96-691: The National Theatre was a Yiddish theater at the southwest corner of Chrystie Street and Houston Street in the Yiddish Theater District in Manhattan , New York City, United States. When first built it was leased to Boris Thomashefsky and Julius Adler . Its grand opening as the Adler-Thomashefsky National Theatre was on September 24, 1912. The theater was one of the many designed by architect Thomas W. Lamb , and seated 1,900 when it opened. It
192-408: A soubrette , a comic, a lover, a villain , a villainess (or "intriguer"), an older man and woman for character roles, and one or two more for spares as the plot might require," and a musical component that might range from a single fiddler to an orchestra. This was very convenient for a repertory company, especially a traveling one. Both at the start and well into the great years of Yiddish theatre,
288-580: A theater building in the United States is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a building or structure in Manhattan is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Yiddish theater Hebrew Judeo-Aramaic Judeo-Arabic Other Jewish diaspora languages Jewish folklore Jewish poetry Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish ,
384-759: A Yiddish theatre at Odessa, which for several years became the capital of Yiddish theatre. Russia offered a more sophisticated audience than rural Romania: many Russian Jews were regular attendees of Russian-language theatre, and Odessa was a first-rate theatre city. In this context, serious melodramatic operettas, and even straight plays, took their place in the repertoire among the lighter vaudevilles and comedies that had thus far predominated. All three major troupes in Odessa did their own productions of Karl Gutzkow 's play Uriel Acosta (with Goldfaden's production being an operetta). However, even this increased sophistication could not compare to later, more ambitious efforts of
480-701: A Yiddish theatre at the Pavilion Theatre in 1906 marked a new era for the Yiddish theatre in London, providing a permanent home for the theatre for almost three decades. The theatre was home to a number of actor-managers throughout its history, the first being Sigmund Feinman, a Yiddish actor and playwright who grew to prominence on the American Yiddish stage. Feinman staged plays such as Gordin 's The Jewish King Lear , for which Adler returned for
576-484: A comedy. Aristotle claimed that Aeschylus added the second actor ( deuteragonist ), and that Sophocles introduced the third ( tritagonist ). Apparently, the Greek playwrights never used more than three actors based on what is known about Greek theatre. Tragedy and comedy were viewed as completely separate genres, and no plays ever merged aspects of the two. Satyr plays dealt with the mythological subject matter of
672-558: A crucial role in providing a forum for theater professionals to discuss these issues and try new solutions, such as collectively run theaters. Theatrical performances themselves also addressed social issues. Michal Weichert's Yung-teater was particularly known for political engagement, staging an attention-getting avant-garde performance of the play Boston, by Bernhard Blum, about the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti , in 1933. The 1883 Russian ban on Yiddish theatre (lifted in 1904) effectively pushed it to Western Europe and then to America. Over
768-624: A guest appearance in the lead role. The Pavilion Theatre closed as a Yiddish theatre in 1935. It was succeeded by the Grand Palais Theatre and the New Yiddish Theatre Company at the Adler Hall, Whitechapel. Poland was an important center of Yiddish theatrical activity, with more than 400 Yiddish theatrical companies performing in the country during the interwar period. One of the most important companies,
864-580: A hill, producing a natural viewing area known as the theatron (literally "seeing place"). In cities without suitable hills, banks of earth were piled up. At the foot of the hill was a flattened, generally circular performance space with an average diameter of 78 feet (24 m), known as the orchestra (literally "dancing place"), where a chorus of typically 12 to 15 people performed plays in verse accompanied by music. There were often tall, arched entrances called parodoi or eisodoi , through which actors and chorus members entered and exited
960-524: A play entitled The Fall of Miletus and produced it, the whole theatre fell to weeping; they fined Phrynichus a thousand drachmas for bringing to mind a calamity that affected them so personally and forbade the performance of that play forever." He is also thought to be the first to use female characters (though not female performers). Until the Hellenistic period , all tragedies were unique pieces written in honour of Dionysus and played only once; what
1056-563: A play, such as the Furies in Aeschylus ' Eumenides and Pentheus and Cadmus in Euripides ' The Bacchae . Worn by the chorus, the masks created a sense of unity and uniformity, while representing a multi-voiced persona or single organism and simultaneously encouraged interdependency and a heightened sensitivity between each individual of the group. Only 2 to 3 actors were allowed on
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#17327866307151152-642: A tragedy drawn from life, and you shall also cry — while my heart shall be glad." B. Nathansohn, correspondent of the Warsaw -based Jewish newspaper Hamelitz visited Romania in the summer of 1878 and wrote, "When a Jew enters a Yiddish theatre in Bucharest he is thunderstruck hearing the Yiddish language in all its splendor and radiance", and called upon Goldfaden to create similar theatres in Warsaw, Lublin , Vilna , Berdichev, and Balta . While Yiddish theatre
