Learning Through Theater: The Zionists: A Family Storm
Posted on 04/10/2026 @ 11:23 AM
By Dr. Bella Tendler Krieger Director of Adult Learning
CAJE Adult Learning is proud to partner with Miami New Drama to present The Zionists: A Family Storm, a powerful new play by S. Asher Gelman. Set at a luxury resort in Turks and Caicos as a hurricane bears down, the play brings the Rosenberg family together just as buried tensions around identity, faith, politics, and belonging erupt, testing the bonds that hold them together.
At its core, The Zionists is a family drama about an argument many Jewish families are living through right now: how to relate to Israel in the aftermath of October 7 and during the ongoing Gaza war. As the storm closes in, the family’s reunion becomes a fierce and deeply personal confrontation between competing moral, political, and emotional responses to this moment.
What unfolds is not an abstract debate, but a raw family dispute over trauma, loyalty, justice, and whether people who love one another can remain connected when they no longer agree on what Israel means.
That is exactly what makes this the kind of theater that can extend learning beyond the classroom. The Zionists: A Family Storm invites audiences to sit with complexity, wrestle with difficult questions, and reflect on what it means to remain in relationship even in moments of pain, division, and polarization.
Watch Dr. Bella Tendler Krieger explain why 'The Zionists' is so important on Facebook | Instagram
Its characters are deeply human and resistant to easy labels, making the play not a simple argument, but a moving exploration of family, responsibility, and the search for peace.
For our learners, that may be the play’s greatest gift: it does not tell them what to think; it challenges them to think more deeply. It models the courage to stay in the room, to listen across differences, and to engage questions that do not have easy answers. At a time when so many conversations feel flattened or performative, this play offers something more honest and more meaningful: the chance to witness struggle, love, pain, and the fragile possibility of staying connected through disagreement.
If you would like to see The Zionists at the Colony Theater, we have a CAJE discount code: CAJE20. Tickets can be purchased through the production page for The Zionists: A Family Storm from Miami New Drama, and the code should work for any performance. If you would like to stay for a post-show discussion, CAJE will be moderating talk-backs on April 12, 16, and 19.
Come for the performance. Stay for the conversation.
Join our friends at Miami New Drama for the world premiere of THE ZIONISTS: A FAMILY STORM, running 𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹 𝟵 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝟯 at the Colony Theatre Miami Beach.
Tickets are selling fast—secure yours at miaminewdrama.org
Use code CAJE20 for 20% discount.
Stay after select performances for special Post-Show Talkbacks presented in collaboration with the CAJE-Miami: The Center for the Advancement:
• April 12 & 16 with Dr. Bella Tendler Krieger • April 19 with Rabbi Efrat Zarren-Zohar
Learn more and secure your seats at https://miaminewdrama.org/.
