NYTF touring booklet

NATIONAL YIDDISH THEATRE FOLKSBIENE at the MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE Inspiring. Educational. Unforgettable. FOLKSBIENE on TourFor additional information call (212) 213-2120 ext. 202 or email [email protected]

Celebrating the Jewish Experience through the ArtsNATIONAL YIDDISH THEATRE FOLKSBIENE Established in 1915, the Folksbiene (People’s Stage) emerged as the country’s first socially conscious theatre by giving a voice to an underserved population of immigrant artists and audiences. The company’s unique programming celebrates a rich cultural heritage brought to this country from afar and preserves a way of life nearly destroyed some 75 years ago. The Folksbiene bridges Jewish culture with a secular world using the arts as a connector to heritage, identity and global citizenship. Our strategic programming in theatre, music and educational outreach provides access to a living legacy that is at once familiar and new, enriching cultural identity and expanding cultural awareness. In such, the Folksbiene carries a unique responsibility to celebrate Jewish culture as a mainstay of American life, reflecting the advances, collaborations and innovations that helped shape a land of opportunity, music and stories. This mission aims to engage the past, entertain the present, and enrich the future. For 103 consecutive years, the Folksbiene has delivered high-quality work, recently earning a Tony Award nomination, proclaimations and citations from the New York City and State, International accolades, a special Drama Desk Award, and a vast array of Theatrical and Creative Awards and Award Nominations. As we pass our stories from one generation to the next, the Folksbiene remains the people’s stage, offering a collective voice and affirming the cultural relevance of the Jewish experience.



Engaging the Past TRAVELING THE YIDDISHLAND building culture and community at its rootsJourney across time with Enthomusicologist Dr. Dmitri Zisl Slepovitch and his bandLitvakus in this musical multi-media extravaganza on 20th Century Eastern and CentralEuropean Jewish History.Interspersing video recordings of Belarusian Jews transmitting once popular, butnow little known and rarely heard melodic gems to a new generation, Traveling theYiddishland creates an engagin interactive dialogue between the performers andaudience that raises important questions of identity and heritage.The heartwarming video source material used in the show was gathered from over adecade’s worth of research.Performed in Yiddish, English, and Russian with English translation supertitles.Accolades:• “a fascinating journey...moving, effective and well executed” – The Forward• “rhythmically explosive ..raw, rootsy and energetic” – The Jewish Week• “[Litvakus] conveys far more than American klezmer’s conventionally foreseeable exuberance” – ObserverCOST: $5,000Plus travel and accommodations for 6



Entertaining the Present COVERS what’s beneathAn intimate contemporary family drama that explores the dynamics of Jewish life andculture shock between generations of recently arrived Russian-Jewish émigrés, Coversis a thought provoking audience-interactive theatrical experience that chronicles thestruggle to reclaim lost identity, among the challenges of an ever-changing world.Performed by The Lost & Found Project, “NYC’s latest immersive and stunninglyinnovative theatre troupe” (MTV News), Covers will transport audiences beneath thedepths, the “covers” of self, and focus a lens on the value systems of Jewish culture.Using those ideologies as a connector to pride and belonging, examining the challengesand celebrating the advancements, this Tour de Force production is aimed to provide anentertaining and educational reflection of how the choices we make today, impact theoutcome of our tomorrow-- and how learning from the past is vital in those choices wemake.Performed in English.AWARDS AND ACCOLADES:• Top 10 Events Pick (New York Magazine, 2014 and 2015)• Best Production Award (ArtOkaina Theatre Festival, 2015)• Best Production Nominee (NY Innovative Theatre Awards, 2014)COST: $6,500Plus travel and accommodations for 13



Enriching the Future SOUL TO SOUL celebrating solidarity through diversityIn this exhillirating concert that’s sure to ingnite an unforgettable emotional experience,Soul to Soul parallels the paths of two minority cultures in search of America’s promiseof freedom. Through prejudice and economic hardship, the turbulance of a dividedcountry, and an ill-informed society, this explosive concert traverses the power of musicas a means of unity, change, and triumph.Featuring enthralling songs and accompanied by sensational timely visuals, you’ll be onyour feet dancing as Soul to Soul celebrates pivotial moments in U.S. History wherein theJewish and African-American cultures stood together against adversity, for Civil Rights,and to build a brighter tomorrow.Conceived with music direction by NYTF Artistic Director Zalmen Mlotek, Soul to Soulfeatures performances by Lisa Fishman (Off Broadway’s The Golden Bride), MagdaFishman (renown Cantor), Elmore James (Broadway’s Beauty and the Beast and BigRiver) and Tony Perry (Five Guys Named Moe).Performed in Yiddish and English, with English translation supertitles.AWARDS AND ACCOLADES:• Citation for Excellence (Manhattan Borough President’s Office, 2017)• Top 10 Events Pick (TimeOut NY, 2017)• Top 5 Events for January (Fox News, 2016 and 2017)COST: $10,000Plus travel and accommodations for 9



A Cultural EducationWORKSHOPS AND GUEST LECTURESwith one hand in the arts, and the other in tradition The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene has teaching artists available to inspire, inform, and develop the professional skills of students at campuses across the country. Zalmen Mlotek is the Artistic director of the Drama Desk Award winning National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. Mr. Mlotek brought Yiddish-Klezmer music to Broadway and Off-Broadway stages with the Tony nominated Those Were The Days (1991) as well as the most recent Drama Desk winning and The New York Times’ Critics Pick The Golden Bride (2016). As a leading authority on Yiddish folk and theatre music, he has worked with countless singers and choruses all over the globe and his piano playing can be heard in over two-dozen recordings and films. Mlotek received his musical training at the Juilliard School of Music and studied under Leonard Bernstein. His vision has been at the heart of The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene for the past 18 years. Motl Didner is the Associate Artistic Director of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. Motl recently co-directed the NYTF production of The Golden Bride (Drama Desk Award Nominated: Outstanding Revival of a Musical and Outstanding Direction of a Musical). Motl was an inaugural participant in the Translation Fellowship at the Yiddish Book Center and has been published in The Yiddish Forward, Di Pakn Treger (Yiddish Book Center) and Afn Shvel. He has been a guest presenter at Columbia University, Rutgers University, Middlebury College, SUNY New Paltz, SUNY Binghamton, Haverford College and CUNY Baruch College. Teen Drama LAB, taught by the internationally-acclaimed professional actors of the Lost & Found Project, is a place where aspiring young actors can develop their dramatic skills through etudes, improv, theater games, voice and movement exercises. Using the Verbatim theatre technique they will explore their identity through family history and personal stories. For program options and cost quotes, please call (212) 213-2120 ext. 202 or email [email protected]



ENGAGING the Past. ENTERTAINING the Present. ENRICHING the Future.Building a living legacyand reaffirming culturalidentity through the arts.NATIONAL YIDDISH THEATRE FOLKSBIENEat the Museum of Jewish HeritageEdmond J. Safra Plaza | 36 Battery PlaceNew York, New York 10280 | NYTF.org