1248-1138: A year or two of Goldfaden's founding the first professional Yiddish theatre troupe, there were multiple troupes, multiple playwrights, and more than a few serious Yiddish theatre critics and theoreticians. Abraham Goldfaden is generally considered the founder of the first professional Yiddish theatre troupe, which he founded in Iaşi , Romania in 1876, and later moved to Bucharest . His own career also took him to Imperial Russia , Lemberg in Habsburg Galicia (today Lviv in Ukraine ), and New York City. Within two years of Goldfaden's founding of his troupe, there were several rival troupes in Bucharest, mostly founded by former members of Goldfaden's troupe. Most of these troupes followed Goldfaden's original formula of musical vaudeville and light comedy, while Goldfaden himself turned more toward relatively serious operettas about biblical and historical subjects, especially after his own company left Bucharest for an extended tour of
1344-458: Is a secondary Jewish stage ... just making people laugh and cry is an evil for us Jews in Romania." Goldfaden himself agreed with such sentiments; later recalling his views at the time, he wrote: "If I have arrived at having a stage, I want it to be a school for you ... Laugh heartily if I amuse you with my jokes, while I, watching you, feel my heart crying. Then, brothers, I'll give you a drama,
1440-411: Is derived, is a compound of two Greek words: τράγος , tragos or "goat" and ᾠδή , ode meaning "song", from ἀείδειν , aeidein , 'to sing'. This etymology indicates a link with the practices of the ancient Dionysian cults . It is impossible, however, to know with certainty how these fertility rituals became the basis for tragedy and comedy . The Ancient Greeks valued
1536-522: Is normally regarded as the Golden Age of Greek drama. The center-piece of the annual Dionysia , which took place once in winter and once in spring, was a competition between three tragic playwrights at the Theatre of Dionysus . Each submitted three tragedies, plus a satyr play (a comic, burlesque version of a mythological subject). Beginning in a first competition in 486 BC each playwright submitted
1632-487: Is now Ukraine . Israel Rosenberg 's troupe (which later had a series of managers, including Goldfaden's brother Tulya, and which at one point split in two, with one half led by actor Jacob Adler ) gave Russia's first professional Yiddish theatre performance in Odessa in 1878. Goldfaden himself soon came to Odessa, pushing Rosenberg's troupe into the provinces, and Osip Mikhailovich Lerner and N.M. Sheikevitch also founded
1728-565: Is often traced to Passion Plays and other religious pageants, similar in some ways to the Purim plays. In the Middle Ages , few Jews would have seen these: they were often performed in the courtyards of Christian churches (few of which were near the Jewish ghettos), on Christian holidays, and they often had significant antisemitic elements in their plots and dialogue. However, in later times,
1824-542: Is presently known, was created in Athens around 532 BC, when Thespis was the earliest recorded actor. Being a winner of the first theatrical contest held in Athens, he was the exarchon , or leader, of the dithyrambs performed in and around Attica, especially at the Rural Dionysia . By Thespis' time, the dithyramb had evolved far away from its cult roots. Under the influence of heroic epic, Doric choral lyric and
1920-645: Is primarily extant today are the pieces that were still remembered well enough to have been repeated when the repetition of old tragedies became fashionable (the accidents of survival, as well as the subjective tastes of the Hellenistic librarians later in Greek history, also played a role in what survived from this period). After the Achaemenid destruction of Athens in 480 BC, the town and acropolis were rebuilt, and theatre became formalized and an even greater part of Athenian culture and civic pride. This century
2016-538: Is the Pronomos Vase where actors are painted at a show's after party. Costuming would give off a sense of character, as in gender, age, social status, and class. For example, characters of higher class would be dressed in nicer clothing, although everyone was dressed fairly nicely. Contrary to popular belief, they did not dress in only rags and sandals, as they wanted to impress. Some examples of Greek theatre costuming include long robes called chiton that reached
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#17327866307152112-599: Is unclear at best, but his name has been given a longer life in English as a common term for performer—i.e., a "thespian." The dramatic performances were important to the Athenians – this is made clear by the creation of a tragedy competition and festival in the City Dionysia (or Great Dionysia). This was organized possibly to foster loyalty among the tribes of Attica (recently created by Cleisthenes ). The festival
2208-582: The Golden Age such as the Danaids , Phoenician Women and Alcestis . He was the first poet we know of to use a historical subject – his Fall of Miletus , produced in 493–2, chronicled the fate of the town of Miletus after it was conquered by the Persians. Herodotus reports that "the Athenians made clear their deep grief for the taking of Miletus in many ways, but especially in this: when Phrynichus wrote
