We are honored to rise to our roles as co-creators of a healthy, healing ecosystem of sacred, sustainable and systemic love and justice with an ensemble of renowned guest artists, activists and faith leaders from around the world.
RITUAL LEADERS & ARTISTS
Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie
Rabbi Amichai (he/him) has been hailed as “an iconoclastic mystic” by Time Out New York, a “rock star” by the New York Times, a “Judaic Pied Piper” by the Denver Westword, a “maverick spiritual leader” by The Times of Israel and “one of the most interesting thinkers in the Jewish world” by the Jewish Week. In June 2017 Rabbi Amichai published the JOY Proposal, offering a new response to the reality of Intermarriage and taking on a personal position on this issue, including his resignation from the Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative Movement.
In 2022 Rabbi Amichai began publishing Below the Bible Belt, a daily digital project extended over 42 months, critically queering and re-reading all 929 chapters of the Hebrew Bible.
Amichai is Abba to Alice, Ezra and Charlotte.
Shira Kline
Shira Kline (she/her) is a queer performance and ritual artist, recognized as a revolutionary educator and named one of the new re-engineers of Jewish life today. Co-founder of Storahtelling and Lab/Shul, she serves as Spiritual Leader weaving liturgy, text, story and song. Known in the sanctuary as a spiritual adventurist and on the kiddie rock stage as ShirLaLa, Shira practices in the field of sacred play. She tours extensively locally and globally with a vibrant invitation to connect, for a new and realized conscious world. She has been featured on NPR, hosted a queer Jewish podcast, led Shabbat on the Burning Man playa, recorded four award-winning albums, and is a frequent guest teacher or faculty of numerous international leadership conferences including Hava NaShira, SLBC, PJ Library, HUC-JIR Seminary and Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music. Shira is a member of the Mitsui Collective Kollel, building resilient community through embodied Jewish practice and somatic antiracism. Expansive and imaginative, Shira is here to nourish and ignite expression of the spirit. At home in Brooklyn, unceded Lenape lands, she lives to cook, dance, and play with her beloved and their daughter.
Naomi Less
Naomi Less (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based, internationally celebrated singer, composer, musician, ritual leader and educator. Her diverse original music is sung in worship communities worldwide, including Lab/Shul. In 2000, Naomi met Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie and became a founding company member of Storahtelling, serving as Director of Education and Training, Director of Storahtelling and ultimately as a founding Lab/Shul ritual leader and Associate Director. Her signature music initiatives include: Jewish Chicks Rock band programs, creator/host of Jewish Women Rock show on Jewish Rock Radio, and co-creator/music director/performer for TRYmester, a touring performance piece that brings to light the oft hidden stories of fertility challenges through narrative, song and dance. Naomi is an activist and consultant for causes such as Bring Back Our Girls New York, a multi-faith volunteer group, and Uprooted: A Jewish Response to Fertility Journeys (vice president). Naomi received training in spiritual leadership, music, facilitation and education from: Northwestern University, Jewish Theological Seminary Davidson School, Institute for Informal Jewish Education at Brandeis University, Institute for Jewish Spirituality, ChangeCraft (formerly Center for Leadership Initiatives). Listen to Naomi’s music on Spotify, YouTube, and Soundcloud.
Ben Freeman
Ben Freeman (he/him) is a multi-disciplinary artist, educator, and spiritual care provider. He is excited to be back in New York City and deeply honored to join the ritual team at Lab/Shul. His prior work includes designing and facilitating an intergenerational storytelling program with LGBTQ+ elders and “youngers,” facilitating sections for a course on critical media literacy at Lucasfilm, and working in the spiritual care departments of Hebrew SeniorLife and Boston Children’s Hospital. He’s currently developing a chaplaincy practice for theater, film, and TV, the vision of which is to meet growing demands for mental health support and safe, caring, and culturally responsive working conditions through design and facilitation of creative process with deep attention to the spiritual needs and wellbeing of artists, audiences, and technicians. Ben is a graduate of Brown University, Harvard Divinity School, and the Spiritual Direction Practicum at Still Harbor, as well as a founding member of the Glitter Goddess Collective. You can find his music on Spotify, Apple Music and Soundcloud.
