Early 20th Century

The professional Yiddish theatre began to come of age, and to spread, remarkably quickly. While broad comedies and lavish spectacles often fed company coffers, playwrights and troupes also embraced the newest trends and techniques behind a new golden age of Western theatre and drama.

Related Posts

Jul 20, 2017

The Grand Street Theatre: A modern playhouse built for old-fashioned shund

Judith Thissen

The opening of the Grand Theatre brought together, gallery gods, an up-and-coming shund writer, and Jacob Adler.

May 29, 2017

Théâtre Lancry: The Center of Yiddish Paris

Nick Underwood

Paris is known for, among other things, its theatre. But what about Yiddish theatre?

Apr 18, 2017

The Stones Outtake

Paula Vogel

On outtake from the play INDECENT.

Apr 06, 2017

Yiddish Drama on the Broadway Stage

Stefanie Halpern

From its beginnings, New York’s Yiddish theatre intersected with the mainstream English-language stage.

Nov 20, 2016

London - New York, or The Great British Yiddish Theatre Brain Drain

David Mazower

We Brits have been sending some of our finest actors across the Atlantic for as long as anyone can remember. Charlie Chaplin, Vivien Leigh, Kate Winslet, Christian Bale… the list goes on and on.

Oct 24, 2016

Franz Kafka’s Vagabond Stars

Guido Massino

On February 18 1912, a Prague businessman and little-known German-language writer named Franz Kafka introduced an evening of Yiddish literary recitations in the city’s Jewish Town Hall.

Sep 16, 2016

When History Belonged to the Opera Writers

Joel Berkowitz

When Avrom Goldfaden dubbed himself the “Father of the Yiddish Stage,” the epithet was in many ways well-earned, if not exactly modest.

Apr 26, 2016

Lekoved pesach

Judith Thissen

It was in 1910 that the Yidishes tageblatt (Jewish Daily News) observed, with some dismay, “Where other nationalities spend the bulk of their money at weddings, funerals and processions, the Jew has h

Apr 13, 2016

Should a married woman visit a Yiddish music hall?

Judith Thissen

“What a strange question,” you might think. Why would it be a problem if someone went to a music hall simply to have some fun? In the early 1900s, the answer was complicated.

Feb 19, 2016

Yiddish Theatre in Denmark, 1906-56

Morten Thing

In 1912, a Jewish tailor left Imperial Russia for Denmark.

Feb 08, 2016

Uncle Ed, Yiddish Theatre Impresario

Faith Jones

“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.

Jan 04, 2016

Boris Thomashefsky and Aaron Lebedeff

Zachary Baker

A few years ago, while roaming the open stacks of the Stanford University Libraries, I came across a copy of Thomashefsky’s memoir, Mayn lebens-geshikhte (The Story of My Life).

Nov 17, 2015

The Sholem Asch Festival: Poland Rediscovers a Yiddish Dramatist

David Mazower

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.

Jun 29, 2015

The Krakow Yiddish Theatre Postcards - a Crowdsourcing Experiment

David Mazower

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

Faith Jones

One of the hardest problems in theatre studies is understanding audiences response.

Mar 18, 2015

Russians? Cossacks? Jews? The Russian Imperial Singers Unmasked

David Mazower

Some photographs just make you smile.

Mar 04, 2015

A Writer, a Painter, and Queen Esther

Zachary Baker

For readers of this blog, Purim reminds us that modern Yiddish theatre traces its lineage from the traditional folk drama genre known as the Purim-shpil.

Feb 04, 2015

Goldfaden’s Rules for Yiddish Actors

Joel Berkowitz

In 1888, the first school for Yiddish actors was supposed to open in New York. It never did.

Jan 21, 2015

The Talented Mr Rotblat and his Micrographic Tribute to Jacob Gordin

David Mazower

This is the story behind an exquisite portrait of a Yiddish dramatist.

Dec 15, 2014

Advice from Sidney Lumet’s Yiddish Actor Dad

Debra Caplan

Sidney Lumet was a legendary director. He was also a child actor in the Yiddish theatre.

Dec 14, 2014

An Amateur Yiddish Theater in Cairo

David Mazower

I bought this photograph on eBay, intrigued by the combination of the Cairo photographer’s mark and the Yiddish language banner.