PRESS INVITATION/COVERAGE REQUEST:
Sat 10/31 at 2pm, Sat 10/31 at 7pm, Sun 11/1 at 5pm, Tue 11/3 at 7pm & Wed 11/4 at 7pm
(Press are welcome to attend shows beyond official press dates)
The Stein family gathers on Manhattan’s Upper West Side to celebrate an engagement. But when their youngest son arrives with an unexpected guest, the joyful occasion begins to unravel—revealing old wounds, buried secrets, and divisions that may be impossible to overcome. As a mysterious blue violinist watches over them, three generations must confront what it means to remain a family when the people they love no longer see the world in the same way. Inspired by the spirit of Sholem Aleichem’s Tevye, The Blue Violinist Over West End Avenue is a funny, provocative, and deeply moving new play about family, faith, identity, and the enduring—and sometimes fragile—power of love.
Debbie Goodstein says, “This play comes from a very personal place. My mother survived the Holocaust by hiding in an attic, and I inherited her story along with the belief that hard truths need to be confronted and talked about. With antisemitism on the rise and conversations around Israel becoming increasingly polarized, I wanted to explore how those divisions can enter our own living rooms and affect the people we love most. I’ve loved Fiddler on the Roof since childhood and was inspired by Sholem Aleichem and Tevye’s struggles with family, tradition, and a changing world. The Blue Violinist Over West End Avenue asks many of those same timeless questions: What do we hold on to? Where do we let go? And how do we remain a family when the people we love see the world in completely different ways?”
The design team includes Lauren Helpern (Scenic Design), Jennifer Paar (Costume Design), David Lander (Lighting Design) and Daniel Baker (Sound Design & Music Composer).
The production team includes Shane Schnetzler (Production Stage Manager) and Genevieve Dornemann (Assistant Stage Manager). Casting by Judy Bowman. General Management by Perry Street Theatricals (Martin Platt & Kayleigh Laymon). Production Management by Write Act Corp/John Lant. Advertising/Marketing by Table 7 Strategy. Press Representative is David Gibbs/Darr Publicity.
Performances are Tuesdays – Saturdays at 7pm, and Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm. Run time is approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes with an intermission. Tickets are $49 – $99. To purchase tickets and for more info visit https://www.blueviolinistplay.com.
Cast to be announced at a later date.
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Debbie Goodstein
Playwright
Debbie is an award-winning filmmaker working in the industry as a writer, producer, and director for over 25 years. Her areas of concentration are independent Jewish-themed, Holocaust-oriented, and social justice films. Among her works are the Academy Award shortlisted and Berlin Film Festival honored personal holocaust documentary Voices From the Attic, which won 26 awards and prizes, and is about her family’s survival during WWII, hiding in an attic. Voices was recently named by the Berlin Film Festival as “one of the twenty best Holocaust films of the 20th century,” and picked up by WNET Arts for redistribution on Public television. In 2016, Goodstein produced a sequel short to Voices, called Echoes From the Attic, as a companion piece to the original film. Among her other works, Goodstein produced and directed the narrative film Mighty Fine with Chazz Palminteri and Andie MacDowell, released by Lionsgate and awarded first prize at Toronto’s Female Eye Film Festival. She produced the documentary pilot “FU-Georgia” about the plight of undocumented immigrant students in the South today, picked up by ABC last year. She co-produced the award-winning short Black in 2020. She is the Executive Producer on Emma Francis-Snyder’s current film Anatomy of a Life (in production). Goodstein also recently consulted on Snyder’s documentary, Takeover, which was an Academy Award shortlisted film last year. In the past, Goodstein co-wrote the Emmy award-winning film Saying Kaddish for ABC. She produced and directed the TV pilot “The Bubbies” for NBC. She executive-produced the film Dirk and Betty featuring Marissa Tomei. Before producing her own films, Goodstein worked as a screenwriter and development executive for Siren Pictures. She graduated from Brown University and Columbia Film School with honors. debbiegoodstein.com
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Jonathan Silverstein
Director
Jonothan is an award-winning director and producer. Most recently, he directed Anthony Rapp in Touch, a new play by Kenny Finkle. As Artistic Director at Keen Company (2012-2025), Jonathan produced and directed acclaimed productions such as the world premiere of All the World’s a Stage by Adam Gwon (Off Broadway Alliance Award), the site-specific production of Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking starring Kathleen Chalfant (also Long Wharf, Theatre Aspen, and Bay Street Theater), tick, tick…BOOM! (Drama Desk nomination), A Walk in the Woods starring Kathleen Chalfant, Travels with my Aunt, Middle of the Night by Paddy Chayefsky, and many others. Jonathan also directed the award-winning Off Broadway world premiere of Jon Marans’ The Temperamentals produced by Daryl Roth (Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble). Other Off Broadway credits include revivals of Lemon Sky, The Dining Room (Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Director; Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble), and Tea and Sympathy. Regional: Long Wharf, Huntington, Old Globe, Merrimack Rep, Buck’s County, Dorset, Cape Rep, Monmouth, and Sledgehammer. Jonathan teaches Directing at The Tepper Semester/Syracuse University and an ongoing scene study class in Manhattan. MFA, UCSD, Drama League fellow. Member, SDC. jonnysilver.com
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Judith Estrine
Producer
Judith is a playwright, author, and the founding Artistic Director of Prism Stage Company, a New York nonprofit theatre dedicated to developing and producing new and overlooked plays by playwrights over 40, performed by accomplished veteran theatre artists. She co-founded Prism in 2010 with director Benno Haenel, and the company received its 501(c)(3) status in 2013. Since 2022, Prism has partnered with CreateTheater to expand opportunities for new play and musical development. Through both her writing and her leadership at Prism Stage Company, Judith is committed to championing compelling new voices, fostering artistic collaboration, and creating meaningful opportunities for experienced theatre professionals.
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Cate Cammarata
Producer
Cate is an Off-Broadway producer, director, dramaturg, and the Founder/Artistic Director of CreateTheater, a New York City developmental theater company dedicated to developing and producing new plays and musicals. Since 2015, CreateTheater has helped bring dozens of new works through the development pipeline. Off-Broadway: The Assignment, My Father’s Daughter, The Blue Violinist Over West End Avenue. Regional: Maladies and The Inferno (EmBers Theater Company), My Life Is a Musical (Bay Street Theater), Bran Castle (Porchlight Theater). Broadway development: Atlantis (book by Ken Cerniglia & Scott Morris, music & lyrics by Matthew Robinson), Bran Castle (book, music & lyrics by Don Nolan), and The Falling Season, a new hip-hop musical by Masta Ace. Cate holds a BFA in Acting/Directing from Syracuse University and an MFA in Dramaturgy from SUNY Stony Brook. She is an Associate Professor of Theater at Baruch College in Manhattan. www.CreateTheater.com