The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, commonly known as NYTF, is a professional theater company in New York City which produces both

Yiddish plays Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

and plays translated into

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

, in a theater equipped with simultaneous superscript translation into English. The company's leadership consists of executive director

Dominick Balletta Dominic is a name common among Roman Catholics and other Latin-Romans as a male given name. Originally from the late Roman-Italic name "Dominicus", its translation means "Lordly", "Belonging to God" or "of the Master". Variations include: Domini ...

and artistic director

Zalmen Mlotek Zalmen Mlotek ( yi, זלמן נתן מלאָטעק; born June 15, 1951 in the Bronx, New York) is an American conductor, pianist, musical arranger, accompanist, composer, and the Artistic Director of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF), ...

. The board is co-chaired by Sandra Cahn and Carol Levin.

History

Folksbiene ( yi, פֿאָלקסבינע, , ''People's Stage'') was founded in 1915, under the auspices of the fraternal and Yiddish cultural organization

Workmen's Circle The Workers Circle or Der Arbeter Ring ( yi, דער אַרבעטער־רינג), formerly The Workmen's Circle, is an American Jewish nonprofit organization that promotes social and economic justice, Jewish community and education, including Yiddi ...

,History
". National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. nytf.org. Retrieved 23 November 2016. on New York City’s

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

, as an

amateur theatre Amateur theatre, also known as amateur dramatics, is theatre performed by amateur actors and singers. Amateur theatre groups may stage plays, revues, musicals, light opera, pantomime or variety shows, and do so for the social activity as well as f ...

group with high artistic ideals. It is the oldest consecutively producing theater company in the United States, English or Yiddish, commercial or not. The era when it was founded is considered to be the height of

Yiddish theater Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revu ...

; at the time there were 15 Yiddish theatre companies in the

Yiddish Theater District The Yiddish Theatre District, also called the Jewish Rialto and the Yiddish Realto, was the center of New York City's Yiddish theatre scene in the early 20th century. It was located primarily on Second Avenue, though it extended to Avenue B, b ...

in New York and many more worldwide. Due to the destruction of

European Jew The history of the Jews in Europe spans a period of over two thousand years. Some Jews, a Judaean tribe from the Levant, Natural History 102:11 (November 1993): 12–19. migrated to Europe just before the rise of the Roman Empire. A notable e ...

ry by the German Nazis, the Folksbiene is one of only five professional Yiddish theatre companies still in operation; also in New York City is the New Yiddish Rep, and the others are in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

and

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

. In late 2017, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene announced that it would stage the American premiere of

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on ''Tevye and his Daughters'' (or ''Tevye the ...

in Yiddish, which has not been staged since its world premiere production in Israel more than 50 years ago. It was announced in a March 2018 issue of Forbes Magazine that Academy Award winner-and-Tony Award winner

Joel Grey Joel Grey (born Joel David Katz; April 11, 1932) is an American actor, singer, dancer, photographer and theatre director. He is best known for portraying the Master of Ceremonies in the musical ''Cabaret'' on Broadway as well as in the 1972 fil ...

would direct the production. Their production ''

Fidler Afn Dakh Fidler Afn Dakh (פידלער אויפן דאך) is a Yiddish-language adaptation of the musical ''Fiddler on the Roof'' translated and adapted by Shraga Friedman. The adaptation revisits the 1894 collection of Yiddish short stories on which ''Fidd ...

'' had its first preview on July 4, 2018. The opening performance was July 15, 2018. The production won the 2019 Drama Desk Award For Best Musical Revival. The company's 2006 production of ''Di Yam Gazlonim'', a Yiddish adaptation of ''

The Pirates of Penzance ''The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, W. S. Gilbert. Its official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 ...

'', by Al Grand, was nominated for the 2007

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fo ...

for Outstanding Musical Revival, and their 2012/13 Off Broadway production of ''The Golden Land'' was nominated for the 2013

for outstanding Musical Revival. In the summer of 2012, Folksbiene announced their plans to create an international Festival of new works in celebration of their Centennial in 2015. A play contest accompanying the festival was juried by producer Emanuel Azenberg; the Tony Award-winning composer and songwriter Jason Robert Brown ("Parade"), and the playwrights Joe DiPietro (Tony Award for "Memphis"); Obie Award-winning Israel Horovitz, and Pulitzer Prize finalist Jon Marans ("Old Wicked Songs"). A revival of the 1923 operetta ''

The Golden Bride ''The Golden Bride'' ( yi, Die Goldene Kale) is a 1923, Yiddish language musical, or operetta. It was revived in 2015 and again in 2016 by the Folksbiene National Yiddish Theatre in New York. The production received two Drama Desk nominations, one ...