2304-918: The Jüdische Merkwürdigkeiten (1714), a collection by Johann Jakob Schudt (1664–1722). Another similar current in Jewish culture was a tradition of masked dancers performing after weddings. The most elaborate form of this was the Dance of Death , a pageant depicting all layers of a society, which had originated among Sephardic Jews in Spain in the 14th century and had spread through Europe among both Jews and Gentiles. 16th-century Italian Jews had taken music and dance to an even more refined level of art: at that time in Italy there were Jewish virtuosi and dancing masters in Mantua , Ferrara , and Rome, and
2400-542: The Romanian Orthodox Christmas tradition of Irozii — minstrel shows centered around the figure of Herod the Great (Rom: Irod ), which were the origin of Romanian-language theatre — definitely influenced Purim plays and vice versa . Jews had far more exposure to secular European theatre once that developed. Meistersinger Hans Sachs ' many plays on Old Testament topics were widely admired by
2496-719: The Young Theater , founded by Michal Weichert in 1932. In addition to the serious artistic efforts of the art theaters, cabaret flourished in Poland during the interwar period, combining musical performances with standup comedy. The most celebrated practitioners of this kind of performance were Shimen Dzigan and Yisroel Shumacher , who began their lifelong Yiddish comedy career at the theater Ararat in Łódź in 1927. Puppet and marionette theater also attained great artistic significance, often staging satirical shows on contemporary social issues. Yiddish theater in Poland reflected
2592-416: The satyr play were the three dramatic genres emerged there. Athens exported the festival to its numerous colonies. Modern Western theatre comes, in large measure, from the theatre of ancient Greece , from which it borrows technical terminology, classification into genres, and many of its themes , stock characters , and plot elements. The word τραγῳδία , tragodia , from which the word " tragedy "
2688-445: The troubadours or Minnesänger , apparently growing out of the music associated with Jewish weddings, and often involving singers who also functioned as cantors in synagogues. The first records of the early Brodersänger or Broder singers are the remarks of Jews passing through Brody , which was on a major route of travel, generally disapproving of the singing of songs when no particular occasion called for music. The most famous of
2784-436: The 1830s, there was also, according to one contemporary source, a professional company that in 1838 performed before a receptive audience of both Jews and Gentiles a five-act drama Moses , by a certain A. Schertspierer of Vienna , with "well-drawn characters and good dramatic situations and language." The same source relates that this theatre had among its patrons a number of Russian military officers, including one general who
2880-533: The 1880s, playing in small theatre clubs "on a stage the size of a cadaver", not daring to play on a Friday night or to light a fire on stage on a Saturday afternoon (both because of the Jewish Sabbath ), forced to use a cardboard ram's horn when playing Uriel Acosta so as not to blaspheme , Yiddish theatre nonetheless took on much of what was best in European theatrical tradition. In this period,
2976-470: The 1960s. Greek mask-maker Thanos Vovolis suggests that the mask serves as a resonator for the head, thus enhancing vocal acoustics and altering its quality. This leads to increased energy and presence, allowing for the more complete metamorphosis of the actor into his character. In a large open-air theatre, like the Theatre of Dionysus in Athens , the classical masks were able to create a sense of dread in
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3072-651: The Bowery Garden, the National and the Thalia, with unknowns such as Boris Thomashefsky emerging as stars. The Thalia Theatre sought to change the material of the Yiddish stage to better reform the material that was being produced. “The reformers of the Yiddish stage, Jacob Gordin later explained, wanted to “utilize the theatre for higher purposes; to derive from it not only amusement, but education.” Jacob Gordin himself had numerous times tried to get his plays onto
3168-463: The Gentiles who would come to Yiddish theatre would not be the antisemites, they would be those who already knew and liked Jews, and that they would recognize satire for what it was, adding that these criticisms were "nothing" when weighed against the education that Yiddish theatre was bringing to the lower classes. Writing of Sigmund Mogulesko 's troupe in Romania in 1884, and probably referring to
3264-538: The Jew plays a degrading role." Goldfaden's plays ultimately formed a canon of Yiddish theater, and were performed continuously for over fifty years; in the theatre world they were reverently regarded as a kind of "Torah from Sinai", and the characters of the plays permeated Jewish cultural life over several generations. If Yiddish theatre was born in Romania, its youth occurred in Imperial Russia, largely in what
3360-608: The Jewish literary culture that had grown in the wake of the Jewish enlightenment ( Haskalah ). Israil Bercovici wrote that it is through Yiddish theatre that "Jewish culture entered in dialogue with the outside world," both by putting itself on display and by importing theatrical pieces from other cultures. Themes such as immigration, poverty, integration, and strong ancestral ties can be found in many Yiddish theatre productions. Noah Prilutski (1882–1941) noted that Yiddish theatre did not arise simultaneously with theatre in other European "national" languages; he conjectured that this
