Contact B'nai B'rith

1120 20th Street NW, Suite 300N Washington, D.C. 20036

info@bnaibrith.org

202-857-6600

Picture

Michael Rudman is a Jewish-American theater director with three Broadway plays and a Tony award on his résumé. Having worked with some of the biggest names in the industry, Rudman is a titan of show business. 

But that was not always the case.

In an in-depth profile on TheJC.com, Rudman discusses his upbringing, where he attributes his early confidence to his experience in B’nai B’rith. Read the highlights below:



[…]

Born in Dallas, Rudman was brought up in a Jewish family but not in a religious environment. He remembers going to synagogue on the High Holy-Days but did not observe any of the other festivals. 

He did not have a barmitzvah but he did attend B’nai B’rith meetings as a teenager – an experience he says was crucial in his future development as a director. “It was terribly important to me. For one thing, it enabled me to control a room. I would say it was as important to me as school.”

His life took a more Jewish turn after he started a relationship with actress Felicity Kendall in the 1980s. When they married, she converted to Judaism and took the whole thing very seriously. In fact, Rudman says that it was down to her that their son Jacob had a barmitzvah. “Felicity was very keen on it and when Felicity is keen on something, it tends to happen.”