AskAbigail Productions
Yiddish: A Tale of Survival tells the story of Yiddish’s remarkable comeback after the Holocaust. The documentary film follows three devoted Yiddish artists: Shmuel Atzmon, who started Israel’s first Yiddish Repertory Theatre; Bryna Wasserman, who upholds the legacy of the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre and founded Montreal’s International Yiddish Theatre Festival; and Milena Kartowsky, a dedicated advocate of Yiddish culture in Paris.
Before World War II, over 11 million Jews spoke Yiddish across Europe. The Holocaust devastated the language, leaving many to wonder if it could survive. Yet, this documentary shows how Yiddish has persisted through vibrant musical performances and the tireless efforts of its advocates worldwide.
Yiddish: A Tale of Survival celebrates the resilience of Yiddish and the individuals who are keeping it alive.
To schedule a screening, contact us at askabigail@
Completed in January , the film has been showcased at:
- McGill University, December
- IAYC Conference, Pittsburgh, March
- Mountain Lake PBS, starting May 22,
- New York City International Film Festival, June
- Aleph Kallah Conference, Rindge, NH, July
Meet Bryna Wasserman: The Award-Winning Director Revitalizing Yiddish Theatre
Photo credit: Joan Roth
When award-winning theatre director Bryna Wasserman—her accolades include the Montreal English Critics Circle Award of Distinction, the Mlotek Prize for Yiddish and Yiddish Culture, and the Quebec Drama Federation Award “in recognition of immense contributions to and support of the development of theatre in Quebec”— took the helm of the New York City-based National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF) in , she had three goals.
The first was to find NYTF a permanent home. “We’d been wandering Jews for a century, going from one theatre to another,” she says. “There was an urgent need to change this.” The second goal was financial: to put the non-profit NYTF on solid footing. Lastly, she wanted the company’s centennial to foster a contemporary appreciation of Yiddishkeit.
All of this, of course, had to be done while making sure that the theatre staged at least one annual production and brought performances to diverse communities throughout, and beyond, the five boroughs of New York City.
Wasserman sat down with Eleanor J. Bader to discuss the overall state of Yiddish theatre
Bryna Wasserman
Photos
Awards and Nominations
Drama Desk Awards - - Outstanding Director of a Musical
Bryna WassermanThe Golden Bride
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Bryna Wasserman, Artistic Director. Photo by Paul Ducharme, courtesy of Segal Centre
Montreal-based director, born in Vienna, artistic director of the Yiddish Theatre and of the Saidye Bronfman Centre (now Segal Centre for Performing Arts) from to
She grew up around productions at the Yiddish Theatre, which her mother, Dora Wasserman, founded and directed until suffering a stroke in
Bryna Wasserman studied at the Tisch School of Fine Arts (NYU) before working at theatres around the world including the Vivian Beaumont at Lincoln Centre, Mercer Street, Vancouver Opera House, American Place and four seasons at the Folksbiene Playhouse. Among her New York credits are Arrabal's The Architect and the Emperor of Assyria, The Karl Marx Play, Narrow Road to the Deep South, Wözzeck, The House of Bernarda Alba and Bernstein on Broadway.
Among the productions she has directed at the Yiddish Theatre are Mirele Efros, The Sages of Cheim, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, The Threepenny Opera (), The Dybbuk, Old Wicked Songs, and Lies My Father Told Me ().
An ideal director of large-cast community theatre (including the huge The
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