Marques Hollie
Marques Hollie (they/he) is an operatically-trained theatre artist, sacred storyteller, ritual leader, and nascent aerialist based in Philadelphia. They have been singing professionally since 2008, and after a particularly meaningful Passover seder, began exploring the places where his Black, Queer, and Jewish identities intersect. This exploration has inspired original music and niggunim, a monodrama, and new liturgical expressions. Marques received maggidic ordination from Maggidah Devorah and Rabbi David Zaslow after completing a two year course of study, and is a rabbinical student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. For more information about Marques and what they’re up to, check out: www.marqueshollie.com.
Rev. Dr. Derrick McQueen
Rev. Dr. McQueen (he/him) is also the pastor of St. James Presbyterian Church in Harlem, the oldest African American Presbyterian Church in New York City. He serves as the first, ordained, out African American pastor of a historic Black Church in the Presbyterian denomination. St. James is an affirming congregation. Rev. McQueen and St. James is also in partnership with LAB/SHUL, a “Storahtelling” Jewish Congregation, led by Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie. He serves as a Christian partner as a Ritual Leader for High Holy Day Seasons. They have completed a second anti-racism set of sessions, “From Separation to Reparation.” The most recent iteration is working through the lens of Howard Thurman’s Jesus and the Disinherited. Derrick also serves as Vice Chair for the board of Auburn Seminary, which equips bold and resilient leaders with the tools and resources needed for social justice movement in a multifaith world. Dr. McQueen is the Associate Director for Community Partnerships at Columbia University Center on African American Religion Sexual Politics and Social Justice—better known as CARSS. The project brings together scholars, activists, clergy, and communities for the healing in historic Black Church life culture. Rev. McQueen earned his Ph. D. in Homiletics and New Testament at Union Theological Seminary (NYC). He also received an M. Div. in Worship and the Arts from Union; and a B.A. in theater Arts from Drew University. www.derrickmcqueen.com
Richie Barshay
Richie Barshay is delighted to join Lab/shul high holidays for the first time. He began drumming inside kitchen cabinets at an early age, and continues banging on things worldwide to this day. From his work with Herbie Hancock in the 2000s, to tours and recordings with Chick Corea, Esperanza Spalding, The Klezmatics, Fred Hersch, and Kenny Werner, he’s been dubbed “a major rhythm voice on the rise” by Downbeat magazine, and The Guardian (UK) praises “a major innovator who also knows how to have fun.” He’s also performed with Natalie Merchant, Bobby McFerrin, Joe Lovano, Lee Konitz, Donald Harrison, Lionel Loueke, Julian Lage, the Curtis Brothers, Gabriel Kahane, Pete Seeger, and the Tony Award winning musical The Band’s Visit on Broadway and national tour. Since 2004 he’s traveled across 5 continents as an American Musical Envoy with the U.S. State Department. Richie can be heard on over 90 recordings as a sideman, and two albums as a leader: Sanctuary featuring Chick Corea (2014), and Homework featuring Herbie Hancock (2004). Based in Northampton, Massachusetts and New York City, he is an AmSAT certified Alexander Technique teacher helping performing artists and others regain more body-mind coordination and ease of movement.
Jeremy Brown
Jeremy Brown (he/him) is a Brooklyn, New York based performer, recording artist and educator. Jeremy’s original sound merges the technical mastery of a lifetime of classical study with deep knowledge of traditional violin styles including bluegrass, klezmer, arabic and blues. Jeremy is also a fierce improviser in New York’s downtown style. Jeremy performs around the world with a wide range of artists including klezmer-rock legends Golem; the Jewish noise-rock quartet Pitom, with whom Jeremy released 2 records on John Zorn’s Tzadik Records; the Moroccan Jewish ensemble Asefa; and international Jewish music star Eitan Katz.
