Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Theater J Fires Outspoken Director Ari Roth

Ari Roth, the longtime director at Theater J, is leaving the theater after a period of tension over plays dealing with Israel’s history.

The Washington Post and the Washington Jewish Week each reported late Thursday that Roth is saying the Washington DC Jewish Community Center, which oversees the theater, fired him after he refused to leave under terms that would have made it appear he left amicably and the decision was mutual.

Roth and the theater drew controversy in recent years over plays dealing with Israel’s founding that treated issues including allegations of massacres of Palestinians and their displacement.

Roth told the Post that the specific reason of his firing was his refusal to adhere to a “communications protocol” over the JCC’s recent decision to cancel an annual “Voices from a Changing Middle East” plays festival.

Theater J in an email to JTA late Thursday depicted the parting as amicable.

“Ari Roth has had an incredible 18-year tenure leading Theater J, and we know there will be great opportunities ahead for him,” the release quoted the JCC CEO, Carole Zawatsky, as saying.

Theater J under Roth earned critical acclaim and a national reputation for workshopping works that went on to garner widespread attention.

According to the Post, Roth plans to start a new theater company, Mosaic, that will launch next fall.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.