Corona and the “New Normal”

A second staging of the experimental Zoom play, first adapted in 2021. See Yiddish STARS in action – Avi Hoffman starring as Corona, Suzanne Toren as the Internet, Sam Guncler as The Essential Worker, Bertolt Karsten Troyke as Twitter, Mikhl Yashinsky as Facebook, Lea Kalisch as Instagram, Moishele Mario Alfonso as Madame Netflix, and Lea Rozenfeld as Baby Tiktok. The performance was a part of our annual fundraiser in 2022. It was followed by a premiere of the 3D animation of the Yiddishland California project by Kendal Eastwood, featuring a brand new song by Psoy Korolenko. 

“Kraft” (Power)

“Power” – written by Leah K. Hofman in 1930 – is about civilization and what fuels it, literally and figuratively. The personification of Electricity outpowers Steam. The Airplane outmaneuvers the Horse and Madame Cinema outshines the radio. The only human character is the abstract Slave, whose naive questioning reveals that the more things change, the more they stay the same. The performance was part of San Diego’s Fringe Festival in 2019.   

Wooden Wars

A contemporary play by Jana Mazurkiewicz Meisarosh, “Wooden Wars” is set in modern Poland and follows four young Catholics as their lives take a significant turn upon discovering potential Jewish roots. The play’s language evolves from a mix of Yiddish and English to mostly Yiddish, raising a thought-provoking inquiry: is Yiddish the linchpin for understanding the intricate Jewish history in Poland? Performed live in 2015 at the University of Michigan and later digitized.  

Mageyfe Khasene 

In May 2020, we didn’t celebrated Mother’s Day with a cliché Mother’s Day Champagne Brunch. Instead, we hosted a Mageyfe Khasene (plague wedding) spectacle featuring famous Yiddish artists and academics such as Michael Steinlauf, Psoy Korolenko, Yale Strom, Elizabeth Schwartz, Polina Shepherd, Mikhl Yashinsky, Alicia Svigals, Anna Rozenfeld, Lea Rosenfeld, Rafi Caplan, Amelia Gleser, and Tanja Yakovleva! We raised money to hire more Yiddishists in order to transform our small organization into a House of Yiddishland, to operate both locally in San Diego and internationally.