Part of the Scene: Jewish Theater in Antiquity

This article points to the complexities of Jewish engagement with theater; thus, despite frequent condemnation of the theater by rabbis we find also more nuanced voices. The article reviews the evidence for Jewish theater attendance in ancient Palestine and the Diaspora, outlines the views on theater in the works of Philo of Alexandria and Flavius Josephus, discusses evidence for Jewish actors and actresses, and takes a look at Ezekiel’s Exagoge, the clearest case of a Jewish drama handed down from antiquity.