The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene
presents a number of unique shows this Spring and Summer as part of our 102nd consecutive season.
A musical celebrating the immigrant experience that shaped America.
“ Amerike – The Golden Land,” is a re-envisioning of Zalmen Mlotek and Moishe Rosenfeld’s beloved musical that traces the fascinating story of Jewish immigration and assimilation. Directed by Drama Desk Award nominee Bryna Wasserman the production is slated to begin performances on July 4th. In Yiddish with English and Russian supertitles.
Propelled by the audience-bridging success of last year’s breakaway hit musical in Yiddish, “The Golden Bride,” NYTF has stepped up as the associate producer of the Broadway-bound “ Indecent,” the scintillatingly original and timely drama that chronicles a touchstone of the Yiddish theatre, Sholem Asch’s “God of Vengeance.” In English with Yiddish.
On April 19th commemorate the 74th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising with a presentation of H. Levick’s, “ Der nes in geto” (“The Miracle in the Warsaw Ghetto”), a 1944 drama that chronicles the historic act of resistance which kept Nazi forces at bay for 30 days in the spring of 1943. In Yiddish with English supertitles.
Playing at a site-specific Harlem Loft, “ Old New Year,” traces the interconnecting stories of several tenants in the same New York City apartment building. A world premiere, written by Boris Zilberman and directed by Bryna Wasserman, April 26th – May 13th. Developed by Lost & Found Project. In English.
Based on the dramatic poem by I. L. Peretz, Grammy Award winner Frank London takes you on a theatrical new version of his ambitious musical. On May 4th and 6th join NYTF for this mad mash-up of psychedelic klezmer, Kurt Weill, and folk tunes from the Old Country gone electric, “ A Night in the Old Marketplace” tells the story of the Badkhn, a traditional Jewish wedding jester, who, over the course of one long night, challenges G-d’s authority by attempting to resurrect the dead and bring on the end of days. In English.
For the first time in decades, on May 21st, NYTF will present a theatrical workshop of “ Di kishefmakherin” (“The Witch”) which was the first Yiddish theatrical work to have played in the U.S. Directed by NYTF Associate Artistic Director Motl Didner, with musical direction by Zalmen Mlotek (NYTF Artistic Director), this 1879 dynamic concert version of Abraham Goldfaden’s legendary musical tells a fairy-tale like story of an innocent young heroine, her wicked stepmother, dashing fiancé, an itinerant peddler and a local witch. In Yiddish with English supertitles.