A first campaign for touring, access, and sustainability
Help bring Shoshana, a one-woman Israeli-Jewish musical performance about identity, memory, and home, to communities across North America.
Fully tax-deductible. AGADA Theater is a project of PlayGround, a San Francisco 501(c)(3) nonprofit. All gifts are designated for Shoshana and AGADA Theater.
Shoshana is a 75-minute one-woman musical-theatrical performance in Hebrew with English supertitles, followed by an optional 30 to 40 minute talkback.
It is inspired by the life and voice of Shoshana Damari, the legendary Yemenite-Israeli singer known as the "Queen of Hebrew Song." In the show, Shoshana rises from her grave in Trumpeldor Cemetery for one final performance, telling the story of a woman who became the voice of a new nation and carried both the glory and the burden of representing a people.
The show has appeared at Peninsula JCC in Foster City and Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto, including Yom HaAtzmaut community events. This is not a project that still needs to prove whether the show works. It works. The next challenge is making it sustainable and allowing it to travel.
An honest, moving, and heart-piercing show. I felt this touches not just me, but everyone.Yarden S., Palo Alto
An emotional and inspiring evening. Everything crafted at the highest level: the writing, the acting, the singing.Miri G., Foster City
We are raising an initial $50,000 to support two urgent needs: sustaining the production and bringing it to new communities.
Covers the core production work that has carried Shoshana to this point:
This fund allows the existing production to continue professionally, rather than relying indefinitely on unpaid artistic labor and private family funding.
Brings Shoshana to new communities by covering the real costs of touring:
This fund closes the gap between what communities can afford and what it actually costs to bring the show to them professionally.
The host institution provides the venue and audience. Tickets cover part of the cost. A sponsor closes the remaining gap.
Supports essential touring needs: transport, printed materials, subtitles, equipment upkeep, outreach.
Keeps ticket prices accessible and supports community outreach, student attendance, subsidized seats.
Closes the funding gap for one community performance, where a host and ticket sales only cover part of the cost.
Makes a 2 or 3 performance regional mini-run possible, allowing Shoshana to reach multiple audiences in one trip.
Supports touring, access, production sustainability, and the long-term growth of Shoshana as the first flagship work of AGADA Theater.
Anchors a major portion of the first campaign and helps bring Shoshana to multiple communities while strengthening the production's infrastructure.
We are not asking people to support one show. We are inviting partners to help carry a cultural voice into communities that need it. A voice of memory, humor, music, resilience, and home.
Shoshana is the opening work of AGADA Theater, a Jewish-Israeli theater initiative. In Jewish tradition, Aggadah is the narrative layer, the part that asks what it means to be human.