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World Premiere of The World To Come in 2026!

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THE WORLD TO COME

World Premiere

February 3 – March 1, 2026

A co-production from Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and Theater J | Washington, DC

By Ali Viterbi

Directed by Howard Shalwitz

 

 

The residents of the SeaBreeze Hebrew Home for the Aging carry on as usual: knitting, playing Scrabble, fighting, and falling in love. As the apocalyptic outside world threatens their way of life, Fanny, Barbara, Ruth, and Hal fight to protect the community they’ve built together. Even while battling armored nurses, a wild ostrich, strange prophecies, and their ailing bodies, they find joy in each other’s company. THE WORLD TO COME is a surprising new epic that reveals how powerful friendship can be as a form of resistance.

In this world premiere from Theater J and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company by playwright Ali Viterbi – winner of the 2019 National Jewish Playwriting Contest – some of DC’s greatest performers will grace the stage with warmth, heartbreak and the sheer will to protect each other, even as the outside world crumbles.

More information about the play and tickets can be found here. And the press release can be found here.

The World to Come is part of the 14th annual Jewish Playwriting Contest

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The World to Come

Jewish Plays Project

By Ali Viterbi

The Jewish Plays Project just announced their Top 7 finalists for their 14th annual Jewish Playwriting Contest, including THE WORLD TO COME.

“It’s never been more important to tell diverse, exciting and relevant Jewish stories,” says Artistic Director David Winitsky. “Our seven finalists include important new voices and award-winning playwrights covering everything from tensions on campus to wild apocalyptic visions to good old fashioned madcap comedy, all with a clear focus on creating great theater that deserves to be produced all over the country.”

For more information, you can read this article from Broadway World.

World Premiere of Life Cycle of a Star at Carthage College!

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World Premiere

November 1-9, 2024

Carthage College | Kenosha, WI

By Ali Viterbi

Directed by Herschel Kruger

 

 

When they were four years old, Anna and Lily promised to be best friends for life, to sit side by side next to each other in their wheelchairs in the nursing home. But can a childhood promise survive the forces of Time and Space? LIFE CYCLE OF A STAR presents the friendship of Anna and Lily “against the life of the stars,” taking us on a journey through time, from prom to the nursing home, on cross-country road trips and intergalactic space expeditions. A coming-of-age story told over 90 years, LIFE CYCLE OF A STAR asks: can you really promise someone a lifetime?

Originally commissioned and produced by the Carthage College Theatre New Play Initiative

More information about the play and tickets can be found here.

MacDowell Fellowship

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MacDowell Fellowship

December 2024

Peterborough, New Hampshire

Ali is delighted to announce that she has been selected for a MacDowell Fellowship. MacDowell’s mission is: “to nurture the arts by offering talented individuals an inspiring residential environment in which to produce enduring works of the creative imagination.” While in residence this coming December, she will write a new play about civic duty, dying languages, and the precarity of Jewish identity. Stay tuned for more news!

THE WORLD TO COME at the 2024 NNPN National Showcase of New Plays

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THE WORLD TO COME

Staged Reading

January 18 – February 12, 2023

National New Play Network | Queens, New York

By Ali Viterbi

Directed by Avital Shira

 

 

Ali’s new play THE WORLD TO COME was selected for the National New Play Network’s National Showcase of New Plays. Established in 2002, the National Showcase of New Plays is an annual event that brings together NNPN Member Theaters and other constituents to see and celebrate new plays. Plays are nominated by Member Theaters and solicited from select Affiliated Artists; those selected are presented at Showcase in a variety of formats.

Here’s a synopsis of THE WORLD TO COME: Every night at the SeaBreeze Hebrew Home for the Aging, Fanny, Barbara, Ruth, and Hal gather for their nightly “Supper Club” meeting.  Over scrabble and charades, the Supper Club gang compete, fight, fall in love, and break each others hearts. But as the world crumbles around them, they are forced to contend with questions of aging, legacy, and survival. A coming-of-age story set in a nursing home, THE WORLD TO COME asks how do we as a society care for our elders? And can you still come-of-age at the end of your life?