John Michael Sefel, who is pursuing a PhD in Theatre and an MA in Yiddish and Ashkenazic Studies, saw the play adaptation he wrote and directed come to life on stage at Ohio State: Leah and the Dybbuk, based on a Yiddish theater classic, "explores and deconstructs the early 20th century play and ghost story The Dybbuk by Russian-Jewish scholar S. Ansky, which chronicles a young woman who is being forced to marry against her will and becomes possessed by the spirit of her dead love."

Sefel noted that the play is an attempt to explore the staging of century-old Jewish texts for contemporary, non-Jewish audiences.