3456-641: The Jews of the German ghettos, and from the 16th century through the 18th, the biblical story of Esther was the most popular theatrical theme in Christian Europe, often under the Latin name Acta Ahasuerus . Professional Yiddish theatre is generally dated from 1876, although there is scattered evidence of earlier efforts. Besides some 19 amateur Yiddish-language theatrical troupes in and around Warsaw in
3552-515: The United States and Eastern Europe during this period. Greek theatre A theatrical culture flourished in ancient Greece from 700 BC. At its centre was the city-state of Athens , which became a significant cultural, political, and religious place during this period, and the theatre was institutionalised there as part of a festival called the Dionysia , which honoured the god Dionysus . Tragedy (late 500 BC), comedy (490 BC), and
3648-811: The United States. At many times, a dozen Yiddish theatre groups existed in New York City alone, with the Yiddish Theater District , sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Rialto ", centered on Second Avenue in what is now the East Village , but was then considered part of the Jewish Lower East Side , which often rivaled Broadway in scale and quality. At the time the U.S. entered World War I , there were 22 Yiddish theaters and two Yiddish vaudeville houses in New York City alone. Original plays, musicals, and even translations of Hamlet and Richard Wagner 's operas were performed, both in
3744-718: The Windsor stage without luck. “Gordin successfully challenged Lateiner and Hurwitz in 1891–1892 when he entered the Yiddish theatre with an avowed purpose of reforming Yiddish drama.” Rather than “pandering to the public's taste for cheap shund (trash) plays, he sought to secure goodwill of the East Side’s intelligentsia with literature and increasingly incorporated the concepts of “true art” and “serious drama” into their public image.” Professional companies soon developed and flourished, so that between 1890 and 1940, there were over 200 Yiddish theaters or touring Yiddish theatre troupes in
3840-530: The Yiddish theater. Looking back on this period, although acknowledging certain of Goldfaden's plays from this era as "masterpieces", Jacob Adler saw this as a period of relative mediocrity compared to what came later. "For three years I... wandered in the cave of the Witch and the motley of Shmendrick and what did I really know of my trade?" he describes himself as thinking in 1883. "If someday I return to Yiddish theater let me at least not be so ignorant." Much of
3936-474: The actors' voices could be heard throughout the theatre, including the very top row of seats. The Greek's understanding of acoustics compares very favorably with the current state of the art . There were several scenic elements commonly used in Greek theatre: The Ancient Greek term for a mask is prosopon (lit., "face"), and was a significant element in the worship of Dionysus at Athens likely used in ceremonial rites and celebrations. Many masks worshipped
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4032-400: The altar of Dionysus after performances. Nevertheless, the mask is known to have been used since the time of Aeschylus and considered to be one of the iconic conventions of classical Greek theatre. Masks were also made for members of the chorus, who play some part in the action and provide a commentary on the events in which they are caught up. Although there are twelve or fifteen members of
4128-542: The audience creating large scale panic, especially since they had intensely exaggerated facial features and expressions. They enabled an actor to appear and reappear in several different roles, thus preventing the audience from identifying the actor to one specific character. Their variations help the audience to distinguish sex, age, and social status, in addition to revealing a change in a particular character's appearance, e.g., Oedipus , after blinding himself. Unique masks were also created for specific characters and events in
4224-701: The avant-garde Vilna Troupe (Vilner trupe), formed in Vilna , as its name suggests, but moved to Warsaw in 1917. The Vilna Troupe employed some of the most accomplished actors on the Yiddish stage, including Avrom Morevski , who played the Miropolyer tsaddik in the first performance of The Dybbuk , and Joseph Buloff , who was the lead actor of the Vilna Troupe and went on to further accomplishments with Maurice Schwartz ’s Yiddish Art Theater in New York. It
4320-433: The bottom of the theatron where the chorus and actors performed; the word means "dancing space", as the chorus also danced in early periods. Originally unraised, Greek theatre would later incorporate a raised stage for easier viewing. This practice would become common after the advent of "New Comedy," which incorporated dramatic portrayal of individual characters. The coryphaeus was the head chorus member, who could enter
4416-466: The choir, or between the choir and the leader of the ritual (Hebrew menatseach ). Also, traditional dances were associated with certain holidays, such as Sukkot . Purim plays – the skits performed by amateur companies around the time of the Purim holiday – were a significant early form of theatrical expression. Often satiric and topical, Purim plays were traditionally performed in
4512-419: The cities of Imperial Russia . Goldfaden's troupe began as all-male; while they soon acquired actresses, as well, it remained relatively common in Yiddish theatre for female roles, especially comic roles, to be played by men. (Women also sometimes played men's roles: Molly Picon was a famous Shmendrick .) Many early Yiddish theatre pieces were constructed around a very standard set of roles: "a prima donna ,
