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Periods

Explore Yiddish performances by period, from the Middle Ages to the 21st century.

Early Yiddish Theatre

The roots of Yiddish theatre can be traced back to the Middle Ages, in the performances of Purim plays, wedding minstrels, wandering troubadours, and other entertain...

The Jewish Enlightenment

Beginning in the last quarter of the 18th century, propenents of the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) called for European Jews to integrate more fully into the secula...

1876–1899

The professional Yiddish theatre was launched in Jassy (Iasi), Romania in 1876, when Avrom Goldfaden formed his first troupe. In short order, professional Yiddish th...

Early 20th Century

The professional Yiddish theatre began to come of age, and to spread, remarkably quickly. While broad comedies and lavish spectacles often fed company coffers, playw...

1918–1945

In the years immediately following World War I, Yiddish theatre (on stage, screen, and radio) thrived in many places, most notably the US, Poland, and the new Soviet...

1945–1999

Though Yiddish language and culture was decimated by the Holocaust, new work continued to be written, performed, and published throughout the second half of the 20th...

21st Century

Yiddish theatre continues to be active in many different forms, in many places around the world, investigating the history of the field while branching out in new di...

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