People
Meet the people who made Yiddish theatre happen: on stage, behind the scenes, and in the audience.
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.
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.
May 18, 2015
Audiences are Idiots
One of the hardest problems in theatre studies is understanding audiences response.
April 28, 2015
Matzah and Melodrama: Nahum Stutchkoff’s Yiddish Song Lyrics
Nahum Stutchkoff (1893-1965) was a beloved Yiddish radio personality, playwright, lyricist and linguist who created dramas and commercials for WEVD radio.