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Press play to watch footage and hear music from our critically-acclaimed and audience-favorite world premiere of Hester Street at Theater J.

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Reviews & Press

Photo by Ryan Maxwell Photography | Theater J World Premiere

“After more than a century, is there anything new to say about the story of immigration and one family’s acculturation? It turns out, yes. The world premiere, billed as the “largest production” to grace the stages of Theater J in years, goes deeper than the justifiably praised film, with humor, panache and great affection for its characters…

It’s a story that...resonates with millions of Americans.”

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“Gitl’s emergence as a woman who takes control of her life is nothing short of a miracle.

She stands in for every immigrant who has gone through the terrors of separation and the bruising, bumpy process of making do in a new world. Rothstein’s tale takes place over a century ago, but it reminds us that starting all over again is ongoing in our uncertain world.”

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Photo by Ryan Maxwell Photography | Theater J World Premiere

Photo by Ryan Maxwell Photography | Theater J World Premiere

“Rothstein wisely remains faithful to both
Silver and Cahan

(who founded the Yiddish-language newspaper, The Jewish Daily Forward in New York in 1897) in making the struggle to Americanize central to Hester Street. The outstanding cast reveal the conflicts embedded in moving to another country. Hester Street tells the story of how immigrants parse the culture of their new country and figure out how to adapt while also figuring out what elements of their old country they will keep.”

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2025 Helen Hayes Nominee for Outstanding New Play Adaptation

About the Play

Hester Street the play is based on the classic independent film by Joan Micklin Silver and Abraham Cahan’s novella Yekyl.

The story depicts the uplifting journey of Gitl, a young Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe, who arrives with her son to meet her husband Jake in the tumult of the late-19th century Lower East Side.

Separated from his wife and the provincial limitations of his upbringing, Jake has fully embraced his new American life—one that has little in common with Gitl’s old-time ways. Faced with the disintegration of her marriage in a world she can barely comprehend, Gitl must find her voice, protect her son, and redefine her identity.

The result is an unforgettable show awash in the humor, heartbreak, and hope essential to the Jewish immigrant experience.

Bolstered by rave reviews, it opened at New York’s Plaza Theater to lines around the block and went on to over $6 million dollars in ticket sales, the equivalent of over $33 million in today’s dollars, at a time when films cost under $500,000 to make. Carol Kane was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for her performance as Gitl.

In 2011, the film was selected by Library of Congress to be part of the National Film Registry for its “cultural, historical and aesthetic significance.”

Hester Street the play is a deeply moving new stage adaptation by Sharyn Rothstein (Arena Stage’s Right to Be Forgotten), featuring original music by Broadway’s Joel Waggoner, and is produced by Michael Rabinowitz and Ira Deutchman.

Hester Street had its critically- and audience-acclaimed world premiere at Theater J, directed by Oliver Butler (Broadway'sWhat the Constitution Means to Me).

All black and white photography from Hester Street, the film.

Creative Team

Sharyn Rothstein

Playwright, Adapter

Sharyn Rothstein is an award-winning playwright and television writer. Her plays and musicals have been produced around the country, as well as internationally. Her play By the Water was first produced by Manhattan Theater Club and Ars Nova and was the recipient of the American Theater Critics Association Francesca Primus Prize. Other plays include Tell Me I’m Not Crazy (Williamstown Theater Festival), All the Days (McCarter Theater Center) and Right to Be Forgotten (D.C.’s Arena Stage and Chicago’s Raven Theater). Her audio drama Deep Fake was recently released on Audible, and several of her plays have been published by Dramatists Play Service. Sharyn is currently a writer and Co-Executive Producer on Orphan Black: Echoes, the spin-off of the sci-fi hit Orphan Black, soon to be on AMC. She was a writer/producer for the USA legal drama Suits for many years, and has developed shows for Apple, AMC and Bravo. Sharyn holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and a Masters in Public Health from Hunter College. She teaches television writing at NYU, and lives in Brooklyn.

Oliver Butler

Director

Co-founder and co-artistic director of The Debate Society (TDS), with whom he has co-created and directed nine full-length plays since 2004. Mr. Butler directed TDS’ Jacuzzi, which premiered at Ars Nova. He also directed the premiere of Will Eno’s The Open House (Obie Award for Direction; Lucille Lortel Award for Best Play) at the Signature Theatre Company. He directed the City Center Encores! Off-Center production of Jonathan Larson’s Tick…Tick…Boom starring Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom and Karen Olivo. TDS’ acclaimed production of Blood Play had sold out runs at The Bushwick Starr, The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival and the Williamstown Theatre Festival. TDS’ play Buddy Cop 2 was a Critic’s Pick in The New York Times, Time Out New York and Backstage. With TDS, Mr. Oliver has directed the world premieres of Cape Disappointment (PS122), You’re Welcome (The Brick), The Eaten Heart (The Ontological Incubator), The Snow Hen (Charlie Pineapple Theater) and A Thought About Raya (Red Room, The Brick and The Ontological Incubator). He directed the world premiere of Timeshare by Lally Katz (The Malthouse) in Australia, the world premiere of Daniel Goldfarb’s Legacy at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and the premiere of Christopher Shinn’s An Opening in Time at Hartford Stage Company. He is a Sundance Institute Fellow and a Bill Foeller Fellow (Williamstown Theatre Festival).