4608-557: The coronation"; he acquired the costumes for the Romanian National Theatre , which he headed at the time. Both the nature and aspirations of early professional Yiddish theatre are reflected in Moses Schwarzfeld 's 1877 remarks calling for serious and "educational" Jewish theatre: "If we write only comedies or if we only imitate German, Romanian and French pieces translated into Yiddish, all we will have
4704-503: The courtyard of the synagogue , because they were considered too profane to be performed inside the building. These made heavy use of masks and other theatrical devices; the masquerade (and the singing and dancing) generally extended to the whole congregation, not just a small set of players. While many Purim plays told the story in the Book of Esther commemorated by the Purim holiday, others used other stories from Jewish scripture, such as
4800-508: The entire number of written dramas of which there is any record hardly exceeds five hundred. Of these at least nine-tenths are translations or adaptations." Yiddish Theater in the United States has been described as "a keepsake of home, and yet also a means of acculturation" for the 2.5 million Jews who immigrated from 1881 to 1924. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s, amateur theatrical companies presented Yiddish productions in New York City, leading to regular weekend performances at theatres such as
4896-574: The first known troupes of Jewish performers in Europe. Less refined versions of the same also occurred in 18th-century Germany. Additionally, there was a rich tradition of dialogues in the Jewish poetry known as Tahkemoni , dating back at least to Yehuda al-Harizi in 12th-century Spain. Al-Harizi's work contained dialogues between believer and heretic, man and wife, day and night, land and ocean, wisdom and foolishness, avarice and generosity. Such dialogues figured prominently in early Yiddish theatre. In
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#17327866307154992-454: The floor for actors playing gods, heroes, and old men. Actors playing goddesses and women characters that held a lot of power wore purple and gold. Actors playing queens and princesses wore long cloaks that dragged on the ground and were decorated with gold stars and other jewels, and warriors were dressed in a variety of armor and wore helmets adorned with plumes. Costumes were supposed to be colourful and obvious to be easily seen by every seat in
5088-543: The formal advent of Yiddish theatre. Bercovici suggests that, as with ancient Greek drama , elements of dramatic performance arose in Jewish life as an artistic refinement of religious practice; he highlights references in the Bible to dance, music, or song, especially in the Psalms (Hebrew tehillim , or songs of praise), where some of the headings refer to musical instruments, or to singing in dialogue, either between parts of
5184-557: The founder of the first professional Yiddish theatre troupe, attended that same rabbinical school, and while there is known to have played (in 1862) a woman's role in a play, Serkele , by Solomon Ettinger . Shortly after that (1869, according to one source), Goldfaden wrote a dialogue Tsvey Shkheynes ( Two Neighbors ), apparently intended for the stage, and published with moderate success. A short-lived Yiddish theater in Odessa in 1864 performed dramas Esther and Athalia . Abraham Baer Gottlober 's Decktuch , like Ettinger's Serkele ,
5280-691: The freedom to perform. The Moscow Yiddish Theater , or Jewish Kamerny Theatre in Moscow , or new Yiddish Chamber Theater, directed by Aleksey Granovsky , and with contributors including Marc Chagall , was founded in Petrograd in June 1919 as an experimental workshop then became the Moscow State Jewish Theatre . Of the next era of Yiddish theatre, Adler, who arrived in London with his wife Sonya in 1883, wrote, "...if Yiddish theater
5376-498: The heavily Jewish areas of Eastern and East Central Europe , but also in Berlin, London, Paris, Buenos Aires and New York City. Yiddish theatre's roots include the often satiric plays traditionally performed during religious holiday of Purim (known as Purimshpils ); the singing of cantors in the synagogues ; Jewish secular song and dramatic improvisation; exposure to the theatre traditions of various European countries, and
5472-555: The higher power, the gods, making masks also very important for religion. Most of the evidence comes from only a few vase paintings of the 5th century BC, such as one showing a mask of the god suspended from a tree with decorated robe hanging below it and dancing and the Pronomos vase, which depicts actors preparing for a satyr play . No physical evidence remains available to us, as the masks were made of organic materials and not considered permanent objects, ultimately being dedicated at
5568-545: The innovations of the poet Arion , it had become a narrative, ballad-like genre. Because of these, Thespis is often called the "Inventor of Tragedy"; however, his importance is disputed, and Thespis is sometimes listed as late as 16th in the chronological order of Greek tragedians; the statesman Solon , for example, is credited with creating poems in which characters speak with their own voice, and spoken performances of Homer 's epics by rhapsodes were popular in festivals prior to 534 BC. Thus, Thespis's true contribution to drama
