Class Package

Available Classes:

Behind the Scenes at Theater J
Jewish Film and TV Club: Long Story Short
Coffee Talk: The Merchant of Venice
DC Theater Talk
Theater J 26-27 Season Book Club

Buy a class bundle today and save up to $96 per class!
Scroll down to learn more about each of the classes

ON ZOOM

Jewish Film and TV Club: Long Story Short with Sharyn Rothstein

July 28 – August 25, 2026
Tuesdays, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM

Join us for Sharyn Rothstein’s first Jewish Film and TV Club!   Participants will discuss the groundbreaking animated comedy-drama Long Story Short, about the complex relationships that unfold in a multi-generational Jewish family. Sharyn will lead a deep dive into the non-linear style of the writing, the unique ways that plots and characters are crafted in this particular medium, and how the story speaks to us.

Sharyn Rothstein is an award-winning playwright and television writer. Her newest play Bad Books is a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere play, and will be produced at theaters across America this year. Sharyn is currently a writer and Co-Executive Producer on SUITS LA, the spin-off of the hit legal drama SUITS, for which she wrote and produced for five seasons. Sharyn was also a writer and Co-Executive Producer on AMC’s Orphan Black: Echoes, and has developed shows for Apple, AMC and Bravo. Her Helen Hayes Award-nominated musical adaptation of the beloved film Hester Street (with music and lyrics by Joel Waggoner) was produced at DC’s Theater J in the Spring 2024. Her play By The Water was first produced by Manhattan Theater Club and Ars Nova and was the recipient of the American Theater Critic’s Association Francesca Primus Prize. Her audio drama Deep Fake was recently released on Audible. Sharyn holds an MFA in dramatic writing from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and a Masters in Public Health from Hunter College. 

on zoom

Behind the Scenes at Theater J: A Season Class

Selected Thursdays, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM

This is separate from Creative Connections. Check the Creative Connections page closer to performances for more information.

Back by popular demand, BEHIND THE SCENES is a window into the world of Theater J. Participants read season scripts and discuss themes, issues, productions, and how material and artistic choices resonate with them. This lively class is facilitated by Education Programs Manager Hester Kamin with guest appearances from Artistic Director Hayley Finn, who will invite artists in the season into conversations about their work. Past guest artists have included Tony Award nominee Ari’el Stachel (The Band’s Visit) and Academy Award-nominated writer/ director José Rivera (Letters to Juliet, Marisol, The Motorcycle Diaries).

Single tickets to Theater J’s 2026-2027 will go on sale this summer. Subscriptions are available now

The Flying Lovers of Vitebsky
October 1, 2026: Pre-show
November 5, 2026: Post-Show

Tropical Secrets
December 19, 2026: Pre-show

Avaaz
January 21, 2027: Pre-show
February 25, 2027: Post-show

American Girls
March 11, 2027: Pre-show
April 15, 2027: Post-show

Becoming Eve
May 27, 2027: Pre-show
July 8, 2027: Post-show

In PersON

Coffee Talk: Jewishness in Shakespeare – The Merchant of Venice

Oct 5 – Nov 2, 2026
Mondays, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM

In the long tradition of people gathering midday for coffee, cake, and conversation, this 5-part class is an opportunity to approach text as professional actors and directors do during “table work,” the deep dive that happens during the first days of rehearsal. Participants will read scenes aloud, explore characters, motivations, and tactics, play with different interpretations and directions, and then enter a broader conversation about how the content resonates with us, what it says about the time period in which it was written, and how plays both reflect and shape ideas and culture.

Hester Kamin is the Education Programs Manager at Theater J. She’s a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, Ecole Jacques Lecoq, and the Fred Rogers Institute and has served as Director of Education of six theaters around the US and as Co-Artistic Director of touring Drama Ties Theatre in Paris. Hester has also directed and choreographed more than 200 shows with professional actors and students around the world and been honored with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists National Award, the Academy of Paris Award for Contribution to Arts and Culture, and, most recently, an Art Works Award from the National Endowment for the Arts for her play about Holocaust survivor Sabine Van Dam, In Flight. Hester is a member of Actors Equity Association, the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, and the Dramatists Guild of America. 

ON ZOOM

DC THEATER TALK with Holly Twyford

Dates: To Be Announced

Welcome to the fourth year of DC Theater Talk!  Award-winning actor and director Holly Twyford leads us through a season of DC performing arts, exploring four different shows from four different theaters! From comedy to drama, from new work to reimagined classics, our extraordinary community is full of work that moves, surprises, and delights us. Holly lends her expertise to in-depth pre-show discussion of the scripts and animated post-show discussions that allow participants to experience DC theater as they’ve never seen it before.  Stay tuned for details and registration and please note that this class sells out quickly! 

Please note that participants are required to independently purchase tickets and attend the four theater shows before each of the post-show discussions. Participants do NOT need to see the shows together – though it would be fun!

In PersON

Theater J 26-27 Season Book Club with David Lloyd Olson

Nov 4 – June 23, 2026
Wednesdays, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM

Broaden your experience at Theater J’s shows by joining our Season Book Club!  Managing Director David Lloyd Olson will select one fiction or non-fiction book that adds color and context to each of our five season shows. Before seeing the show, participants will read the book, and after the run of the show (so that everyone can see it on their own schedule), you’ll join David at Theater J for a rich discussion about the deeper meaning of the work and how it speaks to you.

David Lloyd Olson made his stage debut at age five at the Marcus JCC of Atlanta Zaban preschool and is now proud to be one of the leaders of the nation’s largest professional Jewish theater at the Edlavitch DCJCC. Prior to joining Theater J in 2021, he was managing director of Quintessence Theatre Group in Philadelphia. He has previously held positions at the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Arena Stage, GALA Hispanic Theatre, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and Pointless Theatre (John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company). He was an Allen Lee Hughes management fellow at Arena Stage, a Fulbright English teaching assistant in Valmiera, Latvia, and the recipient of two DC Commission on Arts and Humanities Fellowship program grants. He proudly serves on the boards of the Alliance for Jewish Theatre (alljewishtheatre.org) and Adas Israel Congregation.