The short Version

New Yiddish Rep is a theater laboratory on the front line of resistance against the extinction of Eastern European Yiddish theater. New Yiddish Rep speaks to a 21st century audience: modern treatments of the Yiddish classics and Yiddish interpretations of modern and post modern masterpieces, in an intimate venue, at affordable prices, with easily readable supertitles. Our strategic vision is a Yiddish repertory theater with a 99 seat home of its own, and a long and diverse season that can both delight the public and serve as a training ground for young Yiddish actors.

The Long Version

We aim to mine the artistic cultural and creative core of Ashkenazic theater and to infuse that essence into the body of present and future theater and theatrical practice. New Yiddish Rep wants to catalyse and remix the energies of the master Yiddish theatrical community whose apex has already been achieved; the Ashkenazic and Yiddish speaking potential audiences whose familiarity with Yiddish theater is limited or naive; the new generations seeking a relationship with the past and significance in the present; the continuum of Jewish communities in addition to the Ahkenazic, and theater enthusiasts of every persuasion.

Yiddish theater has its own cultural identity and yet it has been one of the influential stages of modern world theater. We intend to make it known to a larger audience, outside of its cultural boundaries, both in its classic and unfolding forms. The theater works as a springboard for and incubator of a widening array of Yiddish theater related artistic activities. We carry the classical into the present while we create and develop new Yiddish inspired works and investigate modern approaches to the vast Yiddish theater lexicon that will make it accessible to modern audiences.

Our mission is:  1. to present both classic  Yiddish  and contemporary Yiddish inspired theater in Yiddish, English and multilingual formats; 2. to develop a bilingual, if not  multilingual body of theater professionals to bridge heritage and the present time;  3. to reach established and promote new communities of audience; 4. to redefine the relationship between artist and audience through improvisational, interactional, and devised performance formats; 5. to continue the tradition of translating and interpreting world theater through the prism of Yiddish language and culture; 6. to bring Yiddish and Yiddish inspired thetaer into dialoguwe with contemporay experience; 7. to ensure the continuity and evolution of Yiddish theater as a living and vital part of contemporary Jewish culture and identity.

Through theatrical productions, devised performance, readings, workshops, and related activities, we aim to give Yiddish actors, directors, and audiences, an ongoing venue for exploring their Yiddish identity through theater.

We aim to educate a new generation of Yiddish actors and to illuminate for the public the diversity, cutting edge creativity and universality of the Yiddish theater legacy. We strive to reach and to create new audiences even as we strengthen and satisfy existing ones.