Ezra Berkley Nepon

Ezra is a performer, writer, and organizer who often uses the strategies of Rehearsing Resistance, Re-Mixing History, and "Dazzle Camouflage" -  the use of surrealism, satire, camp, and humor to disarm and engage viewers - in their creative work. An active member of queer, trans, and Jewish communities, Ezra says “my work as an activist and artist comes from a hunger for stories and spaces that allow me to live my life with a bright reflection that at my most free I am not alone, that people I share these margins with are real, have always been here, have a past and a future.” Ezra has shared their work in bookstores, synagogues, cabaret stages, living room salons, art auctions, and international film festivals. 

Ezra will travel to Vilnius, Lithuania to participate in a month-long Yiddish language and culture program. According to Ezra's change partner Elliott, Yiddish is an endangered language, and is the home of a tradition that is both women-centered and a natural voice of those on the margins. This research/education experience in a language that has survived both genocide and assimilation will inform the writing and production of a full-length play focused on modern feminist/queer re-tellings of classic Yiddish folktales including The Dybbuk and The Golem of Prague.