Eléonore Weill
French-American vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Éléonore Weill (she/they) creates and performs soulful interpretations of Klezmer, Yiddish, French, Occitane music as well as original compositions. In addition to her acclaimed socially-conscious Yiddish music ensemble Tsibele, she performs and records internationally in a variety of ensembles, from klezmer to Romanian and Occitane folk musics with the Baroque Music Center of Versailles (C.M.B.V.), Frank London, Orchestre National de Toulouse, Joey Weisenberg, Midwood, Les Saqueboutiers, and many others. She has performed at leading international festivals including Yiddish New York, the Ashkenaz Festival (Toronto), Kleztival (São Paulo), and KlezKanada (Quebec) on recorder, wooden flutes, piano, accordion hurdy-gurdy, and as a lead singer. With performance degrees from France’s National Conservatories in Paris and Toulouse, Weill holds a Master’s Degree in ethnomusicology from the Sorbonne and Columbia University. Weill’s music is informed by her conviction that traditional songs have great power to create social change.
Raanan Gabriel
After a successful career in the Israeli Defense Forces, Raanan Gabriel decided to change course and dedicate his life to the graphic arts. An award-winning graduate of the prestigious Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem (1994) and London’s Central Saint Martins (1998), he ran his own studio for a number of years before cofounding, in 2006, and heading up the design boutique Blue Goo out of Tel Aviv. Supervising global innovation through art and design for a slew of household names, including Samsung, Audi, and Russian Standard, he completely changed Israel’s visual landscape when his proprietary font Veto became ubiquitous in Israeli print culture and public signage.
After being invited to partner with the advertising giant McCann Erickson, Raanan Gabriel relocated to New York City to assume the post of Creative Director and VP of Production at MRM Worldwide, McCann Erickson’s digital arm, where he ran campaigns for Home Depot, General Motors, and MasterCard, among others. Since 2012, he has been devoting himself to his own artistic projects.
STORAHTELLING ARTISTS
under the leadership of Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie
Mark Armstrong
Mark Armstrong is the artistic director for The 24 Hour Plays, where highlights from his tenure include annual productions of The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway and The 24 Hour Musicals, the emergence of The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals as one of the major professional development programs in the American theater, the creation of The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues (which engaged millions of viewers worldwide beginning March 2020) and partner productions across the US and abroad. His 2023 production of Eric Bogosian’s Drinking in America featured Andre Royo (NYT Critic’s Pick) and enjoyed an extended run at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre, with a live audio capture released as an Audible audio play. As a director, his collaborators include Emily Mann (Execution of Justice, Playhouse Creatures + NYU Tisch mainstage), Christopher Shinn (Falling Away, Ensemble Studio Theatre; The Coming World; Williamstown), Dan O’Brien (From Kandahar to Canada, EST; The Angel in the Trees, Production Company) and many others. As Director of New Work for Keen Company, he created their mid-career playwrights lab and directed Old Folks by Max Posner and 30 Million by Jason Kim and Max Vernon.
Mark was born and raised in Duluth, MN, where he recently directed Will Arbery’s Heroes of the Fourth Turning at The Depot Theater. Assistant professor (part-time), The New School for Drama; proud member Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and UAW 7902; alum Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab and Williamstown Theater Festival Directing Corps.
Rebecca S’manga Frank
Rebecca is a writer, actor, story doula and culture worker skilled in the Blewish (Black and Jewish) arts. Her monologues, poetry, essays, comedy, and plays have been featured in Lilith Magazine, Hadassah Magazine, Hillel International, at Elm Shakespeare Co, NCORE, the Alliance for Jewish Theatre, Society Theatre, Reboot, and other theaters, schools, and Jewish arts and culture spaces. Most recently she performed in the world premiere of “Love All,” written by Anna Deavere Smith at La Jolla Playhouse, and in “At the Wedding” at Lincoln Center’s LCT3. Other theatrical credits include: Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Sundance Theatre Institute Morocco, Red Bull Theater, Berkeley Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, NY Fringe Festival, New York Theatre Workshop, among others. In 2022 she premiered work from her musical play adaptation, “The Blewish Dybbuk Project” (JCC Manhattan), and performed her documentary theatre piece “The Non Monog-ologues” (at the 14th st Y and CBE in Brooklyn). Fellowships include LABA New York, the New Jewish Culture Fellowship, the B’Yachad Educator fellowship, and The Workshop. When she’s not writing, she’s facilitating writing and storytelling for kids and adults. She holds a BA from Mills College in creative writing, and an MFA from NYU’s graduate acting program. This October she will star alongside David Greenspan in the Pool Play’s production of the “The Berlin Diaries” by Andrea Stolowitz at 59E59th.
