Menahem Natanovich Gnessin (russian: Мена́хем Ната́нович Гне́син; he, מנחם גנסין; 1882–1951) was an early Russian

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

and

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

instructor who created the Amateur Dramatic Arts Company in 1907 for presentation of plays in Hebrew. In 1917, at Moscow he also helped start

Habimah The Habima Theatre ( he, תיאטרון הבימה ''Te'atron HaBima'', lit. "The Stage Theatre") is the national theatre of Israel and one of the first Hebrew language theatres. It is located in Habima Square in the center of Tel Aviv. History ...

, the world's first professional Hebrew

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...

. He is best known as an actor in the 1933 drama, ''Oded the Wanderer''. Gnessin wrote articles about his time in the theater, and published memoirs titled ''Darki im ha-Te'atron ha-Ivri, 1905–26'' (''My Career in the Hebrew Theater'', 1946). Born in

Starodub Starodub ( rus, links=no, Староду́б, p=stərɐˈdup, ''old oak'') is a town in Bryansk Oblast, Russia, on the Babinets River (the Dnieper basin), southwest of Bryansk. Population: 16,000 (1975). History Starodub has been known ...

, he emigrated to Palestine, where he died in 1951.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gnessin, Menahem 1882 births 1952 deaths Male actors from the Russian Empire Jewish male actors Soviet male actors People from Starodub Burials at Nahalat Yitzhak Cemetery