The developmental reading of Hester Street was directed by Sarna Lapine (Sunday in the Park With George). Plans for this stage adaptation, from producers Michael Rabinowitz and Ira Deutchman, were first announced in 2016. Playwright Sharyn Rothstein (By the Water, All the Days) penned the script. Original music was written by Joel Waggoner (Be More Chill, School of Rock).

The 1975 film explores Jewish immigrant life in New York in the late 19th century as a young family navigates assimilation and what it means to balance tradition and modernism. The film of Hester Street was written and directed by Joan Micklin Silver, who was in attendance at the reading, from the 1896 novella “Yekl” by Abraham Cahan.

Company

Four-time Tony Award nominee and Drama Desk winner Tovah Feldshuh, Tedra Millan (Present Laughter), Adam Kantor (The Band’s Visit), Roe Hartrampf (Diana), Adam Dannheisser (Beetlejuice), Heather Lind (The Nap), Logan Schuyler Smith (“Gotham”), Renata Friedman (Medea), Emmy winner Marilyn Sokol, Steve Vinovich (All the Way), and Steven Kaplan (Act One).