A voice from the past
Tumbalalaika
Rebecca’s Russian recording keeps playing from Joseph’s phone after his fall in Times Square. The crowd falls silent.
Listen to TumbalalaikaA contemporary movie musical · In development
JEWISH
What Does It Mean?
Twelve Manhattan students. Their teacher’s inherited Jewish songbook. As they make the songs their own, they discover the lives behind them, and how much they share.
The story
It starts with a different idea
Mr. Shapiro wants his mother’s songs preserved as they were. His students want to sing them in their own voices, in English. An argument empties the classroom. Then the Martini twins come back.
What begins as a memorial concert for their year-end assessment grows into a student musical. Through rehearsals, jokes and disagreements, they begin to understand the people behind the songs, and one another.
Read the storyThe people
Every voice has a story
Mr. Shapiro
A teacher learning to let go
Meet Joseph →
Aviva Safra
The roots of a song matter
Meet Aviva Safra →
Yuki Tanaka
Ready to try something new
Meet Yuki Tanaka →Character concept illustrations
The songs
Hear the world of JEWISH
Three recordings. Three different moments in the story. Choose one to listen here.
A voice from the past
Tumbalalaika
Rebecca’s Russian recording keeps playing from Joseph’s phone after his fall in Times Square. The crowd falls silent.
Listen to TumbalalaikaAn unexpected listener
Hold On
At OyPizza, the Sharpies sing Aviva and Ethan’s song for a visiting star. A friendship begins.
Listen to Hold OnGuy’s favorite
America My Love
Guy Miller plays it from his phone several times a day. The timing can be touching, or very funny.
Listen to America My LoveBring your perspective
What would they say next?
Try a short scene with the Sharpies, choose a different turn, and write a line of your own.
Try a sceneA community in the making
Help us shape the workshop
We’re planning a creative community around the film. Our short survey for adults 18+ asks what would make it worth joining.
Share your interestsWorkshop membership is not yet open
The project
A screenplay taking shape
Created by songwriter Walter J. Kin. JEWISH is in development, with the screenplay at the center of the next chapter.