Yiddish Theater in the United States | Jewish Women's Archive (original) (raw)
Promotional poster for The Rabbi's Family.
Courtesy of John D. Woolf/American Jewish Historical Society.
In Brief
Women have always been important as both Yiddish theater audiences and actors. The Golubok company, with star Madame Sara Krantsfeld, was the first to arrive in the United States, in 1882, at the start of the great wave of Jewish immigration. For a decade and more, most American Yiddish actors were immigrants, as were their audiences. Many female actors married men in the theater community and their names have remained linked in pairs with their husbands’. Often families played in the same company, such as the famous Adler family. Women were also connected with professional Yiddish theater in creative capacities other than performing, including composition, playwriting, and scholarly work. Now, as Yiddish theater has become attenuated, the loyalties and memories of women are important for its survival.
Bibliography
For a detailed overview of Yiddish theater see Vagabond Stars: A World History of Yiddish Theater, by Nahma Sandrow (1977). The volume includes an extensive bibliography of sources in both Yiddish and English.