YIVO Presents 'The Essence of Yiddish Theater'

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research presents The Essence of Yiddish Theater, a theatrical introduction to Yiddish language and Yiddish theater. The performance will take place on Wednesday, July 18, 2018 at 7:00pm at YIVO's location at the Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th Street).

Designed for young and old audiences alike, The Essence is a fast-moving theatrical introduction to Yiddish language and Yiddish theater that will delight is both the uninitiated to the Yiddish theater world as well as the already-converted.

The show "tells the entire history of Yiddish theater, from the sublime to the appalling, in 83 New York Minutes," and also contains extensive material about the language itself, that ranges from the most beautiful poetry to the most rancid melodrama. The Essence was created by Allen Lewis Rickman, Yelena Shmulenson, and Steve Sterner, who describe themselves as being "of the younger generation of Yiddish theater veterans, i.e., under eighty."

The Essence features anecdotal and historical material in English, along with music and scenes from the best and worst of Yiddish theater (with supertitle translation). "The Yiddish stage provided some of the most poetic, stylish, and dynamic theater of the last 150 years," said Rickman. "Some of the greatest moments in world theater history came from Yiddish theater. As did some outrageous claptrap."

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll sing, you'll get nauseous.

As a special thank-you, anyone who buys a ticket will receive a link with a discount for YIVO's newest online class, Oh Mama, I'm in Love! The Story of the Yiddish Stage.