The Ester Rachel and Ida Kaminska Jewish Theatre () is a state

theatrical Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communic ...

institution in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, Poland. It was named after the

Polish-Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...

actress

Ester Rachel Kamińska Ester Rachel Kamińska (; Ester-Rokhl Halpern Porozow, Porozów, 10 March 1870 – Warsaw, 25 December 1925) was a Polish actress of Jewish descent, known as the mother of Yiddish theatre. She won fame as the star of a series of Yiddish theater c ...

, who was called the "mother of

Yiddish theatre Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satire, satiric or nostalgic revues; melodr ...

," and her daughter, the Academy Award-nominated actress

Ida Kamińska Ida Kamińska (September 18, 1899 – May 21, 1980) was a Polish actress and director. Known mainly for her work in the theatre, she was the daughter of Avrom Yitshok Kaminski (Abraham Isaac Kaminski) and Ester Rachel Kamińska ( Halpern), kn ...

. Ida Kamińska directed the theatre and acted in its productions from the time of its founding until 1968.Leyko, Małgorzata (2010, October 11).
Polish State Yiddish Theater
" Translated by Michael C. Steinlauf. ''YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe''. Retrieved 2015-06-20. The State Jewish Theatre was formed in 1950 from two theatre troupes which performed in

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

and

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

in 1945–50. The theatre worked in both cities over the next few years and gave guest performances across Poland. In 1955 it moved to Warsaw permanently. Since 1970 it has performed in its own building on Grzybowski Square. Since its inception, the theatre has sought to continue the rich traditions of prewar Jewish theatrical stages in Poland. Plays at the theatre are shown in Polish and

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

(headphones with Polish translation are available). The theatre cultivates the creativity of great Jewish drama. Its repertoire features the best works by

Abraham Goldfaden Abraham Goldfaden (; born Avrum Goldnfoden; 24 July 1840 – 9 January 1908), also known as Avram Goldfaden, was a Russian-born Jewish poet, playwright, stage director and actor in Yiddish and Hebrew languages and author of some 40 plays. Goldfad ...

, Mendele-Moykher Sforim,

Sholom Aleichem Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich (; May 13, 1916), better known under his pen name Sholem Aleichem (Yiddish and , also spelled in Soviet Yiddish, ; Russian and ), was a Yiddish author and playwright who lived in the Russian Empire and in the Unit ...

Isaac Leib Peretz Isaac Leib Peretz (May 18, 1852 – April 3, 1915), also sometimes written Yitskhok Leybush Peretz (; ), was a Polish Jewish writer and playwright writing in Yiddish. Payson R. Stevens, Charles M. Levine, and Sol Steinmetz count him with Mendele ...

and

Jacob Gordin Jacob Michailovitch Gordin (Yiddish: יעקב מיכאַילאָװיטש גאָרדין; May 1, 1853 – June 11, 1909) was a Russian-American playwright active in the early years of Yiddish theater. He is known for introducing realism and nat ...

. In 1970–2014, the president of the theatre was the actor

Szymon Szurmiej Szymon Symcha Szurmiej (18 June 1923 − 16 July 2014) was a Polish actor, director, and general manager of the Ester Rachel Kamińska and Ida Kamińska State Jewish Theater in Warsaw. He was a director of the Yiddish Theater of Warsaw. Since Jul ...

Actors

* Rywa Buzgan, Noemi Jungbach,

, Ruth Kamińska, Estera Kowalska, Alicja Miłoszewska, Ruth Kowalska, Halina Lercher, Danuta Morel, Czesława Rajfer, Zofia Rajfer, Stefania Staszewska, Lena Szurmiej, Etel Szyc,

Gołda Tencer Gołda Tencer ( yid. גאָלדע טענצער, born 2 August 1949 in Łódź) is a Polish actress and singer. Gołda Tencer was born to a Jewish family, the daughter of Szmul and Sonia Tencer. In 1971 she graduated from Actors Studio in Warsaw ...

. * Juliusz Berger, Mieczysław Bram, Chewel Buzgan, Seweryn Dalecki, Izaak Dogim, Piotr Erlich, Leon Garbarski, Karol Latowicz, Herman Lercher, Marian Melman, Abraham Morewski, Henryk Rajfer,

Jack Recknitz Jack Recknitz (born Hans-Joachim Recknitz; 1931-2013) was a German and Polish actor. Born 25 May 1931 in Baden-Baden to a family of actors: Hans-Joachim Zinke senior and Katharina Recknitz. Early in his youth he started working for the Leipzig Rad ...

, Józef Retik, Samuel Rettig, Abraham Rozenbaum, Jan Szurmiej, Dawid Obłożyński,

, Michał Szwejlich,

Zygmunt Turkow Zygmunt Turkow (6 November 1896 – 20 January 1970) was a Polish actor, playwright, and director of Jewish origin from Warsaw, who became famous for roles in the pre-war Jewish films and stage plays in Yiddish. His brother, Jonas Turkow, was als ...

References

External links

Official website of the Jewish State Theatre in Warsaw (in Polish)

Jewish Theatre in Poland: Fragments of an Illustrious History
Jews and Judaism in Warsaw Theatres in Warsaw Yiddish culture in Poland Yiddish theatre Theatres completed in 1950 1950 establishments in Poland {{Europe-theat-struct-stub