Our goal is to direct 100% of event proceeds to G.L.I.T.S (a Black trans-led advocacy & direct services organization that is dedicated to fighting systemic discrimination against marginalized communities, in NYC & beyond) and In Our Name (a Jewish-led effort raising critical resources for Palestinians building communities rooted in freedom, dignity, and self-determination). In order to do this, we are fundraising to cover event-related costs: gathering & schlepping an ungodly amount of stuff, feeding our brilliant artists, renting our venue, etc.

Can you chip in today to help build the catalytic catharsis carnival that our community craves?

Purim is a Portal. Purim is a Prayer. Purim is a Prophetic Promise to infuse Joy into Despair. Purim is WICKED. Purim is Gauche. Purim is SEXXXY. Purim is a Roast. Purim is Resistance. Purim is a DRAG. Purim is an invitation to squirt jelly in a genitalial hat worn by an evocative hag. Purim is a commandment: Cast Tyranny Aside! Purim is a mask revealing the power of people who bravely refuse to hide. Purim bends binaries, swiftly snapping them to shards. Purim is a weaver: threaded together in her web, together, we go HARD. Purim is a project: this year, we name her Project E̶s̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ Vashti! Purim is a proclamation, announcing: Sheeeeeee’ssss Backkkkkkkk! Hinenu! We cast the Portal Wide! 

ACCESS INFO for ONSITE EVENT

• (Purim is about the Power of) MASKS: In line with JFREJ's Public Health Policy, our audience will be expected to mask (except while eating / drinking) from 6PM - 11PM. KN95 masks will be provided for folks who need them! Cast members will not be required to mask while performing. The After Party, hosted by The Spectrum, will be mask-optional (beginning at 11PM).
• MOBILITY: Judson Memorial Church is wheel-chair accessible & ADA compliant.
• ASL: TBA! We are currently seeking ASL interpreters & will update the event page soon!
• ONLINE EVENT DETAILS: Zoom room opens @ 6:30 PM & closes @ Midnight. Hosts TBA. Automated captioning will be provided.

DRESS CODE:

Costumes are HIGHLY encouraged!!! Think: Witches, Mycelium, Dorothys, WICKED, Queens, Trancestors, Trans-Futurity, Billionaires & other Tyrants & of course, PURIM! There will be zero tolerance for violent, appropriative costumes. If you think it might be a bad idea, it is. Don’t do it.

MORE ABOUT PROJECT E̶S̶T̶H̶E̶R̶ VASHTI: 

Set on the stage of Wicked’s Oz, PROJECT E̶S̶T̶H̶E̶R̶ VASHTI is a surrealist take-down of Project Esther. (Created by the Heritage Foundation & named for our beloved Queen, Project Esther appropriates Jewish pain, trauma & fear to criminalize the movement for Palestinian freedom, as part of an authoritarian strategy to advance Christian nationalism). A bounty of revolutionary ancestors (including Judith, Claude Cahun, the Anarchist Sage, the Witches of Ashkelon & the OG Esther herself, Ishtar) are convening to support Vashti/ Elephaba & Esther/ Glinda in overthrowing the forces of tyranny, embodied in a Christian-Zionist Haman & they need your help!!!! Ritual theatrics will be interactive & infused with live-music, singing, grief-work, revolutionary practice prompts & dance! 

• Written/ Directed by Elana-June Margolis
• Spectacle Engineered by Jenny Romaine/Great Small Works with a crew of hot designers,  including members of the JFREJ Art & Culture Role Network
• Music guided by Anat Halevy Hochberg & M. Miller & performed by Ira Khonen Temple & friends TBA!
• Featuring performances by Dori Midnight, Julie Weitz, Ezra Berkley Nepon, Jules Pashall, Ayelet Hashachar, Annie-Rose London, Willow Rosencunt, Gage Spex, Viva Ruiz, Aiyana Masla, Andy Izenson, Megan Pamela Ruth Madison, Jenny Hipscher, Nath Ann Carrera, Shana Salzberg & MORE TBA!!!!!!

MORE ABOUT MAARIV & THE MEGILLAH READING

Join Ari L Monts & Sara Feldman and a team of diasporist leyners for traditional egalitarian/Conservative-style Maariv service and full Megillah reading. Jews of all genders, races & dis/abilities over bar/bat mitzvah age will be counted towards the minyan. The service is in Hebrew with important information and kavanot/intentions offered in English.

Together, we will read/ hear all 10 chapters of Megillat Esther (the Esther story) read in Hebrew in the special Purim trope. Explanation and context will be offered after each chapter in English. Bring your responsive sensibilities and your noisemaker to drown out Haman's name!