4 Days All Events
Yiddish Festival Pass

Payomet Box Office: 508-487-5400

YIDDISH THEATRE & KLEZMER MUSIC FESTIVAL
SUN, AUG 9 – WED, AUG 12

World class music performances - Staged readings of classics from the realm of Yiddish Theatre- Film Screenings- Comedy - Talks and lectures by luminaries of the Yiddish Theatre - Music workshop by Andy Statman - Jewish (and Irish!) food and drink ...all happening at Payomet Performing Arts Center

Sun, Aug 9 “Festival Kickoff”

Tix $10

Sold out for six weeks straight in its first run in L.A., this film by Dan Katzir has gone on to raves across the country. This powerful and moving story follows the legendary Yiddish diva Zypora Speisman, who helped to propel Yiddish theatre into the twenty-first century right up to its resurgence today.

Enter the funny, larger-than-life world of Yiddish Theater today through this documentary film about the amazing woman who has kept the oldest running Yiddish Theater in America alive.  Zypora Spaisman is a Holocaust survivor who conquers all hearts in her passion for art, life and Yiddish. This heartwarming story of one unique woman's struggle portrays the fight of both an old art form to stay relevant and an old actress to find meaning and a stage in a society that worships youth. 

Shot in real time in one of the coldest winters in NEW YORK, Zypora's theater has one week to raise funding to keep their show going. Many miracles occur during this week. But will they be enough to save this critically acclaimed Yiddish show?

http://www.aliciasvigals.com

Music 8:15pm “Alicia Svigals Klezmer Concert & Dance Party.”

Tix $25 advance, $30 day of show.

Alicia Svigals is one of the founders of the Grammy-winning Klezmatics, has toured with Itzhak Perlman, and is a she-devil with the violin. She, along with her trio, will kick off the festival’s music with a performance guaranteed to get you on your feet.

“She is without question the greatest living exponent of the klezmer fiddle.” --- Seth Rogovoy, author of The Essential Klezmer.
Brilliant Fiddling...Rhythm Music Magazine
Her fiddle ruled...New  York Times
Violin playing with ...depth and urgency...L.A. Times
String work of uncommon beauty...Jazziz

Monday, Aug 10 “Looking for Laughter”

Reading 10am “The Treasure”

Tix $15

The Treasure is the classic Yiddish comedy. Written by David Pinski, who took Yiddish theatre to whole new heights, in a translation by Nahma Sandrow. A town’s landscape becomes pockmarked when the local gravedigger’s son announces that he has discovered buried treasure --- but forgets exactly where. Nahma Sandrow will give a five-minute introduction to the reading, which will be followed by a talkback with the cast and director.

Film 6pm “The Komediant,” directed by Arnon Goldfinger

Tix $10

Here is the story (one of the stories!) of Yiddish Theatre told through the eyes of the famous theatrical family, the Bursteins. Theatre giant Robert Brustein describes this film as “a joyous, even ecstatic experience.”

The Komediant is an Israeli documentary film of 2000 directed by Arnon Goldfinger which recalls the life, and careers of the Burstein family of Yiddish theatre: Pesach Burstein, his wife Lillian Lux, his son Mike Burstyn and daughter Susan Burstein-Roth. It received the prestigious Israeli Academy's Best Documentary Award, and chronicles one of the most visible families of the Yiddish theater in America. The film was made in honor of the 100th birth anniversary of Pesach Burstein in 1996. It contains rare footage of Yiddish theater from the 1930s onwards (especially of the productions of Megilla of Itzik Manger, and A Khasene in Shtetl) and has several guest narrators, including Lillian Lux, Mike Burstyn, and Fyvush Finkel.

Comedy 8:15pm “Beyond The Borshcht Belt”

Tix $20 advance, 25 day of Show

Hosted by Frank Speiser, creator of “The World Of Lenny Bruce” and also “Jewbano.” An evening of performances, sketches, screenings of film clips, and standup comedy that tips its yarmulke to the rich trove of comedy and comedians of Yiddish Theatre, from the turn of the late 1800s right up to Mel Brooks and Billy Crystal today. Tix $20 advance, 25 day of Show.

Tuesday, Aug 11 “The Irish-Jewish Connection”

Reading 10am “Green Fields”

Tix $15

Staged reading of the beloved 1919 play by Peretz Hirschbein. Come and see this timeless comedy-drama which unfolds in a shtetl amidst an idyllic setting.

Film 6pm “Shalom Ireland”

Tix $10

A docuementary film about Ireland’s little known, but remarkable Jewish community. Directed by Valerie Lapin, the film chronicles the history of Irish Jewry while celebrating the unique culture created by blending Irish and Jewish traditions. From gun running for the Irish Republican Army to smuggling fellow Jews from the Holocaust into Palestine, Shalom Ireland tells the untold story of how Irish Jews participated in the creation of both Ireland and Israel.

Music 8:15pm O’Challah

Tix $20

O'Challah is Cape Cod's only Irish/Jewish band. Veterans of the Cape's folk and world music scene, Denya LeVine, Greg Johnson and Clayton March blend innovative arrangements with traditional styles. There is dance music from the Irish, Israeli, and Eastern European Klezmer traditions, with diverse songs in English, Irish Gaelic, Hebrew and Yiddish. Instrumentation is guitar, clarinet, tinwhistle, Irish flute, mandolin and fiddles. It is the bittersweet yet ecstatic nature of traditional Irish and Jewish music that brought them together. This is an upbeat, old world band reflecting the crossover musical links between Ireland and mainland Europe. Expand the borders of your ears! Expect an evening that is energizing, engaging and whimsical.

Wednesday, Aug 12 “New Roots”

Reading 10am “God of Vengeance”

Tix $15

The controversial play by Sholem Asch in a new translation by Caraid O’Brien. A brothelkeeper attempts an unusual juggling act --- trying to conduct his unseemly trade in the basement of his house, while on the second floor he attempts to lead a religious life and contain his sixteen year-old daughter in a bubble that soon explodes. Like all great dramas, this play works on many different levels, a fact that was given short shrift when the entire New York cast of this play was arrested in 1923 on obscenity charges.

Film 6pm Classic short films of Yiddish Theatre

Tix $10

(10-20 mins in length) of Yiddish Theatre productions. Come and see and learn and laugh and cry at the antics --- and great acting --- of a few giants of the Yiddish Theatre stage. Discover for yourself “the great Thomashefsky,” as well as Molly Picon. Find out why Jacob Adler (Stella’s father), also known as the “Great Eagle,” could not be lured from the Yiddish theatre, no matter how hard Hollywood tried.

Music 8:15pm Andy Statman Trio

Tix $30 advance, 35 day of Show.
$40 Preferred Seating

The legendary Andy Statman, considered by aficionados to be one of the great mandolinists and clarinetists walking the planet today. “Statman unearths the soul of Jewish music” --- the New York Times. Andy’s performance spans Jewish music to bluegrass, Klezmer to Jazz, fusing Hassidic melodies to bluegrass and new grass. Statman has played with Bela Fleck on a Grammy-award winning album; and has also collaborated with David Bromberg, Stephane Grappelli, Vassar Clements, and Itzhak Perlman. This will be a concert not to be missed. Andy will be playing in a trio with his longtime band members, master bassist Jim Whitney and Larry Eagles who has toured with, among others, Bruce Springsteen.