''Jewtopia'' is a

comedic Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

play by

Bryan Fogel Bryan Fogel is an American film director, producer, author, playwright, speaker and human rights activist, best known for the 2017 documentary ''Icarus,'' which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 90th Academy Awards in 2018 ...

and Sam Wolfson. It focuses on two friends, Chris O'Connell and Adam Lipschitz, both approaching their 30th birthdays.

Gentile Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym for ...

Chris is interested in dating

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

women because he feels that they will make his life easier by making all of life's decisions for him. Jewish Adam wants to date Gentile women because he does not wish to be reminded of his roots. The two team up and teach each other how to woo the women of their choice. Most of the play's humor involves jokes about Jewish

stereotypes In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

with occasional humor about body parts and bodily functions. The play makes numerous references to the Jewish online dating website,

Jdate Jdate is an online dating service aimed at Jewish singles. The service is one of a number of demographically focused online match-making websites operated by Spark Networks, Inc. Because of the focus on relationships between Jewish singles, Jda ...

. Directed by

Andy Fickman Andy Fickman is an American film director, film producer, screenwriter, television director, television producer, and theatre director. His credits as a theater director include the premiere of the ''Reefer Madness!'' musical, the first Los Angele ...

, the LA production opened on May 8, 2003 at

West Hollywood West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most ...

's Coast Playhouse, where it ran for a year and sold out. Fogel and Wolfson headed the cast.Hernandez, Ernio
"Long-Running Comedy Jewtopia Bids Shalom and Closes Off-Broadway"
''Playbill'', April 29, 2007 On October 21, 2004, the

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

production, directed by

John Tillinger John Tillinger (born June 28, 1938) is a theatre director and actor. Life and career Joachim F. Tillinger was born in Tabriz, Iran. His father was German Jewish and his mother was Protestant. Tillinger was raised in England, where he was first ...

and again starring the

playwrights A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, opened at

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Westside Theatre The Westside Theatre is an off-Broadway performance space at 407 West 43rd Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The building houses two auditoriums: the Upstairs Theatre, which s ...

after previews beginning on September 28, 2004. It ran very profitably for 27 previews and 1,052 regular performances over three and one half years and closed on April 29, 2007, with actors Josh Heine and Jeremy Rishe playing the roles of Chris and Adam. Additional productions include runs in

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada beginning in autumn 2007. A winter 2009 tour was planned. In 2006, Fogel and Wolfson published ''Jewtopia: The Chosen Book for the Chosen People'', a

coffee table book A coffee table book, also known as a cocktail table book, is an oversized, usually hard-covered book whose purpose is for display on a table intended for use in an area in which one entertains guests and from which it can serve to inspire convers ...

inspired by the play.

Film adaptation

On 14 July 2011, it was announced that a

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

of the play was in production. It stars

Jennifer Love Hewitt Jennifer Love Hewitt (born February 21, 1979) is an American actress and singer. Hewitt began her career as a child actress and singer, appearing in national television commercials before joining the cast of the Disney Channel series ''Kids I ...

and

Ivan Sergei Ivan Sergei Gaudio (; born May 7, 1971) is an American actor known for his work in television. His best known roles are Dr. Peter Winslow in ''Crossing Jordan'' and Henry Mitchell in ''Charmed''. Life Ivan Sergei Gaudio was born in Hawthorne, N ...

References

External links

* * {{IOBDB title
Jewtopia info page on StageAgent.com
– Jewtopia plot summary & character descriptions 2003 plays American plays Jewish American plays Comedy plays Jews and Judaism in fiction