The Jewish Literary Foundation’s Jewish Playwrights Programme is a development initiative for emerging and early-career playwrights. Its goal is to support the next generation of Jewish voices on stage and champion stories that reflect the richness and diversity of Jewish life in the UK.
Following an inaugural year which saw mentorship from Mark Rosenblatt, Daniel Goldman, Emma Jude Harris, Josh Azouz, Samantha Ellis, and Amy Rosenthal, our autumn cohort will be led by award-winning playwright and director Julia Pascal.
We’re delighted to welcome our new autumn cohort for 2026-27, with Kayla Feldman, Nathaniel Brimmer-Beller, Kali Klein-Hughes, Dylan Zwickel, Thom Munden, Alexandra Hart, Eliana Ostro and Esther Caplin.
The programme is made possible by the generous support of the Shoresh Charitable Trust.
Kayla is a writer and director. Plays include Shiva (audio play in post-production); My Name is Hannah (Hope Theatre, co-written with Lexi Clare); Can’t Stop Won’t Stop (Seven Dials Playhouse); and Hear Me Out (Camden People’s Theatre and Seven Dials). Her Jewish revenge thriller Watchdog received numerous accolades including the Women’s Prize for Playwriting longlist. Her poetry and prose have been widely published across the UK, North America, and online, and she is the author of two poetry collections, Same Story and Tikva.
Nathaniel is an award-winning director, actor, and playwright, with three plays published by Bloomsbury, six premieres at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, work developed with the Almeida and Criterion Theatre, and two new plays debuted in 2026. Nathaniel has been nominated for the George Devine Award and BBC Writers Popcorn Award, listed Best Theatre of the Year by The British Blacklist, showcased on the West End, and awarded at the Royal Court and Washington DC’s Studio Theatre.
Kali had been working as an actor for 15 years when she began writing. She helped to adapt Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights for Aquila Theatre, New York, before being awarded two scholarships to attend the University of Cambridge. At Cambridge, Kali studied dramaturgy with Dr. Zoe Svendsen, and was shortlisted for the Trinity College Peter Shaffer Playwriting Fellowship, adjudicated by Rupert Goold, for her verse play, Isabella, Mother of Spain. Kali lives in Wales with her son.
Dylan is an NYC- and London-based writer, director, and dramaturg. Her plays and musicals have been Finalists or Semifinalists for the Princess Grace Award, the Blue Ink Award, the Parity Development Award, the O’Neill, and more. As a director, she has worked on everything from workshops of new plays and musicals to large scale immersive experiences and assisted multiple Tony-nominated directors. She holds a BA from Wesleyan University and an MFA from NYU Tisch.
Eliana is a playwright, screenwriter and novelist. Her play, Anything With a Pulse, enjoyed sold-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and Park Theatre. She has since adapted it into her debut novel, which became an instant-bestselling Audible Original starring Asa Butterfield and Lydia West, ahead of print publication in the UK and Germany. She won an Alpine Fellowship Prize and was longlisted for the Masterclass Writing Award. Eliana works as a Development Executive at Origin Pictures and is represented by Mady Niel at 42.
Alexandra is a playwright and novelist. Her first novel was published at the age of 19 and was selected for the national Children’s Summer Reading Challenge 2025. Alexandra’s debut play ‘Hysteria’ was produced in London this November by Counterminers Production Company, while her second play, ‘Mother Knows Best’, was performed at the 2025 Lambeth Fringe. Alexandra is a theatre reviewer for VoiceMag and has appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour to discuss her writing on representations of teenagers in film and television.
Thom is a writer and director. He’s interested in queer and working-class stories, particularly the people and places that don’t always get to be at the centre of the story. In 2026, he wrote and co-directed All of Them, Dead, a queer coming-of-age play set in the Fens, which toured the UK with support from Arts Council England, Oxford Playhouse and Cheltenham Everyman.
Esther was born and lives in London. She graduated BA in History of Art, University College London; MA The Courtauld Institute, and Postgraduate Diploma from Central St Martins. Jobs in publishing were followed in the 1990s by running and organising a network of key players committed to planning London’s future. Post-retirement she has worked with community in Somers Town, was Chair of Governors in a local primary school, and is Chair of Camden Music Trust.