Directors
The auteur director–the great visionary in the mold of a Stanislavsky, Meyerhold, or Reinhardt–did not figure into the early years of the professional Yiddish stage. But it took little time for Yiddish troupes to develop an awareness of those great figures, and for some in those troupes to aspire to, and attain, such levels of artistic authority.
October 22, 2026
Our Year of Goldfaden
2026 marks the sesquicentennial of a watershed moment in Jewish history and culture. In October 1876, in Iaşi, Romania, Avrom Goldfaden (1840-1908) forever changed the Jewish cultural world by planting seeds that would quickly blossom into the modern, professional Yiddish stage. Out of a performance in a beer garden, which even by Goldfaden’s own account […]
March 4, 2026
“Yuh Gotta Play Ball!” Chicago’s Surprising Yiddish Connection
“Come on, sister, yuh gotta play ball: this is Chicago!” (Jake to Roxie – the final line of Chicago, a play by Maurine Dallas Watkins.) Chicago, Chicago Chicago, with music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, is a two-billion-dollar enterprise according to Wikipedia. It enjoyed a very successful initial run of 936 performances on Broadway from […]
April 29, 2024
Tsvishn Falndike Vent: An Interview With Avram Mlotek, Zalmen Mlotek, and Motl Didner
Last November, the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene opened its final production of 2023, a musical revue called Amid Falling Walls (Tsvishn Falndike Vent): Unveiling Resilience and Hope During the Holocaust. The production was curated and written by Avram Mlotek, with music curated and arranged by Zalmen Mlotek, and directed by Motl Didner. The Folksbiene’s website explains […]
August 21, 2021
Khonen in Drag: Cross-Dressing in Two Productions of The Dybbuk during the 1920s (Plus, a Review of One of These Productions)
What was the “trouser role”?
June 24, 2021
A Year of Yiddish Theatre in Covid: A Wrap Up?
In the past year, we’ve covered a number of COVID-era online productions, from drag, to Yiddish-inspired new plays, to a re-mounted classic, to long-ignored material and more long-ignored material.
June 17, 2021
Interview: Sabina Brukner on the Folksbiene’s Yiddish Women Playwrights Festival
The National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene recently launched its Yiddish Women Playwrights Festival with a reading of Chava Rosenfarb’s drama of the Vilna Ghetto, Der foygl fun geto.