People
Meet the people who made Yiddish theatre happen: on stage, behind the scenes, and in the audience.
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.
December 17, 2015
Interview: Indecent Playwright Paula Vogel and Director Rebecca Taichman
Joel interviews Paula Vogel and Rebecca Taichman about the drama Indecent, which premiered at the Yale Repertory Theatre.
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?
November 17, 2015
The Sholem Asch Festival: Poland Rediscovers a Yiddish Dramatist
Every two years around this time I visit the Polish town of Kutno, for the Jewish festival named after my great-grandfather, the Yiddish writer Sholem Asch. He was born there in 1880 in a single-story wooden house on one of the town’s main streets. Asch left Kutno as a teenager, having grown weary of his religious studies, […]
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?).
July 2, 2015
A Lost Film, Found
I’d never heard of him before, but I’ve found out a few things about Mark Schweid since February.