Ben Freeman
Ben Freeman (he/him) is a multi-disciplinary artist, educator, and spiritual care provider. He is excited to be back in New York City and deeply honored to join the ritual team at Lab/Shul. His prior work includes designing and facilitating an intergenerational storytelling program with LGBTQ+ elders and “youngers,” facilitating sections for a course on critical media literacy at Lucasfilm, and working in the spiritual care departments of Hebrew SeniorLife and Boston Children’s Hospital. He’s currently developing a chaplaincy practice for theater, film, and TV, the vision of which is to meet growing demands for mental health support and safe, caring, and culturally responsive working conditions through design and facilitation of creative process with deep attention to the spiritual needs and wellbeing of artists, audiences, and technicians. Ben is a graduate of Brown University, Harvard Divinity School, and the Spiritual Direction Practicum at Still Harbor, as well as a founding member of the Glitter Goddess Collective. You can find his music on Spotify, Apple Music and Soundcloud.
Kohenet Serakh
Kohenet Serakh aka Stephanie “Steve” Guedalia (she/they) was ordained as a Kohenet Hebrew Priestess under the tutelage of the Rav Kohanot- Jill Hammer, Shoshana Jedwab, and Taya Ma. She is a queer, sephardic educator, activist, interdisciplinary artist, and sin positive liberation theologian. Kohenet Serakh sees herself as a storyteller of our shared Dream that is Sacred Mythology, and a Wisdom seeker who guides others in their seeking of Wisdom. For inquiries into JeWitch study sessions, ritual officiation, or performance, see www.KohenetSerakh.com
Stuart B. Meyers
Stuart B. Meyers is an interdisciplinary artist and performer working in dance, theatre, ritual, and parties. Stuart’s been actively creating Jewish experiences since 2017, starting with *The Shabbos Queen*, a Queer & Dreamy Shabbat Dinner Delight & Extravaganza funded by the Berlin Cultural Senate. They’ve toured TSQ nationally (Brooklyn, Boston, Miami, Philadelphia) and internationally (Amsterdam, Berlin, Krakow, Tel Aviv, & Vancouver) in collaboration with Jewish non-profits worldwide. Stuart has performed in drag as “Yenta,” a matchmaking angel from heaven above, with funding from the BK Arts Council and support from the Center for Performance Research (CPR) and has created multiple Purim happenings for FED, B’nai Jacob, JQY, and Lab/Shul. Stuart also organizes New York’s Queer Jewish Dance Party FLAMINGGG (@flamingggnyc). As a performer, Stuart has worked internationally alongside Colette Sadler, Julian Webber, Nick Cave, Mina Nishimura, Ann Liv Young, Robert Wilson, Christopher Williams, Thomas Bo Nilsson, A.R.M. and Tino Sehgal. Stuart was a 2019-2021 NYLA Fresh Tracks Artist and a 2018 danceWeb Scholar plus is an educator for Ping Chong + Co, a certified Hypnotist (IHF), and reads Tarot + Dreams through a Kabbalistic lineage (trained by Bonnie Buckner & Catherine Shainberg of the School of Images). @stuartbmeyers
Austin Purnell
Austin Purnell – [Sound Designer/Composer] Beau Jest (Recording Artist), Kinderkrankenhaus (The Brick), Mourning Machine (CUNY Public Arts) // [Actor] Television/Film: The Line (Upcoming), Treme (HBO), 12 Years A Slave (Bass Film), Beasts of the Southern Wild (Court 13), The Slap (NBC), The Scoop (Vice); Theater: Mercury Store Resident Company, X or Betty Shabazz v. The Nation (Off Broadway), The Mercury Store (Resident Actor). // MFA, NYU Graduate Acting. Lectures in the philosophy of the philosophy of time and myth.
