Star-studded cast presents show about birth of Yiddish theater, July 11 in NYC

The one-night performance includes songs, theatrical scenes and stories in English and Yiddish with supertitles

Yiddish theater houses on Second Avenue in Manhattan (circa 1930s) Photo by the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy

By Forverts Staff July 10, 2023

This Tuesday evening, July 11, a Yiddish star-studded cast will celebrate the birth and lively journey of the Yiddish theater, beginning with its genesis in a Romanian garden in the 19th century.

The show, “Presents from Romania,” which has only one performance, is being sponsored by YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and will take place in the YIVO building in Manhattan.

Using an English narrative and performances in Yiddish with supertitles, Yiddish actors Allen Lewis Rickman, Miriam-Khaye Siegel, Shane Baker and Yelena Shmulenson will present an entertaining and eye-opening evening of songs, theatrical scenes, stories and other snippets that volley back and forth for generations, from the Bronx to Bucharest, from Braila to Brooklyn.

The content for “Presents from Romania” was developed by the Congress for Jewish Culture, with support from the Romanian Cultural Institute, in honor of the Romanian-born Yiddish stage director Moshe Yassur.

For more information and to buy tickets go here.

Rukhl Schaechter and Zach Golden are the staff of the Forverts, the Yiddish Forward.

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