Happy Women’s History Month! Help JWA continue to lift up Jewish women’s stories, this month and every month, by making a gift today!
Close [x]

Show [+]

Theater

Content type
Collection

And the winner is ... no one?

Leah Berkenwald

The 2010 winner of the $25,000 Wendy Wasserstein Prize for playwriting is apparently nobody.

Topics: Art, Theater, Plays

Estelle Getty, 1923 - 2008

... Mostly I admire her for being a genuinely funny, talented woman, who never gave up on her greatest ambitions. In an industry where youth and beauty are often valued far above maturity and wit, Estelle turned the tables.

Wendy Wasserstein, 1950 - 2006

Wasserstein observed that she was often told by producers and others that her plays were 'too New York,' which she understood as being a euphemism for 'too Jewish.' As Wasserstein recounted, when people asked her whether <em>The Sisters Rosensweig</em> with its three Jewish sisters, 'a hit in New York [could] play around the country,' she replied 'Well, you know this is something I've heard &hellip; People have sisters. Now maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they don't have them in Ohio. I could be wrong, but I've heard &hellip; they have sisters there.'

Betty Comden, 1917 - 2006

Her life not only chronicles a history of the Broadway musicals I grew up with, but also an era that allowed many of us to believe in the beauty and power of New York, as well as that melancholy feeling many of us hold as we look back on a period when life was indeed simpler&hellip; Though not a particularly observant Jew, Comden seemed informed by a Jewish frame of mind &ndash; a wise-cracking, down-to-earth, cultural "at homeness" with which I very much identified.

The Colors of Water

Anita Diamant

Water has no color, and yet it contains the rainbow. Transparent and reflective, water reveals the myriad shades of cloud, sky, and light; the rosy glow of dawn, the orange burst of sunset.

The soul has no color, and yet it imbibes the flavors, melodies, and histories of humanity. Intangible and sacred, the soul is never generic; each one tells its own story and sings its own song.

Topics: Art, Theater

Sarah Jones and the Performance of Ethnicity

Gwen

Sarah Jones is an activist who spreads her message from the stage, portraying characters of many different ethnic backgrounds and in a monologue from each person, discussing issues of ethnicity, diversity, and social justice. Many of these characters are based on people she knew or observed while growing up in Queen’s New York.

Topics: Theater

Don't Settle: 5 Life Lessons From Your Red Hot Mama

Leah Berkenwald

I have always loved Sophie Tucker, but after seeing the New Rep Theatre's production of Sophie Tucker: The Last of the Red Hot Mamas with our new JWA intern, Gwen, I see her in a new light. What struck me about the show was that it condensed Sophie's wisdom into five important life lessons -- ones that I found particularly relevant to my life as a single woman today.

Topics: Comedy, Theater

Red Hot Yiddishe Mama

Gwen

On Friday July 2nd, I had the pleasure of watching the New Repertory Theater of Watertown, Ma put on Sophie Tucker: Last of the Red Hot Mamas. I'd recently discovered Sophie while watching Making Trouble, and fallen in love with her witty and larger than life personality.

Topics: Comedy, Theater

"Cravings:" Food and the Jewish experience

Leah Berkenwald

This weekend I went to the Central Square Theater to see Cravings: Songs of Hunger and Satisfaction, a cabaret set in a Jewish kitchen that explores themes of hunger, success, acceptance, nourishment, fame, and sex.  Cravings, starring cabaret artist Belle Linda Halpern, accompanied by Ron Roy, and directed by Sabrina Hamilton, was originally created to close the Ko Festival's 2008 series, themed on food.

As I entered the theater I was surprised to find myself in a Jewish kitchen. The only thing out of place was the piano. Belle Linda Halpern made charoset, and kibbitzed with us in between songs.  She even called on Ron to help peel apples. As a Jewish woman, I found everything in this show relatable. (Except, where did they find such a quiet food processor!?) But what struck me most of all was the connection Halpern draws between the Jewish craving for food and the craving for success and achievement.  

Topics: Food, Theater

Woe unto the single, Jewish actress in New York

Rebecca Honig Friedman

While working on a story about the theater, I came across aninteresting, though as yet anecdotally-based tidbit: There are morefemale than male actors in New York, and the women are more talented toboot.

Topics: Theater

Death of Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp, widow of Wyatt

December 19, 1944

Josephine Sarah Marcus, born to German Jewish immigrant parents in Brooklyn, NY, in 1861, grew up in San Francisco.

Lillian Hellman's "The Children's Hour" is banned in Boston

December 14, 1935

Calling it "indecent," Mayor Frederick Mansfield banned Lillian Hellman's first play, The Children's Hour, from being staged in Boston,

Gertrude Berg debuts in "The Goldbergs"

November 20, 1929

Gertrude Berg's popular radio program, The Goldbergs, about an upwardly mobile American Jewish family debuted on NBC radio on November 20,

Tovah Feldshuh stars in "Golda's Balcony"

October 15, 2003

Golda’s Balcony, starring Tovah Feldshuh, opened at Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theatre on October 15, 2003.

Birth of entertainer Kitty Carlisle Hart

September 3, 1910

Born on September 3, 1910 [some sources say 1911, 1914], Kitty Carlisle Hart began a musical career at a young age and kept performing into her nineties.

Actress Sylvia Sidney born

August 8, 1910

Actress Sylvia Sidney was born Sophia Kosow on August 8, 1910.

Fanny Brice's Ziegfeld Follies debut

June 20, 1910

In her unfinished autobiography, Fanny Brice wrote, "I lived the way I wanted to live and never did what people said I should do." What Brice wanted

European debut of Judith Malina's Living Theatre

June 15, 1961

In performances that were hailed as "good quality directed with great intelligence," "admirable for subtle expressiveness and intelligent composure," and "exceptional," the off-Broadway Living Thea

Wendy Wasserstein first woman playwright to win Tony Award

June 4, 1989

Born and raised in New York City and educated at Mount Holyoke College and the Yale School of Drama, Wendy Wasserstein was already an establish

Racy actress Adah Isaacs Menken appears in her last performance

May 30, 1868

Little is definitively known about the private life and early history of actress Adah Isaacs Menken.

Death of comedian Gilda Radner at 42

May 20, 1989

Gilda Radner's death from ovarian cancer on May 20, 1989 at age 42 cut short a vital life and comedic career.

Yiddish theater star Bertha Kalich is born

May 17, 1874
The "leading lady" of American Yiddish theater sought to raise the artistic standards of the genre, emphasizing serious plays.

Judy Holliday Wins Academy Award for Best Actress

March 29, 1951

Bette Davis, Gloria Swanson, and Anne Baxter were all in the running.

Yiddish Actress Sara Adler Honored for 50 Years on the Stage

March 14, 1939

Born in Odessa in 1858, Sara Adler became an actress who helped to change the face of Yiddish theatre in America.

The "New York Times" reports on Barbra Streisand's Broadway debut

March 23, 1962

"The evening's find is Barbra Streisand, a girl with an oafish expression, a loud irascible voice and an arpeggiated laugh.

Donate

Help us elevate the voices of Jewish women.

donate now

Get JWA in your inbox

Read the latest from JWA from your inbox.

sign up now