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Talk Back: ‘Stories from the Fringe: Women Rabbis, Revealed!’ 🖥
Join us for an intimate conversation with The Braid Creative Director Ronda Spinak, “Stories from the Fringe” Director Susan Morgenstern and “Stories from the Fringe” Actress Rosie Moss about their new play. We’ll hear about the show’s origins, what it meant to bring it to the stage, and more! Co-sponsored by Social Justice Women’s Organization of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue.
Bios
RONDA SPINAK (Producer/Artistic Director) created The Braid’s Salon Theatre and has curated and produced 75 original Jewish-themed shows, as well as adapted many of the pieces performed. Spinak developed and produced Not That Jewish, which ran for 16 months, garnered an LA Drama Critics Circle nomination, and then moved to a successful run off-Broadway. She also re-developed and produced Fried Chicken & Latkes and in January 2021, and developed and produced Stories from the Violins of Hope, which the United Nations Program on the Holocaust shared in 30 countries. Spinak co-wrote Stories from the Fringe, putting the stories of women rabbis on stage for the first time. In partnership with Jewish Women’s Archive, she and her teamed interviewed women rabbis, which are available online at www.jwa.org. In 2022/23, the travelling art exhibition “Holy Sparks” features 24 Jewish women artists each paired with one pioneering woman rabbi to create a work of art based on the rabbi’s words and life. Spinak is on the board of the Alliance for Jewish Theatres and is a member of the Dramatists Guild. She feels blessed to be working with so many creative people at The Braid.
SUSAN MORGENSTERN (Director/Producing Director) began directing in college by staging musical-theatre concert readings while co-teaching American musical comedy with Tom Lehrer at UC Santa Cruz. She went on to teach and direct at the renowned Stage Door Manor. In Los Angeles she has produced numerous musicals, plays, and comedies at Theatre West, Falcon/Garry Marshall Theatre, Whitefire Theatre, Skylight Theatre, and Cabrillo Music Theatre. She also co-authored and directed 18 Minutes of Fame: A Musical Journey with Barbara Minkus, which has played in Los Angeles and NYC. Susan has worked as a consultant show director at Disneyland Parks and Resorts, Anaheim. She has directed numerous Braid salon shows as well as the film, Stories From the Violins of Hope, and is especially proud to be its producing director, working closely with a tremendous group of brilliant and passionately creative people.
ROSIE MOSS is an Abby Freeman Artist-in-Residence at The Braid and has performed in past salon shows including Guilty Parties, Family Secrets, and
Jews in America. On April 27th, Rosie will be reprising her role of Ela in The Last Boy at Town Hall for a one night only Yom HaShoah performance. She starred in Epic Level Entertainment’s feature film Blood Born and Lifetime Network’s digital series The Rookie. Her TV credits include appearances on ABC’s The Conners and Freeform’s Famous in Love. She originated the role of Sarah Kaufman in the West Coast Jewish Theatre’s production of FUGU. Other theater credits include Macbethx5 (The Odyssey), The Physicists (Sacred Fools), and The Ascent (The Blank Theatre). Film: To Be King, Strangers, One Halloween and American Girl. Rosie has also written, produced and acted in two short films: The Pass and Enchanted, LLC. She is a Jewish educator and B’nai Mitzvah mentor and officiant, and is currently in a master’s program at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She earned her FBA at Boston University. Keep up with Rosie at Rosiemoss.com.
