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.
December 4, 2015
Six Degrees of Yankev Blayfer
Yankev Blayfer. Sonia Alomis. Leola Vendorf. Baruch Lumet. Wolf Barzel. Who are these figures and what is their place in history?
October 26, 2015
Yiddish Lives, Smirks, and Breathes: Restoring Community Theatre into Yiddish History
Diving off of the raised proscenium stage, I don a fish mask and begin to swim through the audience. “Vu zaynen di fish?” (Where are the fish?).
June 29, 2015
The Krakow Yiddish Theatre Postcards – a Crowdsourcing Experiment
Think of the pulsating energy of Motown’s dawn in Detroit. Or the soaring sounds of early jazz in New Orleans.
March 18, 2015
Russians? Cossacks? Jews? The Russian Imperial Singers Unmasked
SOME PHOTOGRAPHS JUST make you smile, and this is one of them. When I first saw it I thought it was a group of adults dressed up for the Jewish festival of Purim. That would explain the Cossack-style costumes and the (real or fake?) comedy store moustaches. In fact, although it’s not a Purim photo, that […]
January 13, 2015
Yiddish Theatre Posters of the 1890s
The New York Public Library’s Digital Collection includes Yiddish theatre posters dating back more than a hundred years.
December 14, 2014
An Amateur Yiddish Theater in Cairo
David Mazower is the Bibliographer and Editorial Director at the Yiddish Book Center and the co-editor with Aaron Lansky of the Center's English-language magazine Pakn Treger.