A Funny Thing Happened to Me on the Morning of December 21, 2025

Through a set of unconnected incidents I came up with the idea of spearheading a very grassroots effort to make people aware of bias against Jews and others in theater productions.

Estee Stimler, playwright, lyricist, and producer in London, shares news of antissemitim in the London theater.

Yet the idea for THEATER IS US was sparked by my earlier reading that morning of a Wall Street Journal opinion piece by the well-known American playwright David Mamet.

The title of the opinion piece was “Jews Face Horrors With Humor.” The subtitle was “Jokes can deny humanity or revel in what sets us apart. The truth, however, is invariably sadder.”

And can you imagine my horror when I saw that the editors of the opinion page had chosen an ugly stereotype (think Nazi Germany) image of a Jew with a huge hooked nose.

Here’s what I wrote under the email subject line: David Mamet “obscene” art on his opinion piece

“I am horribly offended by the obscene art that you chose to use with the David Mamet December 21 opinion piece “Jews Face Horrors With Humor.”

“Either wittingly or unwittingly you are perpetuating the image of the “Fagin” and “Shylock” Jew using this offensive art.

“I hope in the future you will consider that a picture is worth a thousand words.”

That’s when my podcast co-host Evelyn Markus and I inerviewed Estee for our 206th interview. And I realized how simple just making people aware of stereotypes could be:

What is often an unrealized bias can do in the portrayal of Jews and others in the theater. And the theater is especially suited to making changes in dialogue — nothing is written in stone!

(I have had more than one occasion to point out that Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Tom is a hero rather than a “house slave.” He chooses to give up his own life instead af beating another slave to death. And yet, due in part to the propaganda of minstrel shows, “Uncle Tom” today has become a byword for a “house slave” subservient to a white master. Read more at https://www.millermosaicllc.com/the-little-lady-who-started-the-big-war/ )

I invite you to join me in this very grassroots project THEATER IS US — www.theaterisus.com or www.theatreisus.com

No donations, no responsibilities except what you might consider writing to a playwright, a theater producer, etc.

And here is an example of an email I sent on December 26, 2025, to the UK agent of theater director Nicholas Hytner:

Subject: 3 major historical errors in GIANT

UNCLE TOM’S CABIN by Harriet Beecher Stowe:

Harriet Beecher Stowe did NOT write Uncle Tom’s character as the person who is currently portrayed in GIANT as a subservient “house” black. And any playwright today who promotes this “fiction” does a great disservice to Stowe.

Tom as written by Stowe is an heroic figure whose subsequent portrayals got “lost” in anti-black rhetoric. And Tom sacrifices his own life not to follow an order to beat to death another slave.

Jews fought in WWII including the Jews of Mandatory Palestine:

The Jewish Infantry Brigade Group formation of the British Army in the Second World War was formed in late 1944 and was recruited primarily among Jews from Mandatory Palestine. In the summer of 1941 when Roald Dahl was stationed in Palestine, the British did not allow the Jews of Palestine to fight. One of the other characters in GIANT could rebut Roald on this topic.

Then when the U.S. entered the war after the December 7, 1941, bombing of Pearl Harbor, thousands of American Jews fought in Europe. (Some chose to leave this information off their dog tags for fear of the Nazis killing them rather than taking them prisoners.)

State of Israel dating only from 1948 after the Holocaust and a U.N. vote:

This is so blatantly untrue and, while Roald can think it, surely someone else in the play would point out that Israel is the ancient homeland of the Jews with families who have never left.

In conclusion, while I understand that this play showcases Roald’s unfathomable antisemitism, I do not think it necessary to add insult to injury. As the play is once again in rehearsals for its March NYC premiere, these lapses on the part of other characters in the play could be somewhat mollified.

Regards,

Phyllis

Beverly Hills, CA

Co-host, Never Again Is Now Podcast