5664-722: The journal Nostalgia in Jewish-American Theatre and Film, 1979-2004 , Ben Furnish establishes the deep roots of nostalgia based on Jewish history. Many of these origins are based in stories like that of the Siege of Jerusalem (587 BCE) of Jews from the Holy Land. Shows up to present day productions pull influence from these experiences, creating a concrete picture of Yiddish themes and tenets seen in Jewish theatre. The origin of theatre in Christian societies in Europe
5760-469: The language of the Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta , musical comedy , and satiric or nostalgic revues ; melodrama ; naturalist drama; expressionist and modernist plays. At its height, its geographical scope was comparably broad: from the late 19th century until just before World War II , professional Yiddish theatre could be found throughout
5856-411: The masked actor from the theatrical character. The mask-makers were called skeuopoios or "maker of the props", thus suggesting that their role encompassed multiple duties and tasks. The masks were most likely made out of light weight, organic materials like stiffened linen, leather, wood, or cork, with the wig consisting of human or animal hair. Due to the visual restrictions imposed by these masks, it
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#17327866307155952-447: The mouth and an integrated wig. These paintings never show actual masks on the actors in performance. They are most often shown being handled by the actors before or after a performance. This demonstrates the way in which the mask was to 'melt' into the face and allow the actor to vanish into the role. Effectively, the mask transformed the actor as much as memorization of the text. Therefore, performance in ancient Greece did not distinguish
6048-468: The next few decades, successive waves of Yiddish performers arrived in New York (and, to a lesser extent, in Berlin, London, Vienna , and Paris), some simply as artists seeking an audience, but many as a result of persecutions, pogroms and economic crises in Eastern Europe. Professional Yiddish theatre in London began in 1884, and flourished until the mid-1930s. By 1896, Kalman Juvelier 's troupe
6144-443: The orchestra and also served as an area where actors could change their costumes. After 425 BC a stone scene wall, called a paraskenia , became a common supplement to skené . The paraskenia was a long wall with projecting sides, which may have had doorways for entrances and exits. Just behind the paraskenia was the proskenion ("in front of the scene"), which is similar to the modern day proscenium . The upper story
6240-423: The orchestra. In some theatres, behind the orchestra, was a backdrop or scenic wall known as the skené . The term theatre eventually came to mean the whole area of theatron , orchestra , and skené . The theatron was the seating area, built into a hill to create a natural viewing space. The first seats in Greek theatres (other than just sitting on the ground) were wooden, but around 499 BC,
6336-735: The other actors. The actors with comedic roles only wore a thin-soled shoe called a soccus or sock. For this reason, dramatic art is sometimes called " sock and buskin ." Male actors playing female roles would wear a wooden structure on their chests ( posterneda ) to imitate the look of breasts and another structure on their stomachs ( progastreda ) to make them appear softer and more lady like. They would also wear white body stockings under their costumes to make their skin appear fairer. Most costuming detail comes from pottery paintings from that time as costumes and masks were fabricated out of disposable material, so there are little to no remains of any costume from that time. The biggest source of information
6432-460: The plays of Moses Horowitz and Joseph Lateiner , Moses Gaster wrote that Yiddish theatre "represents scenes from our history known by only a tiny minority, refreshing, therefore, secular memory" and "shows us our defects, which we have like all men, but not with a tendency to strike at our own immorality with a tendency towards ill will, but only with an ironic spirit that does not wound us, as we are wounded by representations on other stages, where
6528-660: The plays of Schiller first entered the repertoire of Yiddish theatre, beginning with The Robbers , the start of a vogue that would last a quarter of a century. Adler records that, like Shakespeare , Schiller was "revered" by the broad Jewish public, not just by intellectuals, admired for his "almost socialist view of society", although his plays were often radically adapted for the Yiddish stage, shortening them and dropping Christian, antisemitic , and classical mythological references There were several smaller Jewish theatre groups in Manchester and Glasgow . The opening of
6624-498: The political preoccupations of its time. They struggled financially, like all Jewish cultural institutions during that period, even while flourishing for a time during a more liberal political atmosphere. Actors and directors, just like others during that period, were highly aware of labor relations, and tried to create egalitarian working relationships. Organizations such as the Yiddish Actors’ Union , based in Warsaw, played
6720-502: The power of the spoken word, and it was their main method of communication and storytelling. Bahn and Bahn write, "To Greeks, the spoken word was a living thing and infinitely preferable to the dead symbols of a written language." Socrates himself believed that once something has been written down, it lost its ability for change and growth. For these reasons, among many others, oral storytelling flourished in Greece. Greek tragedy , as it
