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Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church
in partnership with Main Line Reform Temple
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6 OCTOBER 7, 2021
Philly Faces: Aimee Goldstein
P H I LLY FAC E S
SASHA ROGELBERG | JE STAFF
2021 TRIBE12 Fellowship
alum Aimee Goldstein sat
down with friend and colleague
Doriane Feinstein at a bubble
tea shop in Philadelphia’s
Chinatown in October 2019,
nervously planning on pitching
a partnership to produce a
theater festival.

Unbeknownst to Goldstein,
Feinstein was nervously
planning on pitching the same
idea to her.

Though the festival went
digital and audio-only due to
the pandemic, it was a success
by their standards.

The participating Phila-
delphia-based playwrights
approached the duo after the
festival, asking what the produc-
tion company’s next project
would be. Only Goldstein and
Feinstein didn’t have a produc-
tion company. So they made one.

Shortly thereafter, Curlyfish
Productions was born, with
the purpose of “bringing a
dynamic theater and shared
life experiences through a
Jewish lens.”
Hoping to partner with local
Black, Indigenous and people
of color creators, Curlyfish
Productions aims to create
theater that is “contemporary
and edgy and thought-pro-
voking,” sharing a diverse set
of ideas with Jewish under-
tones and values woven into it.

With the
pandemic hopefully retreating once
more, Goldstein is hungry to
return to the theater.

What does Curlyfish mean?
My hair is very, very, very
curly, and ‘Dori’ is the name of
the fish from “Finding Nemo.”
It is as basic as that really.

What is your background in
theater? I went to school for acting —
originally musical theater and
then acting, so my background
JEWISH EXPONENT
Aimee Goldstein co-founded Curlyfish Productions with the goal of “bringing
a dynamic theater and shared life experience through a Jewish lens.” ”
Courtesy of Aimee Goldstein
really is in acting and musical
theater and singing.

I graduated from Temple,
and from there, I worked at
Bucks County Playhouse for
five years in different roles: in
the box office, front of house
and also somewhat in company
management. With the exception of
COVID, for the past five years,
I was fully immersed in theater
24/7 ... constantly seeing shows
and constantly surrounding
myself around creative people.

During COVID, I recog-
nized that what I really enjoy
is producing. I’ve produced a
couple shows with Chickadee
Theatre Co., which is also a
previous Tribe12 Fellowship
venture. How do you plan to work
with BIPOC (Black, Indig-
enous, people of color)
organizations? Some of the things that
Dori and I are really focused
on is just really highlighting
people of different cultures and
backgrounds and ethnicities.

For instance, if a playwright
approached us, and they
wanted to do a play about Black
and trans lives on the streets of
Philadelphia, we would jump
at that.

We want to have conversa-
tions with the Black Theatre
Alliance. Dori and I are really
good friends with many
people on that board, so that’s
definitely a conversation in
the works, as a goal to have a
future collaboration, maybe a
show, a play that we could work
on together.

What are the next steps for
Curlyfish Productions?
The next step for Curlyfish
is to fundraise.

One of the things that we were
considering starting, hopefully
in 2022, would be a monthly or
bi-monthly small play festival
— to take 10-minute plays and
have people of different religions
and cultures and backgrounds
read them.

[We want to] find new
actors, hold auditions, maybe
even work with people who
we’ve worked with before and
get a space, hopefully, that
won’t be virtual.

I’m trying to write a
one-woman cabaret; Dori
wants to produce that through
Curlyfish as well.

What is the first play or
musical you saw?
I want to say it was the
original “Cats” movie. The
original one, the filmed
Broadway production. When
I was 7 years old, my father
showed it to me. And I just
thought it was the coolest thing
that I’ve ever seen in my life. I
See Faces, Page 20
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



H eadlines
Tikvah Hires New Executive Director
L OCA L
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
ABBY GILBERT IS the new
executive director of Tikvah,
the Philadelphia nonprofit that
helps adults living with mental
illnesses. Gilbert, 59, of Jenkintown,
comes to Tikvah after 35
years in the Jewish commu-
nity service field. Before
Tikvah, she held leadership
positions with the JCCs of
Greater Philadelphia, the
Jewish Federation of Greater
Abby Gilbert Photo by Rachel Forth
Philadelphia’s Northeast
NORC and Reconstructing saw how hard it was for those
Judaism, among others.

with mental illnesses to remain
Gilbert applied to Tikvah independent but also stay
because she dealt with mental connected.

“Folks with mental illness
illnesses at NORC, which
helps people 60 and up age in challenges experience a higher
place in their homes. Gilbert level of anxiety and a lower
ROOSEVELT Tikvah President Neen Davis, second from left, hired Abby Gilbert as the
nonprofit’s new executive director.
Courtesy of Tikvah
level of ability with regard to development,” according to the
reaching out for what they news release about Gilbert’s
need,” Gilbert said.

Bulletin hiring.

Print The
Ad nonprofit’s presi-
Tikvah, established in 1990, dent, Neen Davis, felt Gilbert
works with adults of all ages was qualified because of her
in their “social, educational,
It's simple past to experiences.

customize this ad
“She had a good under-
employment and spiritual
Celebrating each life like no other.

MEMORIAL PARK
spacer Trevose
standing of who we were and
what we’re trying to accom-
plish,” Davis said.

What Tikvah wants to do is
help more people, Davis said.

The 2019 Jewish Population
Study of Greater Philadelphia
revealed that 33% of Jewish
households in the five-county
area had at least one member
diagnosed with a mental
illness. But Tikvah only has
about 80 active members,
Davis said.

Gilbert’s goal is the same
as Tikvah’s: to increase that
number. When Gilbert took over at
NORC in 2011, she faced a
similar situation. There were
roughly 60,000 Philly-area
adults aging in place in their
homes. NORC was helping
for your location.

See Tikvah, Page 20
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