ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 14, 1997 TAG: 9701140091
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: KATHY WILLENS ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Folksbiene, America's 'oldest continuously running Yiddish theater,' confronts a language barrier in its effort to stay open
Time and age are taking their toll on the Yiddish Theater, thinning the ranks of its most famous figures. And with few young performers speaking the language or learning its special craft, the venerable institution has a worried eye on the future.
Currently, a troupe of actors ranging in age from 24 to 79 is drawing audiences to the Folksbiene Theatre, or ``people's stage,'' now in its 81st year and the ``oldest continuously running Yiddish theater in the United States.''
While the Folksbiene is not without backers, general manager Elyse Frymer said it needs a permanent space and funds to go on the road every so often.
But the biggest problem, she said, is finding young actors who speak Yiddish. The ancient tongue of Germanic and other origins was spoken by 14 million people in central and Eastern Europe before the Holocaust; just 3 million to 4 million speak it today, scholars say.
Rachel Botchan, who stars in the current production of ``The Maiden of Ludmir,'' does not speak it. Trained in Shakespeare and classical theater, she answered an ad in a trade paper, sang a Yiddish song that she knew - and got the part.
``For the audition, they had two scripts, one in English and one in transliterated Yiddish,'' said Botchan, 24. ``I had a pretty good idea of what I was saying.''
The Folksbiene was founded in 1915 by Jewish immigrants. Many of the founders had performed professionally in their native countries but began here as unpaid amateurs.
Originally on New York's Lower East Side - then the center of immigrant Jewish life, now dominated by Chinatown - the Folksbiene eventually moved uptown. Since 1973, it has used a 400-seat auditorium in the second basement of midtown Manhattan's Central Synagogue.
The season runs from October through January, with all productions in Yiddish. Patrons can rent earphones for $2 to hear simultaneous translation in Russian or English.
Today's actors, all professionals, play to 300 people on a good night - but sometimes to empty seats, or a house ``papered'' with friends, relatives and freebies.
``The Maiden of Ludmir,'' a mildly feminist musical drama by Yiddish scholar Miriam Hoffman, is based on the life of Khane Rukhl Vebermakher, who was born in Ukraine at the turn of the 19th century and ``dared to become a rabbi'' after experiencing a vision.
At a recent matinee, the audience consisted of senior citizens' groups from Philadelphia and New Jersey, Orthodox Jews from Brooklyn and Queens, and 30 Russian immigrants who understood the dialogue well enough to doff their headphones.
``It harkens me back to my youth. It gives me the warm fuzzies,'' said Josephine Mazur, who grew up in a Yiddish-speaking neighborhood of the Bronx.
``It's not only the language that's so wonderful but the gestures and body language,'' said her cousin, Ruth Gollubin.
Bernard Mendelovitch, a 71-year-old Yiddish theater veteran from Bournemouth, England, appears in a guest role as Reb Motele, the famed ``Rebbe of Chernobyl'' who was Vebermakher's real-life mentor.
``Yiddish is not the richest of languages as far as the number of words it contains, but it's much richer in expressiveness than any other language I can think of,'' he said. ``You simply add a shrug of the shoulders or a gesture with one hand, and that can speak volumes.''
Polish-born Zypora Spaisman, at 76 a 41-year veteran of the theater and according to Frymer its ``guiding force,'' recently recalled her 1956 debut in a production called ``The Lonesome Ship.''
``At the time, we didn't have a theater, we played in the `Y' on Stanton Street,'' she said in a National Public Radio interview. ``Downstairs, they're playing pingpong. Upstairs, they're playing handball. Every time they bounced the balls, it made the ship rock - the vibrations were so strong. It was so realistic, people wanted to know how we did it! They thought it was part of the act.''
Spaisman also recalls that after playing one part - of a poor, shabbily dressed town gossip - two women met her outside the theater with stockings and blouses.
``You make us laugh, you make us cry. You're so poorly dressed, we brought you these things,'' they said to Spaisman.
Mendelovitch, who was drawn to London's Yiddish theater at age 22 and witnessed its virtual demise many years later, said working again in New York was ``like a fish being thrown back into the water.''
The Folksbiene has a wonderful sense of togetherness, he said. ``This gives me new hope for the future of Yiddish theater. They're such young and gifted actors. They're all willing to listen to those of us with more experience.''
Said Mina Bern, 79, who plays a woman whose husband has been reincarnated as a rooster: ``I think as long there will be one Jew, Yiddish theater will survive.''
LENGTH: Long : 122 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. AP Rachel Botchan performs the lead role in theby CNBFolksbiene Yiddish Theater's performance of "The Maiden of Ludmir."
The problem is that Botchan, 24, doesn't speak Yiddish, so she had
to learn her role entirely by memorization. She got her part in the
play by singing a Yiddish song that her grandmother taught her.
color
2. I.W. "Itzy" Firestone makes up for his role in "The Maiden of
Ludmir." The 61-year-old Folksbiene Theatre veteran learned Yiddish
- an Eastern European language derived from Hebrew, Russian, Polish
and German - from his Ukrainian-born parents. color
3. The cast of "The Maiden of Ludmir" takes its bows. The New York
theater production is done entirely in Yiddish, but for a $2
headphone rental, simultaneous translation in English or Russian can
be heard. color
4. AP Seventy-nine-year-old Mina Bern makes up before taking the
stage in "The Maiden of Ludmir." Bern plays the role of a woman
whose husband has been reincarnated as a rooster. She says of her
performance," I'm doing. I'm alive. I'm a star. That's all, if you
like it or not." color
5. Zypora Spaisman, 76, was born in Poland and has been performing
at the Folksbiene in New York for 41 years. color
6. Guest performer Bernard Mendelovish, a 71-year-old veteran of
Yiddish theater from Bournemouth, England, prepares for his role As
the Rabbi of Chernobyl. color
7. Members of the audience visting New York from the Stiffel Senior
Center in Philadelphia applaud the Folksbiene Yiddish Theater's
performers. The Folksbiene, or "People's Stage," is in its 81st year
of operation. color