Periods

Explore Yiddish performances by period, from the Middle Ages to the 21st century.

August 28, 2025

Zina Rapel (1884-1943)
Excerpts from Fir doyres idish teater: di lebns-geshikhte fun Zina Rapel (Cuatro generaciones de teatro israelita), by Nechemias Zucker (Buenos Aires: Eygener farlag, 1944) Translated and with an introduction and commentaries by Zachary M. Baker. Zalmen Zylbercweig’s Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre; 6 vols., 1931-1969) has significant gaps in its coverage of Yiddish actors […]
July 10, 2025

Yente Serdatsky Reviews Ida Badanes’s Der eyntsiger veg (The Only Way)
A search in the Yiddish press for Ida Badanes (1874-1946) largely returns two types of results: regular advertisements for her medical office (first in the East Village, and later on the Upper East Side), shared with husband, Alexander (Jacob) Ravnitsky, and many hundreds of columns published in the Forverts, Der Tog and the Jewish Ladies Home Journal’s “Di froyen […]
April 15, 2025

Bertha Kalich [Kalish], My Life: An Autobiography, pt. II
Read Part I here. Published in Der tog (the day) – March 7-Nov. 14, 1925 Translated by Amanda (Miryem-Khaye) Seigel PART II:  EARLY CAREER May 27, 1925 “Actress and Wife”  I, from my side, must confess to you that I was not among the most famous housewives… Believe me, it was easier for me to perform […]
December 12, 2024

Bertha Kalich [Kalish], My Life: An Autobiography, pt. I
Published in Der tog (the day) – March 7-Nov. 14, 1925 Translated by Amanda (Miryem-Khaye) Seigel BERTHA KALICH (1874-1939) was a renowned actress on the Yiddish and English language stage. Born in Lviv, Ukraine, she began her career as a chorus girl in the Skarbek Polish theatre, becoming an early prima donna in Gimpel’s Theatre […]
October 19, 2024

When Boris Met Mendele: An Episode from Thomashefsky’s 1913 European Tour
Forverts (Forward, New York), December 7 and 14, 1913 Translated by Zachary M. Baker Translator’s Introduction. The stars of the Yiddish theatre in its heyday spent a lot of time on the road—and at least two of them chronicled their overseas travels in the pages of the New York Forverts. Boris Thomashefsky’s account of his […]
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 […]