LIZ ALTMAN (South Bay Producer) wrote “Almost a Sacrifice,” previously performed at the JWT salon Unknown Stories of Biblical Proportions. Other credits include song lyrics for activities at the University of Michigan and the Dallas Bar Follies; and co-directing, co-writing, and performing in the annual SMU law school follies. JWT: Advisory board member and South Bay producer. Professional: vice president of a real estate company. Hobbies: tennis, art, and travel. Special love to her muse, Louis.

AMANDA HOROWITZ (Stage Manager) is a young adult who wants to spend her life organizing and creating new theater. She recently graduated with bachelor’s degrees in theater and math from The University of Alabama, where she stage managed and assistant stage managed eight shows in the theater department. She most recently directed a thirty-minute play as part of a new-works play festival in North Hollywood. She hopes someday to be able to run her own theater company dedicated to producing emerging theater and providing other young adults with their first paid opportunities in the arts. She is thankful to Jewish Women’s Theatre for providing her first step toward her professional career.

EMILY JAFFE (Writer) attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in religious studies. After graduation, she followed her childhood best friend, now husband, to Los Angeles. Over the past 20 years she has held a myriad of jobs— interior design assistant, public relations executive, cosmetics television spokesperson, television producer, writer, and graduate student in clinical psychology. But Emily’s most important job has been as a full-time mother to three children. She lives with her husband and kids in Sherman Oaks, belongs to both the IKAR and VBS communities, practices mindfulness meditation, and is currently writing her first novel.

NICOLE LIPP (Actor) is an actor/director/photographer born and raised in Los Angeles. She received her BFA in acting from UC Santa Barbara, where she acted in and directed several theatrical productions. Notable credits include Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire and Charlotte in These Shining Lives. Since returning to LA, Nicole switched from theater to on-camera work, acting in and directing several film and television projects, but she is thrilled to return to the stage with JWT. Off-camera, Nicole runs a social media marketing agency, AYF Media, where she creates Instagram content for brands. In all facets of her life, if she is creating, she is happy. Follow Nicole on Instagram @flowerhitstheBIGtime or visit her website www.theNicoleLipp.com to see more of her work. (

MARC LITTMAN (Writer) is a Los Angeles­–based writer and the father of William, who has autism. William inspired Marc to write the novel Eddie and Me on the Scrap Heap and recently a stage play based on that book. It’s about a heroic young boy with autism who positively transforms the lives of some very unusual and dysfunctional characters—family and friends—who are trying to fix Eddie because they think he’s broken. The story takes place in a special junkyard, a metaphor for Eddie’s life, but Eddie, like so many others with special needs, has great strength and talents to overcome his challenges. Marc’s son is just as resilient as Eddie. He volunteers to do speeches at local schools to promote acceptance of people with special needs and thwart bullying

ROBYN GOODMAN MANDELBERG (Writer) earned her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Alliant International University and has practiced psychotherapy with both children and parents. She is on the executive board of the Friends of the Semel Institute, a nonprofit organization to fund research in psychiatry at UCLA and to reduce the stigma of mental illness. She has been married for 16 years and has a 13-year-old-daughter. They live in Westwood with their beagle-mix, Calloway.

SUSAN MORGENSTERN (JWT Producing Director) began directing in college by staging musical theatre concert readings while co-teaching American Musical Comedy with Tom Lehrer at UC Santa Cruz. She went on to teach and direct at the renowned Stage Door Manor performing arts camp
in upstate New York. In Los Angeles, Susan has directed several shows at Theatre West, including Saturday Night at Grossinger’s, book by Stephen Cole, music by Claibe Richardson; and Barbara Nell Beery’s play, The Socialization of Ruthie Shapiro. At the Falcon/Garry Marshall Theatre, she directed Leap, by Arnold Margolin, Surviving Sex, by David Landsberg, and the hit comedy, The Psychic, by Sam Bobrick. Susan directed Happy Days, a New Musical, book by Garry Marshall, music/ lyrics by Paul Williams, at Cabrillo Music Theatre. She directed an extended-run production of Meryl Cohn’s comedy Reasons to Live at the Skylight Theatre. She co-authored and directed I’m Not Famous: A Musical Journey with Barbara Minkus, which had an extended 2017 run at the Santa Monica Playhouse. Susan also works as a consultant show director at Disneyland Parks and Resorts. She has directed numerous JWT salon shows, as well as Annie Korzen: Famous Actress, at JWT’s performance and art space, The Braid.

