Judaism Unbound Episode 401: Expanding the Canon – Hayley Finn and Zachariah Ezer
Expanding the Canon is an initiative from the Washington DC-based Theater J, which has commissioned seven racially and ethnically diverse Jewish writers to create new full-length plays. These plays will thematically and visually center diverse Jewish narratives in order to correct and broaden the historically limited portrayals of Jewishness on stages in the United States and around the world. Hayley Finn, Theater J's artistic director, and Zachariah Ezer, one of the seven playwrights that collectively form the Expanding the Canon cohort, join Dan and Lex for a conversation about their project's work to expand (or maybe upend?) notions of Jewish canon.
[1] Click here to learn more about Expanding the Canon, an initiative that supports racially and ethnically diverse Jewish playwrights and is housed by DC-based theater Theater J.
[2] Learn more about Hayley Finn via her Theater J staff biography, and read about Zachariah Ezer and his Expanding the Canon cohort – Harley Elias, Carolivia Herron, Jesse Jae Hoon, M.J. Kang, Thaddeus McCants, and Kendell Pinkney – by hovering over their respective pictures under the “Commissioned Writers” section of this page.
[3] Ezer cites this newspaper clipping describing the 1905 Shabbos goy strike in 1905 in Louisville, KY as the inspiration for his play.
[4] Finn mentions that Sabrina Sojourner is a mentor for the Expanding the Canon project. Get to know this prayer leader, artist, healer, and chaplain, through her website.
[5] Click here to learn more about Ezer’s teacher, playwright Quiara Hudes, whom he credits with widening his concept of canon.
[6] Ezer describes being Black in America as being “living apocrypha,” and Lex says that apocrypha is his Bible. Spend some more time on the fringes of the canon with us via our 2022 ApocryFest series.
[7] Ezer cites Mark Fisher’s concept of hauntology, which excavates pre-capitalist cultures whose ways of life were erased by colonialism and societal homogenization. Dive deeper with Fisher’s article, “The Metaphysics of Crackle: Afrofuturism and Hauntology” as published in Dancecult Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture.
[8] Listen to our episode with Yehuda Kurtzer and Claire Sufrin, co-authors of the book The New Jewish Canon, at Yehuda Kurtzer, Claire Sufrin: Judaism Unbound Episode 242 - The New Jewish Canon.
[9] Ezer mentions our episode with his fellow Expanding the Canon cohort-member, Kendell Pinkney, specifically the conversation we had with him about the shift in racial representation of Moses over time. Listen at Kendell Pinkney: Judaism Unbound Episode 329 - Workshopping Judaism.
[10] Ezer references this article by film-director Janicza Bravo sharing her experiences of feeling unwelcome in normative Jewish spaces.