LAB/Jr. EDUCATORS
Martine Duffy
Martine Handelman Duffy (they/them) is an artist and Jewish leader. They hold a BFA in playwriting from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and an MA in Jewish Storytelling from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. Martine’s work lives at the intersection of Jewish-ness and the arts. Their work draws from Jewish culture, history, and religion, to inform practices in theatre, music, ritual, and community-building. Martine is thrilled to be returning to Lab/Shul for another season as a High Holy Day educator.
Max Goldner
Max Goldner is a writer, curator, educator, choreographer, and designer based in Brooklyn. His practice examines ways of decolonizing and expanding Jewish memory through the built environment, archives, curatorial practices, and performance. He recently completed a Master of Architecture and M.S. in Critical, Curatorial, and Conceptual Practices from Columbia GSAPP, where he was a Dean’s Scholar recipient and awarded honors for his outstanding thesis “Shooting and Crying: Constructions and Translations of (Para-)Jewish Subjecthood.”
Meghan Grover
Meghan (she/they) works as a Lower School Advisor and all-school Drama Teacher at the Brooklyn Free School. They have also created theater with the Creative Arts Team, Park Avenue Youth Theater, NYC Children’s Theater, Bluelaces, and Girls Leadership. Additionally, Meghan co-creates and performs interactive dramas across NYC and northeast Ohio. Meghan graduated from the Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program and the MA Applied Theatre Program at CUNY. Deeply grateful to the Lab/Shul community!
Kohenet Serakh
Kohenet Serakh aka Stephanie “Steve” Guedalia (she/they) is a Hebrew Priestess, ordained through the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute. Kohenet Serakh is a Queer, Sephardic Educator. She is an activist, an interdisciplinary Artist, a Feminist, and Sin Positive Liberation Theologist. She is also a storyteller of our shared dream that is sacred mythology. Kohenet Serakh is a wisdom seeker who guides others in their seeking of wisdom.
Jonathan Hamlit
Jonathan Hamilt was named Executive Director of Drag Queen Story Hour in late 2019 after co-founding the New York City Chapter in 2016.
Hamilt is the first Executive Director of the organization, taking it from a loose string of a few state’s events to a national 501 c 3 with an international chapter network.
Being a strong communicator, he has connected the chapter’s organizers and storytellers with each other on a global scale. Under his leadership, the organization will change its official name to Drag Story Hour to better reflect the diverse and vast drag talent across the network this October. The Royal Guard, the glittery boots to the ground event safety marshals, was implemented in 2022 to better de-escalate the ongoing homophobia and transphobia attack on the organization.
Since being named Executive Director, Drag Story Hour has presented at Harvard, Yale, SXSW EDU, ABA, and the Medical Library Association.
Jonathan Hamilt is originally from Suwanee, Georgia and is a survivor of gay conversion therapy. His drag persona Ona Louise, outside of story hour, hosts drag bingos and reads tarot to raise money for local charities in NYC where he lives currently.
Stephanie Kane
Stephanie Kane (she/her) is a professional theatre artist and educator, and is so excited to be joining the Lab/Shul team full time as the Raising the Bar Coordinator. As a Jewish educator and eternal camp counselor, she has worked with kids of all ages and abilities at Camp Ramah in California, JCC Pittsburgh, and most recently as a trainer here at Lab/Shul. Her theatrical homes past and present include Center Theatre Group, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, The Public Theater, and The Workshop Theater. Stephanie holds a BFA in Drama from Carnegie Mellon University and currently lives in Brooklyn on sovereign Lenape land, although she was born and raised in Los Angeles, a fact that shocks people because she’s pale, walks fast, and hates the beach.
Maria Serach Lemire
Maria Serach Lemire is a teacher and artist with a wealth of experience in early childhood, special education, Judaic programming, and labor relations. Over the last five years, they have proudly served the families and children of the 14th Street Y and Lab/Shul as well as the private, public, and religious schools of New York City. With degrees from NYU and Hunter College, Maria integrates inclusion, the arts, and literacy into their child-centered pedagogy.
