Matthew "Matthue" Roth[1] (born June 30,[2] 1978)[1] is an American author, poet, columnist, spoken word performer, video game designer, and screenwriter.
Beginning his career as a slam poet in San Francisco, Roth gained attention for his unusual blend of religious themes with frank sexual material, and appeared in the 2002 live Broadway production of Def Poetry Jam.
[1] While he was raised in a Conservative Jewish family and participated in an Orthodox youth group, he was largely nonreligious for several years and was an anarchist in high school.
"[1][7] After a friend gave him a copy of the novel Valencia by author Michelle Tea, Roth found himself drawn to the book's portrayal of San Francisco's subculture and moved to the city, where he lived from 2001 to 2004.
[7][9] While living in San Francisco, Roth met up with Tea and other former Sister Spit members and began performing poetry and spoken word at local clubs.
[1][7] During the 2000s, he performed at the Intersection for the Arts with Tea, Dave Eggers, and Beth Lisick;[10][11] at a Chabad menorah lighting event at Justin Herman Plaza with Shlomo Katz and Carlos Santana;[12] the Daniland Talent Showcase alongside the Suicide Kings, Sini Anderson, Carlos Mena, and Aya de Leon;[1] and a 2002 Broadway production of Def Poetry Jam.
[14] In 2005, Cleis Press published Roth's first full-length book, the memoir Yom Kippur a Go-Go, named for a zine he had written three years prior.
Jason Diamond of Flavorwire later described it as "striking a balance between [Roth's] old-time religious beliefs and modern-world interests, from poetry to hip hop.
Illustrated by Rohan Daniel Eason, the book reinterprets the works of Franz Kafka for a child audience, specifically "The Metamorphosis", "Josephine the Singer, or The Mouse Folk", and "Excursion into the Mountains" from Contemplation.
[8] Roth released Somehow I Have Built A Nest, a micro-chapbook and collection of poems published through Ghost City Press as part of their Summer 2021 series.
[24][25] In 2012, Roth and producer Sarah Lefton co-founded the website and production company G-dcast (later renamed BimBam), having developed the idea since meeting in San Francisco in 2005.
The website produced short animated video content based on the weekly parsha, stories from the Talmud, and other parts of the Torah, with the goal of educating children and others learning about Judaism.
Roth, who had not done any prior screenwriting, was hired by the producers on the strength of Never Mind the Goldbergs, and partially based the story on his time living in Washington, D.C.[29] Directed by Gerardo del Castillo Ramirez, the movie was primarily shot in Queens, Manhattan, and Monsey, and finished filming in November 2009.