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American-Yiddish literary playwrights I: David Pinsky and Sholem Asch.
David Pinsky (1893-1949)
David Pinsky was born in Mogilev in the Russian Empire (present-day Belarus) and was raised in nearby Vitebsky. At first destined for a career as a rabbi, he had achieved an advanced level in Talmudic studies by the age of…
Henri Tarlo (b. 1898)
Born in Warsaw, Tarlo went to an all-boys gymnasium and eventually fell in with an amateur theater group. He acted with Hazamir and played the role of Mendl in Hirshbeyn'sCarcass under Dovid Herman's direction and attended classes with the Polish…
1925, The Highpoint of Commercial Yiddish theater in America
1925 in American Yiddish Theater LifeWhile Second Avenue in Manhattan became synonymous with Yiddish theater, Yiddish theater spread into New York City’s five boroughs, following the migration of its mostly Jewish patrons. Four Yiddish theater houses…
Mark Schweid and the founding of the Bronx Art Theatre (1930)
Mark Schweid (1891-1969) was one of the most prolific figures to New York City's Yiddish theater and an important cultivator of art theater before going on to direct Yiddish movies.
The founding of "Our Theater" (Undzer Teater), 1923
The theater society Our Theater was founded in 1923 in New York City by such luminaries of the Yiddish theater as Peretz Hirshbein, H. Leivik, and Mendel Elkin. Their mandate was to create and sustain art theater, dramatic studios, and a peiodical,…
A Steady Stream of Materials
Throughout its existence, the Esther-Rachel Kaminska Theater Museum benefited and grew from a steady incoming stream of materials from collectors throughout the world. Many materials bear signatures and stamps of their "zamlers," or collectors.…
The Early American Yiddish Theater: Music, Dance, and Pageantry (1880s and 1890s).
The first period of American Yiddish theater is defined by the entrepreneurial work of two composer/impresarios: self-annointed "Professor" Moyshe Hurwitz (pictured above, 1844–1910) and Joseph Lateiner (1853-1935). Both had begun their careers in…
Total Items: 2453