Episode 14: Holding Two Truths & Broadway Director Zhailon Levingston

Being Jewish with Jonah Platt

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Broadway director and arts activist Zhailon Levingston has been making waves in the New York theater scene through his ability to challenge audiences emotionally at the same time he is entertaining them. In this episode, Zhailon, who is not Jewish, describes his love of the very Jewish practice of “Havruta,” a collaborative method of rigorously debating ideas with a single partner over a long period of time, and how this intense intellectually wrestling is a far more productive method of bringing folks together than trying to get everyone to agree on the same positions. As artistic director of The Inheritance Theater Project, Levingston reveals deep insight into how collaborative playmaking can be a powerful technology for bringing disparate communities together. In this week’s episode, Levingston joins Jonah for an illuminating conversation on a number of deep and difficult topics, from Jewish and Black identity, to the Israel/Gaza war, to Gen Z’s struggles with social media, to the ideas of “Black Aliveness”. Don’t miss this complex, thought-provoking discussion you can only find right here, on Being Jewish with Jonah Platt!

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Host & Production Team

Host: Jonah Platt; Produced by Rainbow Creative (Executive Producer: Matthew Jones; Story Producer: Sean Leviashvili; Editor: Patrick Edwards); Consulting Producer: Bethany Mandel; Research Associate: Samantha Greenwald; Social Media Manager: Yuval Yosha; Graphic Designer Noah Bell; and Executive Assistant, Josie Rothschild.

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Mentioned in Episode

• Inheritance Theater Project
• Jon Adam Ross
• Dr. Rebecca Schorsch
• Havruta Meaning & Definition
• The Story of The Exodus
• James Baldwin Text About Black/Jewish Relations in 1968
• Kevin Quashie on How to Read & Interpret Black Text Through “Aliveness”
• Juneteenth Seder
• Jonah Platt Speaks About Undiagnosed ADHD
• Douglas Lyons
• Chicken & Biscuits Play
• Table 17 Play
• The Normal Heart Play by Larry Kramer