In 2010, Roth was named as one of the Forward 50, honoring nationally prominent "men and women who are leading the American Jewish community into the 21st century,[1] and in 2017 he was given the DC Mayor's Arts Award for Visionary Leadership.
Hundreds of noted figures in the world of American theater contested his termination; Tony Kushner called it "an act of political censorship.
Based on his playwriting, he received two Avery Hopwood Awards for Drama, the first in 1981 given by Arthur Miller, a noted UM alum and playwright (and student of Thorpe Rowe).
He was credited since taking over in 1997 with leading Theater J to "national prominence as a home for edgy, politically charged plays – and for nurturing risky new works.
He was described as creating a "rare mix of professional polish, thoughtful dramaturgy and nervy experimentation – all in a spot just far enough off the New York radar for a playwright to relax.
"[13] It produced new plays ranging from Joyce Carol Oates's The Tattooed Girl[14] and Wendy Wasserstein's Welcome to My Rash and Third,[15] to Robert Brustein's Spring Forward, Fall Back,[16] Neena Beber's Jump/Cut,[17] and Richard Greenberg's Bal Masque.
"[19] Founded by Roth in 2014, Mosaic Theater Company of DC is dedicated to creating independent, intercultural, uncensored, socially relevant art.
[21] Past productions include: Jay O. Sanders' Unexplored Interior (This Is Rwanda), Motti Lerner's After The War, and Tearrance Chisholm's Hooded, Or Being Black For Dummies, along with the American Premieres of Izzeldin Abuelaish's I Shall Not Hate, Shay Pitovsky and Shahar Pinkhas' Promised Land, and Hanna Eady and Edward Mast's The Return, Philip Himberg's Paper Dolls, the World Premiere of Mona Mansour's The Vagrant Trilogy (which would move to The Public Theater with same creative nucleus in 2022)[22] and Caleen Sinnette Jennings Queens Girl in Africa.
Entitled Born Guilty, Roth's dramatic adaptation follows Sichrovsky as the Austrian Jewish journalist interviews children of Nazi and SS officials.
Jack Gelber directed a cast including Zach Grenier, Greg Germann, Lee Wilkof, Victor Slezak, Maggie Burke, Jennie Moreau, and Amy Wright.
The production, directed by Shira Piven, later moved to the Famous Door Theatre Company at Jane Addams Hull House for an extended seven-month run, and received widespread critical praise.
In this sequel, we follow the Adapter (a fictionalized version of Roth himself) as he sets off for Europe to discover why Schirovsky would align himself with such a controversial figure as Haider, who is often associated with anti-semitism.
Set in 1984 and loosely autobiographical, the protagonist grapples with questions of remembrance, history and identity that are touched upon in "Born Guilty" and "The Wolf in Peter."
A revised version of the play was presented in 2011 as part of The Born Guilty Cycle: A Trilogy for The Theatre Lab in Washington, DC, and read at The National Theater.
[30] Life in Refusal was first written as a one-act entitled Proverbial Human Suffering, this won the 1988 Helen Eisner Award for Young Playwrights from the Streisand Center for Jewish Culture.
The full-length version of Life in Refusal was commissioned by the Foundation for Jewish Culture and premiered in 1988 at Performance Network Theatre in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Roth made his Washington directorial debut with Theater J's 2004 production of Oh, The Innocents,[34] which included ten new original songs penned by the playwright.
[36] Expanded from one-acts originally produced by HB Playwrights Foundation, Love and Yearning in the Not-for-Profits and Other Marital Distractions was workshopped at Ojai Playwrights Conference (directed by Susan Booth);[37][38] New Dramatists; and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company before its 2001 premiere at Theater J. Sarah Fox's performance in Theater J's production was nominated in 2002 for the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress, Resident Play.
He also founded the Peace Café in 2000 with Mimi Conway, a Theater J council member, and friend Andy Shallal, to complement performances of "Via Dolorosa."
[48] In his 2012 article, "Heated Dialogue," in American Theatre Magazine, Lonnie Firestone wrote that Roth had sometimes generated controversy by his choices even though he led Theater J to become "one of the most prolific producers of Israeli-oriented drama in North America.
"[48] In 2011, Theater J produced the United States premiere of Return to Haifa, adapted by Israeli playwright Boaz Gaon from a novella by Palestinian author Ghassan Kanafani.
[48] COPMA (Citizens Opposed to Propaganda Masquerading as Art), a local group formed to protest the play criticized it as anti-Israel and appealed to a major donor to cut off funding.
[51] Complaints by staff members and months of internal conflict led to Roth's resignation, stating he was unable to live with the restrictions imposed on his leadership after a board of directors-mandated, summer-long sabbatical to engage in research, reflection, exploration of management skills and abilities.
In an effort to provide some balance, the Artistic Team began discussions around using our 2020 virtual platform to highlight a play by a Palestinian writer appropriate for online presentation.