Jerusalem is home to many different English-language community theater companies.
Founded by Barak Bard, in honor of his father, Ben Bard, a Vaudeville comedian, stage and Hollywood film actor and acting teacher who ran the legendary Ben Bard Drama School in Hollywood, as well as a industry-renowned theater company.
Ben Bard Players brings crowd-pleasing, thought-provoking plays to the Jerusalem stage.
Beit Hillel Theater Workshop at Hebrew University
Since 1985 the Beit Hillel Theater Workshop at Hebrew University has engaged in various theater formats, from drama and comedy, to musical comedy, concert tributes, operettas, and Holocaust presentations.
Our workshop merges both experienced actors and novices, Israelis and Anglo-Saxons, university students, and older adults in a community theater experience that is educational, professional, and fun. It’s a place to initiate friendships, for interaction with Anglos and Israelis, and for developing theater skills.
CBDB Productions was founded by husband and wife co-artistic directors C.B. Davies and Dena Buckman Davies.
We met through theater and have since been involved with English language theater in Jerusalem. CBDB Productions was founded to bring both original and established works to Jerusalem’s vibrant theater scene.
Encore Educational Theatre Company
Encore, established in Jerusalem in 2006, presents the classics of the musical stage as well as lesser-known and original works, in order to expose audiences to this repertoire and, in particular, encourage young people to be the theatre-going public of the future.
Encore! has developed concert programmes on the lives of prominent Jewish composers and entertainers, as well as a revue of songs from Broadway shows with Jewish themes, and produced fully-staged presentations of classical hits from musical theater and Gilbert and Sullivan, and produced an original chamber opera.
Israel Musicals, founded in 2007, was established out of a great love of this unique genre, and a sacred sense of duty to spread joy and happiness to audiences across Israel. If we can act, sing and dance away what’s on your mind for two hours, we’re delighted and honored.
We’ve since put on classic Broadway shows a new productions Our troupe travels far and wide to share musicals with audiences.
Our actors and actresses, musicians, choreographers, technicians, costumers, and scenery makers are a diverse team of artists of different ages, outlooks and backgrounds. However, we are all united in our devotion to create magic on stage, especially for you.
Founded in 2011, J-Town Playhouse’s groundbreaking purpose to provide educational theatrical programming to the community of Jerusalem through the production of full-length plays, acting classes and workshops, educational events and small scale theatre programs, as well as comedy/improv shows, musical events to promote local artists and any other ideas which you the community can come up with and wish to implement.
We are here first and foremost for you the community and the artists wishing to showcase their talents and enjoy a fuller more emboldened artist culture in English, in Jerusalem.
Raise Your Spirits Theatre. By women – For women. We were founded in 2001 as a non-profit theater troupe in order to raise the spirits of the people of Israel.
We help women and girls find fulfillment for their performing talents in accordance with Jewish religious law and, in some cases, support for difficult life challenges. We believe in inclusion, Our sisterhood is one of warmth, love and mutual understanding.
We build bridges through theater. We do this in the spirit of uniting women and girls through their love of theater, dance and song, and through the prism of our biblical heroines and heroes. We reach out to wider population groups, to include actresses and crew members from across the spectrum of religious observance, new “olim” (immigrants to Israel) and native-born Israelis.
Rhinoceros Productions is a Jerusalem-based Theater company featuring drama, comedy and musical productions that astonish, entertain and inspire.
Starcatcher was founded in Jerusalem in 2013 by a group of friends who came together for the joy of making art. Our goal is to provide Jerusalem audiences high-quality English language theater, and create a positive and supportive place in which the local community can hone their craft. Starcatcher works in partnership with The Incubator Theater.
We are interested in new, fresh and contemporary productions, and promote a broad range of shows.
We strive to involve, engage and mentor artists to develop the talents of the next generation of actors, directors, producers and designers.
We seek to collaborate with companies and organizations with similar artistic interests in order to create a strong, vibrant English-language theater community in Jerusalem.
Theater and Theology, under the creative direction of Yael Valier, presents English-speaking theater that makes you think. Together with her team, Yael combines her experience in theater and her interest in the beauties and quirks of religion to bring Jerusalem audiences meaningful entertainment both during performances and in post-performance discussions with scholars. Part of Theater and Theology’s mission is to bring the work of Israeli playwrights to light.
Theater in the Rough is a group of committed, community-minded actors and theater-makers, amateur and professional, dedicated to bringing quality, affordable theatrical experiences to the Jerusalem audience. It’s theater for the people, by the people.
Our main project is Shakespeare plays presented free & outdoors, moving through locations with the audience in Bloomfield Gardens, Jerusalem, a centrally located urban greenspace. A varied audience of around 2500 people each year, made up of all of Jerusalem’s cultural and religious communities, experience accessible theater in public spaces
Women’s Performance Community of Jerusalem
The Women’s Performance Community (WPC) of Jerusalem was founded in 2016 by Sharon Katz, Bati Katz, Shifra C. Penkower and Avital Macales, four women who are passionate about people and the performing arts. Understanding that the arts can be a uniting force, they decided to create a platform through which women of diverse backgrounds could meet and express themselves, thus bridging the gap between different communities in greater Jerusalem, and providing women with a safe space to showcase their talents.
The Women’s Performance Community of Jerusalem aims to unite the area’s women through the common language of performing arts–all expertise levels welcome.
Theatre Zion, based in Jerusalem, produces Jewish-themed plays focusing on both historical and current themes from Israel and around the world.
Aryeh Weisberg, the artistic director, came from Toronto, Canada, in 2017 after a long career as a theatre director and designer there. In 2002 he founded a successful Jewish theatre in Toronto. He directed over 30 plays in different theatres there.
Inactive Companies
JEST: Jerusalem English Speaking Theater
Jerusalem English Speaking Theater (JEST), was founded in 1985 by Leah and Larry Stoller, and was active for 29 years, closing down finally in 2014. JEST was hugely influential and many of the current theater groups that operate today got their start as a part of JEST.
Center Stage Theater
Center Stage Theater (CST) was a part of a center for Olim, Merkaz Hamagshimim, which operated from 1996 to 2011. The center was project of the Young Judaea youth movement and it’s parent organization, Hadassah. CST put on many productions, under the directorship of Kate Akiko Brody Nachman, Shannon Kisch, Kim Glassman, Raphael Posch, and others. After closing, CST morphed into J-Town Playhouse, which operated under the auspices of AACI Jerusalem.
JPT, founded by Toby and Tammy Trachtment, was a troupe of actors and directors dedicated to bringing community theatre to audiences of all ages in Jerusalem, with one performance in 2018.
Jerusalem English Theater Community 