Judaism goes theatrical

This week, we are talking about Jewish theatre and navigating through the website, www.jewish-theatre.com. Right away, the homepage presents the websites mission and states, "The Global Website to Promote and Enhance Jewish Theatre and Performing Arts Worldwide." I found it interesting that they differentiated theater and performing arts, since they are often grouped as one. I was wondering if they had criteria to what makes a play or art "Jewish" similar to the way that people identify their novel as "Jewish." Their "About Us" section was very informative and they discuss how All About Jewish Theater works as an online middle man between their theater and their worldwide audience by looking into the past, keeping up with the present and planning for the future. They work to inform their visitors about history as well as every day happenings involving Jewish theater and performing arts. They also include in their mission, the need to make Jewish culture accessible for all. They list ways that they do this including, promoting the study of Jewish theater digitally, provide an interactive global network for audiences and encourage the creation of new Jewish theatre. They provide several services on their one website such as, news articles, websites, organizations/artists in the field of Jewish culture, book reviews, information on upcoming conferences and festivals all around the world.
They list their target audience which mainly includes professions in the field that this website concentrates on like directors, playwrights and actors but then they also include the Jewish community as a whole. This felt very broad to me, and it seemed unrealistic that they would be able to get people involved in their site just because they label their theater, Jewish. I continued to look through their information and checked out the "News" section which had so much information it was way too overwhelming. They cover so many different topics that it became hard to sort through it all to find what I wanted which was, what makes theater Jewish or not.
Wanting to move onto another website, I typed in "Jewish Theatre" onto google and saw that there were several different websites, organized by city. There was Jewish Theatre San Francisco, Michigan, Minnesota, Arizona, New York etc. Being from New York and knowing a little bit about the cultural and historical importance of Broadway in NYC I clicked on the Jewishtheater.org to see what it said. They market their new show Saida, opening in May and describe it as a "Tunisian Love Story." Something that I noticed right away was that on the top of the page it says, "The Jewish Theater of New York. Daring to Think Differently." I thought it was interesting that they make it seem like Jewish theater is something unique and out of the ordinary that cultured people are able to appreciate and understand. Their mission is to put on plays and musicals that have a new spin on Jewish culture, identity  and history, to examine Jewish life throughout history, to discuss anti-Semitism and look at their cause and effects, to address issues affecting the US and Israel, to promote a relationship between Jewish and non Jewish communities to discuss problems influencing Jewish life and culture, as well as really looking into our Jewish identity. I felt that this website gave a much better idea about the type of plays they put on and I liked their mission. I think it is important for something like this to be in a place like NY where theater is so influential. I also found it interesting that they include in their "Philosophy" section, that they love the questions but hate the answers. They leave it up to the audience to decide what is good or bad, who is the hero or the villain, leaving each show unbiased by an outside opinion or view. This especially helps when trying to sort out your own Jewish identity so you can come up with ideas on your own and create your own beliefs and values to be a part of your identity as a Jew.
Lastly, I looked at their reviews to try and get an idea about who is attending a place like this. They had reviews from the US and abroad including The New York Times, The New York Post, The Jewish Week, Caribbean New Yorker, New York Amsterdam News and more. I was pleased to see the diverse sources that have reviewed the Jewish Theater of New York and it shows that people from all over have been to a show here, it is not just targeted at one specific market.