NEW YORK'S YIDDISH THEATER: FROM THE BOWERY TO BROADWAY
March 9 - July 31, 2016
From the late 19th to the mid- 20th century, a thriving Yiddish theater culture blossomed on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, entertaining over 1.5 million first and second generation Eastern-European Jewish immigrants. Second Avenue became the “Yiddish Broadway,” where audiences of new New Yorkers celebrated their culture and learned about urban life in the city via cutting-edge dramas, musical comedies, and avant-garde political theater. As stars of the Yiddish stage gained mainstream popularity, New York’s Yiddish theater became an American phenomenon. This legacy resonates today through enduring dramatic themes, classic New York humor, and a large crop of crossover actors, directors, and designers who found work on the mainstream New York stage and in Hollywood.
Curated by Edna Nahshon (PhD '87) and accompanied by a book of the same name.
Reimagining Fiddler on the Roof
Monday, March 28 at 6:30pm
Based on the Tevya stories of beloved Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichen, Fiddler on the Roof depicts Eastern European Jewish life during a time of radical change, as experienced by a simple, lovable milkman. Now, more than 40 years after its original opening, a revival of the production is back on Broadway. Join Edna Nahshon (moderator) for a conversation with eminent theater scholars as well as representatives from the current show on the challenge of refreshing a musical set in Imperial Russia more than a century ago, and their decision to draw on a melding of ethnic and contemporary dance to modernize the production.
Voices from the Yiddish Stage
Thursday, April 7, 2016 at 6:30pm
Inspired by the exhibition New York's Yiddish Theater: From the Bowery to Broadway, Christa Whitney, director of the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project, will share video highlights from the project's growing collection of Yiddish theater stories. Through interviews with world-renowned musicians, actors, and activists—as well as with “bubbes” and “zaydes” (Jewish grandmas and grandpas)—the Oral History Project has reflected on the changing nature of Yiddish language and culture.
From God of Vengeance to Indecent
Tuesday, April 19 at 7:00pm
Join Vogel and Indecent’s director Rebecca Taichman for a conversation about the radical possibilities of Yiddish theater with scholars Marvin Carlson and Joel Berkowitz.