Introducing: The Chametz-Off

Mark Evan Chimsky’s short play "Meeting Fingerman" is the winner of the Honegger Prize for Best Short Play 2024 and was produced by the Firehouse Center for the Arts 22nd Annual New Works Festival in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and by the Barrington Stage Company’s 10x10 New Play Festival 2024 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His play “A Different Truth” was named a semi-finalist for the Jewish Plays Project’s Ten-Minute Play Festival. Mark’s one-act "A Secret Muse" was presented at the 2024 Wisconsin Shakespeare Festival. His new musical about Shakespeare with music by Alexander Zwick is “Swagger” (swaggerthemusical.com).

Dana Leslie Goldstein’s writing has won the New England New Play Competition, Harold and Mimi Steinberg Playwriting Prize, Different Voices New Play Award, ACTF New Play Award, Henry Hoyns Poetry Fellowship, AWP Intro Award, an Academy of American Poets Prize and numerous development grants. Dana is a member of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, PlayGround-NY and an alum of the Playwrights Lab at Women’s Project. Dana holds MFAs in Playwriting and Poetry, both funded by full writing fellowships. Dana is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild. For more information, visit www.danalesliegoldstein.com. Agent: Michael Moore, Michael@MichaelMooreAgency.com

Sam Heyman (he/they) is a queer, Jewish playwright based in Nashville, TN. Sam is an active part of his writing community, both locally as an instructor for The Porch Writers Collective, and virtually as producer of the Playwrights Thriving Reading Series. Their plays have been developed with support from the Sewanee Writers Conference, the Lambda Literary Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices, the Valdez Theatre Conference, and the Desert Playwrights Retreat, among other organizations. With plays presented and produced on physical and virtual stages across the country, Sam's plays can be found on New Play Exchange.

Kwik Jones has been writing, directing, and producing plays for thirty years. Kwik has developed plays such as: A Strange Seed, Forgotten Soul, Voices, Black Like Me, Jupiter is Stormy, Spotlight, The Code, Puzzle Dream, Conversations, Organ, L.U.S.T, Both Sides of the Fence, Sweet Mother Jones, Memphis Bound, Water Boyz, A Cup of Life, Man’s Favor, Devil’s Plan, and many more. Winner of the 2024 NACCP Theatre Award for Best Playwright for a 99-seat theatre for his play: Man’s Favor, Devil’s Plan, which was nominated for 14 NAACP Theater Awards and took home six. Kwik was named a semifinalist for the Jewish Plays Project in New York City for his play, Paper Listens.

Barbara Kimmel is an Atlanta-based playwright and children’s book author. Her plays use humor to illuminate the challenges women face in finding their voices. Her play "Reconstruction," inspired by her journey with breast cancer, was selected for the Women Playwrights Festival at the Ivoryton Playhouse and won a 2022 Ellie Award. Her debut children’s book, "Hanukkah Hippity-Hop," was named one of the “Best Jewish Holiday Children’s Books of 2024” by the Association of Jewish Libraries. Barbara shares a creative life with her husband, playwright Hank Kimmel. barbarakimmelwrites.com

David Reingold; he/him is a lighting designer, dancer, and writer from Atlanta. His designs have been seen with companies including Theatrical Outfit (The Lehman Trilogy; co-produced by the Breman Museum), Actor's Express (Mercury), Out Front Theatre (The Prom, Kinky Boots, At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen), and Atlanta Contemporary Dance Company (This Silly Little Game, Breathe) among others. As a dancer, he performs with The Rhythm Keepers Tap Dance Company based out of Decatur. He is thrilled to revisit his love of writing with the Chametz-Off, and is very grateful to Atlanta Jewish Artists and the Breman for providing this opportunity! davidreingold.net

Danielle Wirsansky is an award-winning playwright specializing in Holocaust education through theatre. Her Jewish musical, The Secrets We Keep, received critical acclaim Off-Broadway, and her other works have been performed at notable venues including the Museum of Jewish Heritage in NYC and the Orlando Fringe Festival. A former Young Theatremacher Fellow with the Alliance for Jewish Theatre and recipient of the Elie Wiesel Social Action Fellowship, Danielle serves as the Dramatists Guild Ambassador for the Gulf Coast region, passionately advocating for theatre as a catalyst for dialogue and social change. Her latest musical premieres this summer at the Atlanta Fringe Festival.