Yom Kippur Abortion
As the sun sets on Yom Kippur, young adult Tova and her high-achieving, feminist, single mother Mel unravel into unresolved emotional territory while Tova recovers from her abortion procedure.
YKA is an arresting and raw dramatic comedy; a portrait of mother and daughter navigating an abortion as an impetus for vulnerable honesty.
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Project Type:Short Script, Stage Play
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Number of Pages:17
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Language:English
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First-time Screenwriter:No
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Student Project:No
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Samuel French OOB FestivalVineyard Theater, NYC
August 13, 2024
Shira is an LA based writer, director, and producer. She has worked in writers rooms for HBO, Max, and Amazon Studios, and as a creative producer at Blue Monday Productions. She is the associate producer of the documentary A Feminist Lens: The Art and Activism of Joan Roth, which has played at festivals across the country. She has written and adapted for the stage with The Braid and JewFace. She directed the performance of Yom Kippur Abortion at the Vineyard Theater for Concord Theatrical's 49th Samuel French OOB Festival.
Yom Kippur Abortion pulls no punches as an emotional excavation of the notion of “choice,” single motherhood, Jewish identity, mental health, and the impact that sexism and violence against women continue to have on the lives of women and girls. But at its heart, it’s a vulnerable portrait of a complex mother-daughter relationship and the parts of ourselves we hide due to shame that really need to be loved.
Jewish women have been and continue to be fundamental in the fight for reproductive justice in America, and I want to honor this righteous collective struggle. My mother and grandmother are lifelong feminist activists, so for me, Judaism and Feminism are inextricable from one another. I find strength, love, and healing in Jewish Feminist spaces and communities that nurture the intersection of these values.
My goal is to help people who have had abortions feel seen and understood, across the complex spectrum of abortion experience. I am determined to contribute to a cultural landscape in which our innermost stories are authentically told - in order to harness collective empowerment, community healing, and to foster a landscape in which women and girls are seen and treated like full human beings. In 2023, the CDC released a report on the steep increase of sadness and violence that American teenage girls are experiencing. This, in conjunction with the rising social and political popularity of overtly misogynistic, patriarchal values and religious fundamentalism, has inspired me to continue working on this story.