LAURA ORNEST (Co-Producer) is an award-winning television and radio reporter and producer whose family’s experience with mental illness inspired her to join the board of Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services some 20 years ago. She is a mental health advocate whose goal is to fight stigma and shine light and compassion on mental illnesses. A UCLA graduate, Laura launched her broadcasting career in Vancouver, Canada, moving on to host CBC Television’s 11pm nightly news sportscast in 1983, making her the first female TV sportscaster in Western Canada. Laura then produced shows for E! Television, CNN, and CBS in Los Angeles before returning to her first love, radio. As a local news reporter for KFWB and KNX1070, she earned several Golden Mikes and Associated Press awards. She subsequently became a correspondent for KUSC Classical Radio 91.5. Laura is married to architect Rick Leslie. They have a son, Harrison, and currently one dog.

MAURY ORNEST (Writer)’s many talents took him from the baseball diamond to the artist’s easel. Born in Vancouver, Canada, he was the youngest of four children of Harry and Ruth Ornest. Fun-loving, creative, and bright, Maury became a star player who attended college and played minor league baseball until injuries ended his career. When Maury was 23, he began working in the business office for his father, who had recently bought the St. Louis Blues hockey team and arena. Over the next few years, Maury began to experience paranoia and delusions and suffered a psychotic break that changed his life almost overnight. While searching desperately for effective treatment, he began to paint. Despite the isolation he experienced, he was an eternal optimist, which is evident in the joyous nature, wit, and vibrant colors of his paintings. Upon his death from heart disease, his family discovered some 1,400 paintings and journals in his Beverly Hills home studio and storage units.

ARVA ROSE (Writer) has been a member of Jewish Women’s Theater since its inception and believes deeply in JWT’s mission. In her previous life as Arva Holt, she performed at the American Stage Festival (Miracle Worker: Annie Sullivan, Streetcar: Stella, The Apple Tree: Passionaella, Front Page:  Molly Malloy); the Theater Company of Boston (Night Dispatcher:  Pamela); American Jewish Theater (Awake and Sing: Bessie Berger); the Hartman Theater (Streetcar: Eunice); Hudson Guild Theater (House of Blue Leaves: Bunny); Geva Theatre (Front Page: Molly Malloy); the Barrow Theater (Detective Story: Shoplifter). TV: Cheers, LA Law, Hill Street Blues, Nightcourt, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Helltown, Inmates: A Love Stor, As the World Turns.  Locally, The Electric Lodge (Crossing Delancey: Bubbie) and the Edgemar Theater (Surviving Mama: Mama). 

LISA PEARL ROSENBAUM (Dramaturg) is the author of the novel A Day of Small Beginnings (Little, Brown & Co. 2006) and has just completed a new novel, Sacrificial Man, an intimate story of betrayal and archaeology from the fear-filled days of the 1950s blacklist. Lisa lives in Pacific Palisades with her husband, Walt Lipsman. They have two daughters.

JOSH T. RYAN (Actor), an associate artistic director at Raze The Space: International Theatre Collective, Josh is currently co-creating and acting in a Shakespearean trilogy slated to premiere in summer 2020. A thirty-year critically acclaimed theatre actor, director, and executive producer and the recipient of numerous awards, Josh is known for his unorthodox approach, unique mashup adaptations, and Showtimes’s Lock N Load and SpikeTV’s The Sales King. Some notable roles: Biff, Death of a Salesman; Alceste, Moliere’s The Misanthrope; Lear, King Lear. His direction has been praised in HuffPost, LA Times, and BroadwayWorld, to name a few. His second calling is protecting Jewish families from making critical financial decisions during vulnerable times as an advance property specialist for Mount Sinai Memorial Parks, Hollywood Hills, & Simi Valley. Josh is grateful for this first-time opportunity to support these wonderful Jewish artists and organization. (www.joshtryan.com)

AYSHA WAX (Assistant Director) a writer, director, and comedian, is fun, witty, and unintentionally the loudest person in the room. She loves creating stories that are festive and feminist. Her web series Wannabees, co-created by Marian Bruno, was sold to Fox Digital in 2014.  Aysha has also had her sketches featured on Buzzfeed, Funnyordie, Wifey TV, and WhoHaHa and has performed improv and sketch around Los Angeles at iO West, the Upright Citizen’s Brigade, Westside Comedy Theater, the Pach Theater, and The Groundlings. Aysha also spent eight years teaching Hebrew school around Los Angeles, which inspired her one-woman show, Hebrew School Horror, which she toured around LA and NYC. She just completed her first short film, Grief Vigilantes, which she wrote and directed. When not creating things, Aysha moonlights as a dating consultant with her partner, Rebecca Leib. Their dating classes are known as “Feeling It” dating.  Aysha can help you level up dating wise while enjoying the process and maybe finding a partner. She’s here to make your life a little better and more fun!