Shakespeare & Company welcomes back Celebrating Jewish Playsthis October 9 through 11, featuring three readings over three days during the holiday weekend, plus live poetry, speakers, musical performances, and more, all added to this year’s event.
Bev Hyman, chair of Shakespeare & Company’s Board of Trustees, said she and the Celebrating Jewish Plays planning committee saw an opportunity to build on the strong momentum from last year’s inaugural weekend, and added that she sees connections to Shakespeare & Company’s namesake that might not be readily apparent at first.
“Shakespeare is the first playwright to have written about “the modern man,” she said. “His plays focus on the comedies and tragedies modern humans face in our lives, and the plays we present echo those themes but put them in contemporary situations with characters our modern audiences can easily relate to.
“Throughout the festival, there was an intense and building sense of community,” she continued, “and of common values, understanding, and experience. We’re excited to bring this celebration back to the Berkshires, expanded to celebrate many different types of art and at a time of year when we can gather and share this experience with our Berkshire neighbors and beyond.”
Artistic Director Allyn Burrows added that the heart of Celebrating Jewish Plays is a belief in the power of art to reinforce a universal need for empathy.“Every one of the writers presented in the weekend examines personal experiences that illuminate broader insight and significance, supported by language that will have audiences leaning in,” he said.
On Friday, October 9, at 11 a.m., the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires in partnership with Shakespeare & Company kicks off the weekend with a free Knosh and Knowledge discussion of Israeli theater with Michal Peles-Almagor, a Postdoctoral fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Research Fellow and Tel Aviv University. The weekend continues on Friday afternoon at 2 p.m., with a reading of After the Revolution by Amy Herzog, and resumes on Saturday at 7 p.m., with Joshua Harmon’s Bad Jews.
On Sunday, October 11 at 2 p.m., a new offering will be staged at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre: Many Jewish Voices—A String Trio and a Trio of Poets, by Owen Lewis, who also joined the Celebrating Jewish Plays planning committee this year after witnessing last year’s successful event.“I was pleased to join this year’s planning committee to help include other Jewish arts in the 2026 mini festival: poetry, chamber music, klezmer, and a talk on contemporary Israeli theater,” he said.
“Each performance includes time for audience engagement–the conversation deepens!On Sunday, October 11, at 4 p.m., a reading of Broken Glass by Arthur Miller closes the event.Tickets and multi-show weekend passes, which allow patrons to choose their seats early at reduced convenience fees to see all three readings, are now available. For more information, visit shakespeare.org or call the Box Office at 413.637.3353.
