About
Every community has its dreamers–those kids, heads in the clouds, who look around and decide things can be done just a little bit better.
All they need are the tools to make it happen.
SHTARKcontrast debuted on Long Island in the summer of 2019. It is the brainchild of Jennifer Lanter Winkler a long-time high school drama director and former PLAYBILL™ MAGAZINE writer who, along with a group of her former students, realized the dream of starting their own community theater company.
Treat yourself to a night of entertainment – take a break from the everyday, and get inspired by something new!
That’s what SHTARKcontrast provides. We’re a theater company dedicated to giving the Five Towns’ aspiring writers, actors, directors, dramaturgs, set designers, and stage managers a place to invent the world as they see it. Producing both new and well-known works within the context of a Jewish community, Shtark Contrast asks how tradition can be imbued with a new vitality–and how heritage can build a bridge from past to future.
From Aristophanes to Shaw to Sondheim, the theater has welcomed all who believe in the power of drama to examine, interpret, experiment, and transform. SHTARKcontrast similarly welcomes everybody–regardless of beliefs and backgrounds–to be heard. And in a world that prioritizes efficiency over empathy, SHTARKcontrast invites us to remember the essential humanity we all share.
“Some say theater is an escape.
Shtark Contrast says it’s home. ”
– Matthew Goldstein