Joel Waggoner

Original Music

Joel Waggoner is a singer/songwriter, composer, performer, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, teacher, and comedian. He performed on Broadway: Be More Chill, School of Rock. Off-Bway: A Man of No Importance (CSC), Southern Comfort (Public Theater), The Joel Waggoner Experience (Joe’s Pub). TV: Only Murders in the Building S3, Original series: Wig Mediums on Broadstream. Joel & Julia’s Advent Carolndar featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and NPR. Vocal Arranger: Randy Rainbow, Joe Iconis “Album”, Broadway Bounty Hunter (Off-Bway Cast Recording.) MFA from NYU Tisch in Musical Theater Writing. “Unlikely Warrior”, “Gorgine” and “Stable Girl” all avail on music platforms. www.joelwaggoner.com @joelwaggoner @adventcarolndar

Wilson Chin+

Scenic Designer

Wilson Chin is a stage designer based in New York City. Broadway and tour credits include: Cost of Living by Martyna Majok, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, nominated for five Tony Awards; Pass Over by Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu, for which Wilson received Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel and Henry Hewes Award nominations in set design; Annie international tour, including Madison Square Garden, starring Whoopi Goldberg; Next Fall by Geoffrey Nauffts, nominated for two Tony Awards. Other recent theatre credits include Nina (Theaterlab), Jonah (Roundabout Theatre Company), The Animal Kingdom (The Connelly), Sunset Baby and A Bright New Boise (Signature Theatre), This Land Was Made (Vineyard Theatre), All Nighter and Space Dogs (MCC Theatre, Lucille Lortel Award nomination), Sumo and Teenage Dick (Ma-Yi/Public Theater), The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical (La Jolla Playhouse), Summer Stock and Anne of Green Gables (Goodspeed Musicals).
Opera credits include Turandot (Washington National Opera), Lucia di Lammermoor (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Eine Florentinische Tragödie and Gianni Schicchi (Canadian Opera Company, Dora Award winner) Film/television: Pass Over (dir. Spike Lee), “Game Theory with Bomani Jones” (HBO), “Blindspot” (NBC). Wilson has served as an associate designer on over a dozen Broadway productions, most recently for Sunset Blvd., A Doll’s House and & Juliet.
Wilson is the co-chair of the American Theatre Wing’s Obie Awards, an Eastern Region Board member of United Scenic Artists Local 829, and a founding member of The 1/52 Project, RISE Theatre, Design Action and Be An Arts Hero. He also served as an adjudicator and voter for the Tony Awards, Lucille Lortel Awards, Horton Foote Playwrighting Prize, the 121 Project and Opera America Prize. Wilson received his BA in Environmental Design from UC Berkeley and MFA from the Yale School of Drama.

+Member of United Scenic Artists Local 829

Michael Rabinowitz

Producer

Michael Rabinowitz managed Broadway, Touring and International investments for the theater conglomerate, The John Gore Organization (otherwise known as Broadway Across America). The company is the leading developer, producer, distributor and marketer of Broadway theatre worldwide. Prior to Broadway Across America, Michael served as the Controller of The Public Theater during the development of notable Broadway transfers such as Fun Home and Hamilton. Michael was an artistic fellow with the McCarter Theater Center in Princeton, New Jersey, during their 2007/2008 season. Michael has produced independently including the theatrical title, Catch Me if You Can – The Musical on Broadway and The Mad 7 (as part of the JCC in Manhattan’s Art and Culture Center season). He is presently the Lead Producer and developing a stage adaptation of the 1975 film Hester Street and also serves as Treasurer and founding member of JQYouth, Inc., a not-for-profit organization that serving the mental health needs of LGBTQ youth in-crisis.

Ira Deutchman

Producer

Ira Deutchman has been making, marketing and distributing films since 1975, having worked on over 150 films including some of the most successful independent films of all time. He was one of the founders of Cinecom and later created Fine Line Features—two companies that were created from scratch and, in their respective times, helped define the independent film business. He was also a co-founder of Emerging Pictures, the first digital projection network in the United States and a pioneer in delivering live cultural events into movie theaters. Currently Deutchman is an independent producer, and a consultant in marketing and distribution of independent films. He is also Professor Emeritus in the School of the Arts at Columbia University, where he has taught since 1987 and was the Chair of the Film Program from 2011-2015. In 2017, Deutchman was awarded the Spotlight Lifetime Achievement Award by the Sundance Art House Convergence for his service to independent film marketing and distribution.

Joan Micklin Silver

Writer/Director of Original Film

A trailblazing and fiercely independent filmmaker, Joan Micklin Silver created a body of work that was unprecedented for a female writer/director. Her debut feature, Hester Street, was an award-winning hit and was followed by such other classics as Between the Lines, Chilly Scenes of Winter and Crossing Delancy. That film, along with Hester Street and A Fish in the Bathtub constitute an informal trilogy about the Jewish experience in the United States. Micklin Silver passed away in 2020 at the age of 85.

World Premiere

World Premiere (2024)

Assembling a nationally-renowned team of artists, Michael Rabinowitz and Ira Deutchman produced their play Hester Street in association with Theater J in Washington D.C. for its world premiere in the spring of 2024. You can view the ensemble, billing, photo gallery, and director information below.

The process was featured in an article in The Forward titled, "How ‘Hester Street’ made its way to the stage."

Hester Street had its critically- and audience-acclaimed world premiere at Theater J, directed by Oliver Butler (Broadway'sWhat the Constitution Means to Me).

View the World Premiere Cast

View the World Premiere Creative Team

Get Involved!

There are several ways in which you can be involved with Hester Street.

If you are interested in getting involved in the commercial production or for further information about the play, fill in the form here, and we will get in touch.