In Hebrew, the letter “chai” represents the number “18” and is also the word for “life.” In October 2014, NJT will open its 18th season. So it is only fitting that for the 2014-15 season, NJT’s choices of plays are life-affirming ones, says Kathleen Sitzer, artistic director of NJT. 

The season consists of five shows, several of which are regional premieres and firsts for NJT. 

It begins Oct. 11 with a production that has never before been produced by NJT, “The Diary of Anne Frank” with its uplifting message of hope despite the darkness. The show will run for four weeks, Oct. 11 – Nov. 2, with special student matinees scheduled for each week of the run. NJT Artistic Associate Bobby Miller will play the role of Otto Frank, Anne’s father, who brought the diary to light. 

In December, NJT will produce a regional premiere, the story of another well-known and full-of-life survivor, Dr. Ruth Westheimer. The one-woman show “Becoming Dr. Ruth” features the talents of St. Louis actress Susie Wall. Westheimer is a legend of survival and success under the darkest of circumstances, having been a “kindertransport” child who later emigrated to Israel, joined the Haganah and ultimately became the widely known and wildly popular sex therapist and author. “Becoming Dr. Ruth” will run Dec. 4-21.

Another regional premiere, “Imagining Madoff” by Deb Margolin, will run from Jan. 22-Feb. 8 and will see the on-stage reunion of Bobby Miller with his old high school friend and theater colleague, Wayne Salomon. The play is an imagined conversation that becomes a moral showdown between Madoff, the convicted Ponzi scheme artist, and Holocaust survivor and poet Solomon Galkin.

The March 12 – 29 production is Donald Margulies’ “Sight Unseen.” It tells of a young Brooklyn born Jewish artist whose work has skyrocketed him to fame and is often purchased “sight unseen.” When he visits a former model and lover during a London retrospective of his work, it raises a web of questions about the tangled relationships of art, money, love and inspiration. Bobby Miller directs.

The season closes with the musical, “My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding,” based on the true story of the playwright’s mother who divorced his father, moved to Canada, ultimately came out as a lesbian and then fell in love with, and married, a Wiccan. It is a universal story about parents and children, falling in love, and finding out who you are. It will run May 7 – 31 and be directed by NJT Artistic Associate, Edward Coffield.

Season tickets are $160 for Jewish Community Center members and $170 for non-members. Call the NJT box office at 314-442-3283 to order your subscription.