Jessica Litwak is an award-winning playwright, actor, drama therapist, puppeteer and recognized leader in the field of creative activism and socially engaged theatre. Working frequently with communities in conflict and oppressed populations around the world, Litwak successfully uses theatre performance and practice to heal trauma and promote change. As a puppet-maker and a trained practitioner of Playback, Psychodrama, and Theatre of the Oppressed, Litwak’s workshops are imaginative, compassionate, and responsive to the cultural and personal needs of her workshop participants. Her work has taken her to countries such as Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, India, and throughout Central, Eastern, and Western Europe. She is a core member and on the steering committee of Theatre Without Borders and a Fulbright Scholar.
In 2005, Litwak founded and began serving as Artistic Director of The New Generation Theatre Ensemble (www.ngte.org), she built training and performance opportunities for youth to learn how to build bridges by making theatre in a safe creative community. In 2010, Litwak founded the H.E.A.T. Collective (www.theheatcollective.org) in order to coalesce her practice and workshops, events, and productions that bring together the practices of Healing, Education, and Activism through Theatre. In 2016 in the days following the last election, she created as sister organization, called Artists Rise Up, New York, designed to create free theatre actions in response to the needs of community (www.aruny.org).
Litwak’s work as teacher and workshop leader is far-ranging. Nationally, she has served as faculty at institutions such as Columbia, NYU, Lesley University, Whitman College, Hollins, Naropa, The Theatre Academy at Los Angeles City College, Stella Adler Academy. Internationally, she has taught at Masaryk University (Czech Republic), Jadvipur University (India), the International Director’s Symposium at La Mama Umbria (Italy), and her workshops have been hosted by The Freedom Theatre and Yes Theatre in Palestine. She and has performed, taught and conducted seminars for international bodies such as The Global Mobility Symposium and The World Economic Forum. She is a convener of the Arts and Peace Commission for The International Peace and Research Association, and has served as an arts curator for The Rhodes campaign for European City of Culture. She conducts ongoing theatre and drama therapy workshops at Greenhope, a facility for formerly incarcerated women. Her Puppets for the People workshop is featured in conferences around the globe.
As a playwright and cultural critic, Litwak is published by No Passport Press, TCG, Applause Books, Smith and Krause, and The New York Times. Her plays have been produced at The Goodman Theatre, Rattlestick Theatre, The Women’s Project, La MaMa, and The Edinburgh Festival, and are regularly included in compilations such as Drama Therapy Review, Engaged Scholar Journal, HowlRound, and TCG Salon. Her work has received support from the U.S. State Department (for The Fear Project with the Archa Theatre in the Czech Republic and the Sabhagar Theatre Festival in Kolkata, India). For a full list of her plays, productions, and publications, see attached.
Litwak is a graduate of RADA, NYU, Columbia University and Antioch University with a BFA in acting, an MFA in playwriting and a Ph.D. in Theatre for Leadership and Change.
Litwak’s plays have been produced at theatres such as The Goodman Theatre, Rattlestick Theatre, The Women’s Project, La MaMa, The Edinburgh Festival and HERE Arts Center.
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