6816-442: The practice of inlaying stone blocks into the side of the hill to create permanent, stable seating became more common. They were called the prohedria and reserved for priests and a few of the most respected citizens. The diazoma separated the upper and lower seating areas. After 465 BC, playwrights began using a backdrop or scenic wall, called the skené (from which the word scene derives), that hung or stood behind
6912-474: The singers from Brody was the itinerant Berl Margulis (1815–1868), known as Berl Broder , "Berl from Brody"; 24 of his 30 surviving songs are in the form of dialogues. Another influential performer in this style was Benjamin Wolf Ehrenkrantz (1826–1883), known as Velvel Zbarjer . Bercovici describes his work as "mini-melodramas in song". Such performers, who performed at weddings, in the salons of
7008-435: The stage at one time, and masks permitted quick transitions from one character to another. There were only male actors, but masks allowed them to play female characters. The modern method to interpret a role by switching between a few simple characters goes back to changing masks in the theatre of ancient Greece. The actors in these plays that had tragic roles wore boots called cothurnus ( buskin ), that elevated them above
7104-439: The story as a character able to interact with the characters of a play. Plays often began in the morning and lasted into the evening. The theatres were built on a large scale to accommodate a large number of performers on stage and in the audience—up to fourteen thousand . Physics and mathematics played a significant role in the construction of these theatres, as their designers had to be able to create acoustics in them such that
7200-462: The story of Joseph sold by his brothers or the sacrifice of Isaac . Over time, these well-known stories became less a subject matter than a pretext for topical and satiric theatre. Mordechai became a standard role for a clown . Purim plays were published as early as the early 18th century. At least eight Purim plays were published between 1708 and 1720; most of these do not survive (at least some were burned in autos da fe ), but one survives in
7296-579: The theater performed during this period was later referred to as shund, or trash, though critics such as Itsik Manger felt it possessed a naive energy and was unfairly maligned. What seemed, for a time, a boundless future in Russia was cut short by the anti-Jewish reaction following the assassination of Tsar Alexander II ; Yiddish theatre was banned, under an order effective September 14, 1883. This ban caused an exodus of Yiddish actors and playwrights to other countries – Poland, in particular – where they had
7392-529: The tragedies, but in a purely comedic manner. The power of Athens declined following its defeat in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta . From that time on, the theatre started performing old tragedies again. Although its theatrical traditions seem to have lost their vitality, Greek theatre continued into the Hellenistic period (the period following Alexander the Great 's conquests in the fourth century BC). The primary Hellenistic theatrical form
7488-415: The tragic chorus, they all wear the same mask because they are considered to be representing one character. Stylized comedy and tragedy masks said to originate in ancient Greek theatre have come to widely symbolize the performing arts generally. Illustrations of theatrical masks from 5th century display helmet-like masks, covering the entire face and head, with holes for the eyes and a small aperture for
7584-404: The troupes were often in one or another degree family affairs, with a husband, wife, and often their offspring playing in the same troupe. At its high end, early Yiddish theatre was noted for its pageantry. A pageant about the coronation of Solomon , presented on the occasion of the 1881 coronation of Carol I of Romania was described by Ion Ghica as "among the most imposing things that paraded
7680-500: The two main criticisms from this quarter were (1) that the Yiddish "jargon" was being promoted to the detriment of "proper" Hebrew and (2) that satire against Hasidim and others would not necessarily be understood as satire and would make Jews look ridiculous. Bercovici quotes an anonymous 1885 article as responding to these criticisms by saying (1) that all Jews speak some modern language and why should Yiddish be any more detrimental to Hebrew than Romanian, Russian, or German; and (2) that
7776-581: The wealthy, in the summer gardens, and in other secular gathering places of the Eastern European Jews, were not mere singers. They often used costumes and often improvised spoken material between songs, especially when working in groups. Israel Grodner , later Goldfaden's first actor, participated in an outdoor concert in Odessa in 1873 with dialogues between songs comparable to much of what was in Goldfaden's earliest plays. Goldfaden himself
7872-416: Was already a noted poet, and many of his poems had been set to music and had become popular songs, some of which were used in that 1873 performance. Finally, around this time Yiddish was establishing itself as a literary language, and some Jews with secular interests were familiar with the dominant theatrical traditions of their respective countries; given this burgeoning literary intellectual culture, within
7968-402: Was an immediate hit with the broad masses of Jews, was generally liked and admired by Jewish intellectuals and many Gentile intellectuals, a small but socially powerful portion of the Jewish community, centered among Orthodox and Hasidic Jews , remained opposed to it. Besides complaints about the mingling of men and women in public and about the use of music and dance outside of sacred contexts,