Melissa Shaw
Melissa Shaw is a facilitator who offers a unique consultancy based in social justice, equity, diversity and inclusion, social emotional learning and the arts. She has facilitated in universities, schools, theaters, summer camps, detention centers, yeshivas, churches, corporate offices, and long-term temporary housing centers. She has led workshops for tech professionals, high school students, Rabbis, security guards, chaplains, non-profit managers, video game designers, Buddhist monks, school principals, older adults, B’MItzvah students, NGO leaders, and the NYPD. She has been a teaching artist and creative coach for various community-based organizations, including Community Word Project, Brooklyn Arts Council, Energize Your Voice, and the Lulu and Leo Fund. Melissa also facilitates a variety of anti-bias, anti-oppression, and anti-racist programs for the Anti-Defamation League and the New Jersey State Bar Foundation. Powerful Communications, and Avodah. She was on faculty for Drew University’s 2018 Institute On Religion and Conflict Transformation where she helped to foster dialogue among religious and lay leaders from around the world. She is the Arts and Communication Advisor for the Muslim-Jewish Solidarity Committee and was part of the 2019 Nahum Goldmann Fellowship cohort and a member of the 2022 Leadership cohort. She is a certified Ethno-Religious mediator, Restorative Justice practitioner and Interfaith Minister. She was most recently an EDI coordinator for the Broadway production of The Sign in Sideny Brustein’s Window. Melissa holds an M.F.A. from Sarah Lawrence College.
JessAnn Smith
JessAnn Smith (she/her) is an NYC-based performer, producer, and teaching artist. In addition to being a long time Lab/Jr. educator, JessAnn works as a contract trainer for Keshet and a co-producer with Thank You For Coming Out. She is also a trained Intimacy Coordinator with IDC and a NOLS-certified Wilderness First Responder! JessAnn has traveled all across the US and beyond, collaborating with summer camps, theatrical projects, and facilitating education workshops. She’s had some incredible opportunities this year, such as being a faculty educator for Cornerstone ’23 with Foundation for Jewish Camp and joining Mitsui Collective’s Kollel (Cohort 3). Most recently, she began a new adventure as an MSW student at Wurzweiler School of Social Work. JessAnn is a proud member of the Queer Big Apple Corps and the Coney Island Polar Bear Club. In addition to traveling the world and reading queer fantasy novels, JessAnn enjoys being an auntie to her twelve niblings, trying new things, and creative art therapy. In everything she does, JessAnn is deeply committed to creating content that serves (and celebrates!) her Jewish and LGBTQIA+ communities.
Levitical Team
Lab/Shul Staff:
Sarah Sokolic, Lab/Shul Co-Founder & Executive Director; High Holy Days Executive Producer
Luis Burgos, Lab/Shul Operations Manager
Sam Hipschman, Lab/Shul Director of Community Organizing & Engagement; High Holy Days Volunteer & Ticketing Supervisor
Jackie Lebwohl, Lab/Shul Communications Manager & Webmaster
Event Producer:
Vision Events
Artistic & Liturgical:
Martine Handelsman-Duffy
Stuart B. Meyers
Design & Marketing:
Ra’anan Gabriel
Sylvie Nelson
Max Singer
Audio, Video & Photography:
Jen Clarke
Julian Fleisher
Jesi Kelley
Ali Levin
Magnetic Memories
Production Staff:
Maryam Chishti
Amanda Harris
Bex Odorisio
Marijke Silberman
SC Event Staffing
High Holy Volunteer Leadership:
Sarah Mullins
Stephen Silva
Volunteers
Sami Plotkin, Zoe Adlersberg, Tara Giancaspro, Sheridan Gayer, Dina Friedman, Lauren Jacobs, Amanda Miller, Sami Plotkin, Tara Giancaspro, Sheridan Gayer, Erica Carroll-Ogunka, Ricky Greenburg, Mx. Ruby Mizrahi, Jesi Kelley, Sami Plotkin, Emily Lambert, Tara Giancaspro, Skye Nunke, Roanne Kolvenbach, Lori Benson, Brooke Berman, Sami Plotkin, Katya Barmotina, Saul Kaiserman, Nancy Batterman, Sami Plotkin, Stephanie Gonias, Anne Kemper, Lisa Zurndorfer
Decor & Florals:
Miles Dallas
Food & Beverage Sponsors:
City Winery, NYC
Chookie
With Gratitude To Our Friends and Partners at: Tribeca Performing Arts Center