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

• With gratitude to those who reached out about the Purim COVID policy, here is more information.  We can only gather together safely if everyone commits to upholding the policy:
  • All attendees and performers will be required to take a rapid test on the day of the event. JFREJ will provide rapid tests at the door for those who need it (with thanks to Mask Bloc NYC for their donation of tests and masks). Rapid tests are not 100% accurate and it is important to note that a negative test does not mean you don’t have COVID. Please follow these practices that increase the accuracy of rapid tests:
    • Please do not eat, drink, chew gum or smoke for an hour before taking the rapid test as that will make it less accurate.
    • When taking a rapid test, please swab your throat, cheek, and then nose, which gives the highest likelihood of catching a positive COVID infection.
    • Testing will be done outdoors and attendees will be asked to wait outside until their test results are ready.
  • There will be air filtration systems in the venue running throughout the event.
  • Purim is about the power of MASKS! JFREJ will provide high quality (KN95 or better) masks. Surgical or cloth masks are far less effective and should not be used unless over a higher quality mask. Please wear your mask over your mouth and nose.
    • Cast members will not be required to mask while performing- the space does not have enough microphones for all the performers to be audible while wearing masks
    • From 6-7:30, during maariv and megillah, there will be no food or drink served and masking will be required.
    • At 7:30 the bar will open and hamentaschen will be provided. Masking will be required when not actively eating or drinking. All proceeds from the bar will be donated to In Our Name and G.L.I.T.S.
    • If you would like to attend a run-through of the spiel on Tuesday, March 11th with limited audience members who will be fully masked, please reach out to shifra@jfrej.org. We are also recruiting JFREJ members who would be interested in hosting “watch parties” together with other members. Is that you?? Let shifra@jfrej.org know!
    • From 6pm-11pm, we will have a volunteer COVID Care Queen team upholding the event’s masking policy. Sign up to volunteer here!
  • JFREJ is not sponsoring the Purim After Party because of limited JFREJ capacity for this large event that is mostly volunteer- run and requires load-in many hours prior to the event start time. The After Party is hosted by a different organization (The Spectrum) and will not be consistent with JFREJ’s COVID protocols. After 11pm when the After Party begins, masking is encouraged but the organizers of Purim don’t have the capacity to uphold it and cannot guarantee that people will remain masked.
• MOBILITY: Judson Memorial Church is wheelchair 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. Hosted by Glenn Marla! 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!