Actors

In many respects the Yiddish theatre belonged to its actors. From the early days of the professional Yiddish stage, the most popular actors were treated like gods, and theatre troupes brought more than one playwright to heel. While Yiddish performers often had a reputation for emotive performances, the best of them were considered the equals of their most esteemed colleagues performing in other languages.


May 24, 2023

Excerpts from In Fayer un Flamen: Togbukh fun a Yidisher Shoyshpilerin (In Fire and Flames: Diary of a Yiddish Actress) by Shoshana Kahan (Part II)

Translated and introduced by Sheva Zucker, edited by Amanda (Miryem-Khaye) Seigel for Women on the Yiddish Stage/Digital Yiddish Theatre Project.
May 14, 2023

fun a Yidisher Shoyshpilerin (In Fire and Flames: Diary of a Yiddish Actress) by Shoshana Kahan (Part I)

Translated and introduced by Sheva Zucker, edited by Amanda (Miryem-Khaye) Seigel for Women on the Yiddish Stage/Digital Yiddish Theatre Project.
January 5, 2023

Osherowitch and Rumshinsky on the Piety of Regina Prager

Regina Prager was one of the first leading ladies of the Yiddish stage, known for her extraordinary operatic voice and her continued Jewish observance throughout her life.
June 20, 2022

How I Got Five Thousand Dollars from a Theatre Customer

In his memoirs, Menashe Skulnik recalled the many years when he performed in cities outside of New York – including six years in Philadelphia, which he considered to be a theatrical purgatory.
May 12, 2022

Khine Braginskaya: The Earliest Days of the Yiddish Theatre in Russia

Khine Braginskaya’s career, much like the career of her husband Avrom Fishzon, reflected almost all of the Yiddish theatre’s historical chapters.
June 29, 2021

A Timeline of Yiddish Drag

Yiddish theatre…the gayest theater?