Aimee Goldstein spent five years at the Bucks County Playhouse, learning the theater business not as performer but as part of its management. She’s now seeking to build on that foundation as coproducer of a local theater festival. Sasha Rogelberg sat front-row, center for her story in the Jewish Exponent.

Goldstein remembers being taken to see the filmed version of the Broadway musical Cats as a child. She thought it was “the coolest thing I’d ever seen in my life.”

It set her moving toward a career in the theater.

She eventually graduated from Temple University and found a position with the Bucks County Playhouse. She covered different positions: “…box office, front of house, [some] company management.”

Goldstein continued digging into the local stage-craft community.

She worked with a friend and colleague, Doriane Feinstein, on the production of a theater festival. Its success precipitated questions about the next project for their production company.

Which didn’t exist. So they began one.

Curlyfish Productions — the name blends Goldstein’s curly hair with Feinstein’s first-name similarity to the Finding Nemo character — seeks to “bringing a dynamic theater and shared life experiences through a Jewish lens.”

Sidetracked by COVID, the partnership hopes to kick into gear again. Goldstein and Feinstein are particularly interested in productions presenting Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) stories.

More on Aimee Goldstein is at the Jewish Exponent.