8064-403: Was at least in part because the Jewish sense of nationality favored Hebrew over Yiddish as a "national" language, but few Jews of the period were actually comfortable using Hebrew outside of a religious/liturgical context. Nonetheless, various types of performances, including those of cantors, preachers, jesters, and instrumental musicians, were a part of Eastern European Jewish life long before
8160-605: Was built as one of a pair of theaters, with the Crown Theater , seating 963, in the rooftop theater. Both theaters closed in 1941, re-opened in 1951 as a pair of cinemas (the National Theater and the Roosevelt Theater ), and were demolished in 1959. 40°43′24.42″N 73°59′29.1″W / 40.7234500°N 73.991417°W / 40.7234500; -73.991417 This article about
8256-518: Was called the episkenion . Some theatres also had a raised speaking place on the orchestra called the logeion . By the end of the 5th century BC, around the time of the Peloponnesian War, the skené was two stories high. The death of a character was always heard behind the skené , for it was considered inappropriate to show a killing in view of the audience. Conversely, there are scholarly arguments that death in Greek tragedy
8352-640: Was considered a "protector" of it – a circumstance that suggests the difficulties it faced. Around the same time, there are indications of a traveling Yiddish-language theatre troupe in Galicia , organized along the lines of an English or Italian theatre troupe. In 1854, two rabbinical students from Zhytomyr put on a play in Berdichev . Shortly afterward, the Ukrainian Jew Abraham Goldfaden , generally considered
8448-409: Was created roughly around 508 BC. While no drama texts exist from the sixth century BC, the names of three competitors besides Thespis are known: Choerilus, Pratinas, and Phrynichus . Each is credited with different innovations in the field. Some information is known about Phrynichus. He won his first competition between 511 BC and 508 BC. He produced tragedies on themes and subjects later exploited in
8544-642: Was destined to go through its infancy in Russia, and in America grew to manhood and success, then London was its school." The arrival of Adler and his troupe beckoned the era of professional Yiddish theatre in London, and as word of the troupe's arrival started to spread throughout the East End, they began to receive financial assistance from the local community which allowed them to form the Russian Jewish Operatic Company. In London in
8640-416: Was imperative that the actors hear in order to orient and balance themselves. Thus, it is believed that the ears were covered by substantial amounts of hair and not the helmet-mask itself. The mouth opening was relatively small, preventing the mouth being seen during performances. Vervain and Wiles posit that this small size discourages the idea that the mask functioned as a megaphone, as originally presented in
8736-613: Was in Warsaw that the Vilna Troupe staged the first performance of The Dybbuk in 1920, a play that made a profound and lasting impression on Yiddish theater and world culture. The Vilna Troupe inspired the creation of more avant-garde and ambitious Yiddish theatrical companies, including the Warsaw Yiddish Art Theater , founded by Zygmunt Turkow and Ida Kamińska in 1924, the Warsaw New Yiddish Theater , founded by Jonas Turkow in 1929, and
8832-410: Was not intended for the stage. Hersh Leib Sigheter (1829–1930) wrote satirical Purim plays on an annual basis and hired boys to play in them. Although often objected to by rabbis, these plays were popular, and were performed not only on Purim but for as much as a week afterwards in various locations. Another current that led equally to professional Yiddish theatre was a tradition resembling that of
8928-408: Was not tragedy but New Comedy , comic episodes about the lives of ordinary citizens. The only extant playwright from the period is Menander . One of New Comedy's most important contributions was its influence on Roman comedy, an influence that can be seen in the surviving works of Plautus and Terence . Most ancient Greek cities lay on or near hills, so seating was generally built into the slope of
9024-399: Was portrayed off stage primarily because of dramatic considerations, and not prudishness or sensitivity of the audience. A temple nearby, especially on the right side of the scene, is almost always part of the Greek theatre complex. This could justify, as a transposition, the recurrence of the pediment with the later solidified stone scene. The orchestra was a circular piece of ground at
9120-436: Was the only one that remained in Romania, where Yiddish theatre had started, although Mogulesko sparked a revival there in 1906. There was also some activity in Warsaw and Lvov , which were under Austrian rather than Russian rule. In this era, Yiddish theatre existed almost entirely on stage, rather than in texts. The Jewish Encyclopedia of 1901–1906 reported, "There are probably less than fifty printed Yiddish dramas, and
9216-462: Was written between 1830 and 1840, but published much later; Israel Aksenfeld (died c. 1868) wrote several dramas in Yiddish, which were probably not staged in his lifetime. Another early Yiddish dramatist was Joel Baer Falkovich ( Reb Chaimele der Koẓin , Odessa, 1866; Rochel die Singerin , Zhytomyr, 1868). Solomon Jacob Abramowitsch 's Die Takse (1869) has the form of a drama, but, like Eliakim Zunser 's later Mekirat Yosef (Vilnius, 1893), it
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