Jewish and Feminist Themes in This New Off B’Way Play from Paula J. Caplan

Image by Amy Smith

Image by Amy Smith

I grew up as a member of about 40 Jewish families in Springfield, Missouri, a Midwestern city of about 80, 000 people. My great-grandfather, Ben Karchmer, was a founder of the congregation there, and I have always been proud of my Jewish heritage. And I have been a feminist since the time, more than 45 years ago when I first learned about feminism. I was trained as a psychologist, and spoke at an early, germinal 1992 conference on Judaism, Feminism and Psychology in Seattle.

When I started writing plays more than twenty years ago, I soon realized that my religion and my feminism would inform that writing.