An original musical exploring love, tradition and one very delicate decision …
Beth and Matthew, a Jewish couple, are surprised at the arrival of a baby boy after their midwife’s tea leaves promised a girl. Now, their families are pressuring them to plan their newborn son’s circumcision. The question sparks a tug-of-war that challenges their marriage, tests family loyalties, and forces them to reconsider the role of tradition in their lives.
Listen to some music…
Creative Team
Shelly Peiken
Music & LyricsGRAMMY nominated songwriter Shelly Peiken has been a prolific force in the music business for more than 3 decades. She is best known for Christina Aguilera’s No. 1 hit, “What a Girl Wants” and Meredith Brooks’ smash, “Bitch.”
Shelly has penned hundreds of songs for and with recording artists such as The Pretenders, Britney Spears, Keith Urban, and for TV and film – including Disney Descendants’ favorite “Rotten To The Core”
Ms. Peiken was voted Best Singer Songwriter by Hollywood Music and Media in 2021, honored at the 2023 She Rocks Awards and featured at London’s Other Songs Concert — a celebration of songwriting.
Adam Gorgoni
Music & LyricsComposer Adam Gorgoni has scored dozens of films and television shows including cult comedy classic Waiting, Sundance favorite Starting Out in the Evening, and Deauville Grand Prize winner The Dead Girl. Gorgoni has extensive experience in music for advertising, with clients including Toyota, AT&T, IBM, Mastercard.
Recently, he has begun to indulge a longtime love of musical theater, serving as a co-producer of the groundbreaking Head Over Heels, which featured the music of the Go-Gos, and debuted on Broadway in 2018. Adam is a founding member of Songwriters of North America (SONA), an organization which fights for fair compensation for music writers in the digital age.
Lucy Levinsohn Berman
Music & Lyrics, BookLucy is a Jewish American singer-songwriter, community builder, and activist. As the front-woman of alt-rock band EVOLOVE, her music has appeared in film and television. Her most recent project, The DreiDells, is a Jewish comedy duo she created with her sister to share a joyful, positive message about Judaism. Lucy currently leads Special Events for BRUCHIM, a Jewish advocacy and inclusion group, and advocates for fair songwriter royalties through SONA, where she serves as Events Co-Chair. In 2022, Congressman Adam Schiff named her “28th Congressional District Woman of the Year” for her community work in Sunland-Tujunga, including founding Hanukkah in the Foothills, officially recognized by Senator Anthony Portantino as well.
Kimberly Arnold
BookKimberly Arnold (Book)(she/her) does all the things. When she’s not writing jokes about circumcision, she is the co-host of the hit true crime podcast, A Date with Dateline. The podcast had over 5 million downloads last year alone, and she can work in her pajamas. Kimberly also talks about bad reality TV on the Pink Shade podcast, and has a cross stitch Etsy shop called Stitches Be Krazy. Her first big girl job was a 12-year stint working for legendary director Garry Marshall. He was a mentor to Kimberly, encouraging her to get over her paralyzing fear of writing by throwing napkins at her during dinner and shouting, “You’re funny, start writing!”
Jill Piwowar
BookJill Piwowar is an assistant editor living in Los Angeles, CA who has found her voice for storytelling through the editing bay. Working under Hollywood’s comedy greats such as Garry Marshall, Ivan Reitman, and Jeff Tremaine inspired her desire to write and create original content. Jill is very excited for her latest endeavor Snipped!: A Non-Cutting Edge Musical, joining forces with her good friends and colleagues to tell the tale of a mostly true story about one mother's journey to fight social and religious norms to save her son's foreskin from enduring a circumcision.
Richard Israel
DirectorRichard Israel is a New York-based theatre director specializing in the development of new musicals. Recent world premieres include Kid Gloves at Hollywood’s Skylight Theatre, King of Pangea at London’s Kings Head Theatre American Whore Story at AMT (Broadway World Award Winner for Direction and Production of an Off-Broadway Play). He is the recipient of the L.A. Drama Critics Circle Career Achievement Award for Directing and a two-time LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award-winner for Direction (Violet and Floyd Collins). Richard was the Theatrical Coordinator for the Emmy award-winning series, Big Little Lies (directing all of the on-screen Avenue Q scenes) and is the Program Director for the BFA Acting for Theatre, Film & Television program at Long Island University Brooklyn.
With a contemporary score and irreverent humor, Snipped! invites audiences of all backgrounds to laugh, squirm, cry, and reflect on how we navigate cultural expectations in the modern age.
The writing team began developing the musical during the pandemic. As the material evolved, two informal table reads were held in Los Angeles, followed by a 29-hour Equity reading. A second 29-hour Equity reading is planned for New York in fall 2026.