Impresarios

Working behind the scenes, the owners, managers, and proprietors of Yiddish theatres rarely get the attention paid to other personnel–though a number of noted actors worked both in front of the footlights and in the business office. The business of the Yiddish stage–its booms and busts, its contracts and receipts, is every bit as central to Yiddish theatre history as were the story lines and performances that happened when the curtain went up.

March 7, 2016

Rare Yiddish Manuscripts from Helsinki Performed Again

Among the dusty heaps of thousands of documents sat a tall pile of Yiddish theatre manuscripts from first half of the 20th century.

February 8, 2016

Uncle Ed, Yiddish Theatre Impresario

“My Uncle Ed was a Yiddish theatre impresario,” my friend Martha mentioned casually, as we were busy prepping for an event at our local Yiddish organization.

January 4, 2016

Boris Thomashefsky and Aaron Lebedeff

A few years ago, while roaming the open stacks of the Stanford University Libraries, I came across a copy of Thomashefsky’s memoir.