'' in 2015/16 drew press attention as a

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

Theatre Critics Pick and garnered Drama Desk awards as well. The Folksbiene was a producer on the 2015/16 Broadway play "

Indecent Inappropriateness refers to standards or ethics that are typically viewed as being negative in a society. It differs from things that are illicit in that inappropriate behavior does not necessarily have any accompanying legal ramifications. Co ...

." In the Fall of 2017, the company staged an enhanced production of Abraham Goldfadn's '' The Sorceress'' as part of their restoration project – an endeavor that will restore lost or nearly lost Yiddish works to the canon of Yiddish culture. A fully stage production was mounted two years later in December 2019. In 2022, the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene presented ''Harmony: A New Musical'', the New York debut of the musical by

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus; June 17, 1943) is an American singer and songwriter with a career that spans seven decades. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", " Somewhere Down the Road", " Mandy", "I Write the Songs", " Can ...

and his longtime collaborator

Bruce Sussman Bruce Howard Sussman (born July 12, 1949) is an American lyricist, and librettist. Though he has collaborated with numerous composers, he is probably best known for his work with his long-time collaborator, Barry Manilow. Together they have writ ...

. The musical tells the true story of the

Comedian Harmonists The Comedian Harmonists were an internationally famous, all-male German close harmony ensemble that performed between 1928 and 1934 as one of the most successful musical groups in Europe before World War II. The group consisted of Harry Frommerm ...

, an ensemble of six talented young men in 1920s Germany who took the world by storm. The show ran at the

Museum of Jewish Heritage A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

from March 23 to May 8, 2022.

Production history

* 2019: Hannah Senesh, The Sorceress, Harmony, The Tenth Man * 2018: Early Yiddish Theatre and Vaudeville Concert, ''

'' * 2017: ''

Amerike the Golden Land Amerike – The Golden Land is a musical in Yiddish and English depicting the journey of Jewish immigrants to the United States. Revisiting the archives of Yiddish Theater, ''Amerike'' utilizes popular songs of the time period to tell the story of ...

'', '' The Sorceress'' * 2016: '' Di Goldene Kale (The Golden Bride)'' * 2015: ''

The Dybbuk ''The Dybbuk'', or ''Between Two Worlds'' (russian: Меж двух миров �ибук}, trans. ''Mezh dvukh mirov ibuk'; yi, צווישן צוויי וועלטן - דער דִבּוּק, ''Tsvishn Tsvey Veltn – der Dibuk'') is a play by ...

'', ''Di Goldene Kale (The Golden Bride)'' * 2014: ''The Megile of Itzik Manger'' * 2013: ''The Megile of Itzik Manger'', ''Lies My Father Told Me'' * 2012: '' Shlemiel The First'', ''The Golden Land'' * 2011: ''The Adventures of Hershele Ostropolyer'' * 2010: ''Fyvush Finkel Live!'', ''New Worlds: A Celebration of I. L. Peretz. A Gilgul Fun a Nigun (The Metamorphosis of a Melody)'', ''The Adventures of Hershele Ostropolyer'' * 2009: ''Sholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears'', ''Shpiel! Shpiel! Shpiel!]'' * 2008: Gimpel the Fool, ''Gimpel Tam'', '' Di Ksube (The Marriage Contract)'' * 2006: ''Di Yam Gazlonim! (The Yiddish Pirates of Penzance), Bruce Adler in In a Guter Sho: A Yiddish Vaudeville'' * 2005: ''On Second Avenue'' * 2004: '' Di Kaprizne Kale (A Novel Romance), On Second A'' * 2002: '' Yentl, The Mazldiker Mystery Tour: A Kids and Yiddish Adventure'' * 2001: ''Kids and Yiddish 2001: A Space Mishegas – Spinning off in New Directions, Songs of Paradise: A Yiddish-English Musical'' * 2000: ''An American Family: A Musical Saga'' * 1999: ''Yoshke Muzikant (A Klezmers Tale)'' * 1998: ''Zise Khaloymes (Sweet Dreams)''

Notes

External links

* {{Authority control Off-Broadway theaters Jewish-American history Jewish theatres Jews and Judaism in Manhattan Theatre companies in New York City Yiddish culture in New York City Yiddish-language literature Yiddish theatre in the United States Arts organizations established in 1915 Lower East Side 1915 establishments in New York (state) Jewish organizations based in New York City

History

Production history

See also

Notes

External links