director: Tamburlaine the Great (dir. Michael Boyd) and Pericles (dir. Trevor Nunn) at Theatre for a New Audience, and Fingersmith (dir. Bill Rauch) at American Repertory Theater. Assisting: OSF, Signature, Pearl, Yale Rep, NYSAF, Hangar, Cincinnati Playhouse, and Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. She is a frequent guest director for NYU Tisch / Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg. Award for Excellence in Directing for or what she will by Charly Evon Simpson (Fringe NYC), Drama League First Stage Residency, Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, League of Professional Theatre Women former board member, and Director of Artistic Programs for the JPP. Upcoming: A Little Shakespeare: Two Gentlemen of Verona (Two River) illanastein.com

WILL STEINBERGER (JPP Resident Artist / Director of Shura: The Mission of Identifying Life)

Will Steinberger is a Drama League Award nominated director and producer. He has directed and developed new plays at New York Theatre Workshop, New York Stage and Film, Clubbed Thumb, The Lortel, New Dramatists, Hartford Stage, the Drama League, Berkshire Theatre Group, the Wilma, and InterAct. Recent productions include Johnny G. Lloyd’s birthday birthday birthday at The Tank; Andrea Stolowitz’s The Berlin Diaries at 59E59, produced in association with The New Group; Joanna Castle Miller’s Inferna (Valdez Theater Conference); Han Van Sciver’s Happy Birthday, Han (JACK); and Gina Femia’s meet you at the Galaxy Diner (New Light Theatre Project). WSteinberger.com.

LEAH WALTON (Leah in Flatbush Lysistrata / Yochanan & Boaz in Shura / Stage Directions in A Play about a Baby Carrot)

Leah is a Philadelphia-based, actor-professor-director of theatre and film. She has written for and performed Off-Broadway, and is a Philadelphia Barrymore Award recipient and nominee. Teaching credits: Swarthmore College, Temple University, UArts. Training: National Theater Institute, Moscow Art Theatre School, Michael Chekhov Association, Temple University MFA Acting. www.leah-walton.com