A Rehearsed Reading

Directed by Scott Le Crass

The past is on trial. The verdict could tear them apart—or set them free.

NYC, 1980s. Two estranged sisters—one a hard-edged lawyer, the other a law school dropout—reunite to stage a mock trial for their dying mother. The charge? Complicity in their father’s abuse. As they argue the case, long-buried memories resurface, and blame, truth, and love blur into each other.

But something else is present in the room. A Dybbuk—a malicious spirit from Jewish folklore—hovers just beyond sight, feeding off their grief and rage.

As the night unfolds, what begins as a battle for justice becomes a reckoning with the past—and each other.

Steinberg v. Steinberg is a gripping, psychologically charged play about family, trauma, silence, accountability, women's rights, and the impossible mess of healing. It asks: when the truth is unbearable, how do we carry it?

The project explores how inherited trauma affects individuals, families, and communities, especially women.

By blending intimate drama, folklore, and magical realism, this piece offers fresh insight into the ways history can echo in the present.

A haunting exploration of silence, survival, and the fragile possibility of healing

Origins and Artistic vision - by Annelise Bianchini

My mother was the daughter of a Holocaust survivor and, along with her sister, a victim of childhood sexual abuse. Since my twenties, I have been bewildered and burdened with questions about these two immense but not-discussed events. My mom rarely spoke of her childhood, and we had little contact with her parents or extended family.

In my early writing, I explored sibling dynamics shaped by damaged or harmful parents. But it wasn’t until after my mother’s passing in 2022 that I felt I could begin to truly delve into her story. Creating a thick fictional padding around the core truth gave me both a container for the drama and the freedom to make it my own.

Through this play, I ask how a mother can love and encourage her daughters while also standing by as they are being abused — how these contradictions coexist without canceling each other out. I explore how carrying the weight of a complex and traumatic relationship holds us back in adulthood, and how, once recognized and acknowledged, there is the possibility of moving forward.

The Dybbuk in the play embodies the unhealed trauma of being both second-generation Holocaust survivors and survivors of abuse. He is the nightmare that forces the sisters to come together, face their fear and pain, and rediscover their strength, agency, and love for one another.

Ultimately, I hope the audience will arrive at the same realization as the sisters: that the past cannot be resolved or undone, but one can still choose to live a good life that looks toward the future, rather than remaining trapped in an unsolvable history.

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Research & Development

Script Development

Thanks to ACE funding, we were able to take the first draft of the play into a three-week R&D with our director, dramaturg, cast, and creative team. Together, we reshaped the structure, refined dialogue, and deepened the character arcs. The collaborative process allowed the script to grow into a more layered, clear, theatrically dynamic work, grounded in both craft and lived experience.

Trauma-Informed Workshops with Charities

We partnered with two specialist charities — NAPAC (National Association for People Abused in Childhood) and Solace Women’s Aid — to run trauma-informed workshops. Their expertise and direct script analysis helped shape the text and characters, while also providing the cast and crew with vital insight into the authentic experiences of survivors of childhood abuse, generational trauma, and domestic abuse. This process ensured sensitivity, accuracy, and emotional truth at the heart of the production.

The Dybbuk - Puppetry Exploration

With support from ACE, we held a series of workshops with puppeteers to explore how the Dybbuk might physically and symbolically inhabit the play. These explorations revealed new ways the Dybbuk could interact with the sisters and directly influenced the writing and staging. The process helped transform the Dybbuk from a symbolic idea into a visceral stage presence, shaping both the script and the production’s visual language.

The Future

After receiving fantastic feedback following our three rehearsed readings for industry professionals and the general public, we are now in the process of fundraising towards a full production of ‘Steinberg V. Steinberg’. We are also currently working on adapting the script into a radio play.