Theatre company showcasing actors with disabilities stages ‘Fiddler on the Roof Jr.’

Tevye presses her for a more emotional answer.

The couple’s ultimate discovery is that, in spite of their forced beginning, they do love each other. Unlike their daughters, who have chosen to go against the grain of Jewish matchmaking tradition to pursue passionate love with the men of their choice, Tevye and Golde’s love has matured and deepened with time.

Their family’s story unfolds on stage amid a secondary plotline: the growing antisemitism in their Russian village that threatens to displace them. The play’s songs, such as “Matchmaker” and “If I Were a Rich Man” have had staying power since the play first premiered on Broadway in 1964. “Do you love me?” though, is Winebarger’s clear favorite.

Credit: HEIDI MORTON dba PEACHTREE PICTU

Credit: HEIDI MORTON dba PEACHTREE PICTU

Perhaps the scene resonates with her because she, like her character Golde, was handed a life condition not of her own choosing, but one she has nonetheless embraced with heart. She, like all the actors in Jerry’s Habima Theatre company, was born with a disability.

Winebarger, who has been with the theater company for 18 years, has mosaic Down syndrome. Roytenberg, who is in his second year with Jerry’s Habima, has autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

“This is really what is so special about Jerry’s Habima,” he said. “It is giving a place for people on the spectrum and with special needs to have an outlet to perform.”

Jerry’s Habima stage productions rehearse and perform at the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta’s (MJCCA) 253-seat theater. Habima means stage in Hebrew. Jerry is the late Gerald (Jerry) Blonder who set up an endowment with his wife, Lois, to establish the Blonder Family Department for Special Needs under which the theater company operates.

The theater company is self-reported as the only professional theater company in Georgia featuring all neurodivergent or disabled actors. Creating an inclusive, empowering community that could showcase talent and prove human potential through theater was the vision of founding artistic director Kim Goodfriend when she launched the company in 1992. Her vision was not immediately well received.

“Back then people were like, ‘Oh, wow, no, we don’t want to do this. We don’t want people to be made fun of or be made a spectacle,’” remembers Pamela Morton, MJCCA’s director of arts and authors. “But she (Goodfriend) really persisted. This was her dream. She persevered and it’s grown and grown.”

For Roytenberg, theater has helped him with aspects of his ASD.

“When I was a teenager, I really struggled to see nonverbal cues,” he said. “When you’re on stage, you really have to pick up on those cues. I think theater has really helped me get better at that … it’s also an outlet that you can really be yourself in a safe space.”

The cast’s unique makeup brings an extra level of emotional authenticity to its performances, Roytenberg said.

“We bring a different set of abilities than I think many companies who are exclusively neurotypical would because we see things differently,” he said. “We recognize different patterns. Our inhibitions are less, so we really make our mark in an emotional sense.”

“It’s cathartic,” echoed Winebarger who recalls one rehearsal she broke down crying during a scene about the characters being exiled from their village. “I have always found the arts and theater therapeutic.”

While the theater company is a place to emote, connect and perform, it has also been a seeding ground from which to grow larger acting careers.

“We’re finding that so many of the cast have gone on to get agents. One has been in a movie for Amazon and Tubi,” said Morton. “I think people are more open to neurodiverse actors than ever before.”

If you go

“Fiddler on the Roof Jr.” will be staged at the Morris & Rae Frank Theater at the MJCCA (5342 Tilly Mill Rd, Atlanta, GA 30338) for seven shows from March 6-16. Tickets range from $10-$36 and are available online at or at the MJCCA box office.