NYTF’s Yiddish Women Playwrights Festival gets under way with The Bird of the Ghetto
Who: Rachel Botchan, Rebecca Brudner, Spencer Chandler, Motl Didner, Kirk Geritano, Avi Hoffman, Maya Jacobson, Daniel Kahn, Lea Kalisch, Rebecca Keren, Avram Mlotek, Lauren Schaffel, Dylan Seders Hoffman, Tatiana Wechsler, Hy Wolfe, Mikhl Yashinsky
What: Inaugural production in NYTF’s Yiddish Women Playwrights Festival
Where: Folksbiene Live!
When: April 18-22, free
Why: At one point in The Bird of the Ghetto (Der Foygl fun Geto), a bird has fallen from a bathhouse roof. “A bird! Look, we found a bird, ” Falke exclaims. When she looks closer, she adds, “I think it’s sick.” Picking up the bird, Sholemke says, “It has broken wings. Look how it trembles. It’s frightened. Do you know how to heal sick birds, Yoyne?” Yoyne responds, “Ask Borukh, he might know.” Falke: “Do you know how to heal sick birds?” Shlemke: “Look, it can’t fly.” Yoyne: “You see, mister? A ghetto bird. You ought to pin the Star of David on it.” Borukh finally chimes in, “A real bird could fly in the ghetto too.” Sholemke: “You mean this is not a real bird? It’s alive. Look, it moves.” Borukh: “A bird should be able to fly. If it can’t fly, it’s not alive even if it lives.” Sholemke: “It’s sick.” Borukh: “So it is.” Falke: “Tell us what to do.” Borukh: “There isn’t much you can do. Be kind to itself, let it help itself.”
Written in 1958 by Holocaust survivor Chava Rosenfarb, The Bird of the Ghetto tells the true story of Jewish resistance fighter Itsik Vitenberg and the 1943 Vilna uprising. Although the play was written in Yiddish, it has never been performed in that language until now, in a virtual reading by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, directed by Suzanne Toren and translated by Goldie Morgentaler. The two-hour work is streaming for free April 18-22, in conjunction with the seventy-eighth anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. It features Rachel Botchan as Edzshe, Rebecca Brudner as Ester, Spencer Chandler as Vitenberg (commander of the United Partisan Organization, known as the FPO), Motl Didner as Shloyme, Kirk Geritano as Yoyne, Avi Hoffman as Judenrat head Yakov Gens, Maya Jacobson as Freydke, Lea Kalisch as Tea, Rebecca Keren as Dine, Avram Mlotek as Borukh, Lauren Schaffel as Falke, Dylan Seders Hoffman as Sholemke, Tatiana Wechsler as Sorke, Hy Wolfe as the doctor, and Mikhl Yashinsky as Yehude. Nearly all the characters wear a large yellow star on their clothing, identifying them as Jewish. The production kicks off NYTF’s Yiddish Women Playwrights Festival, which celebrates Yiddish plays by women writers. “As we commemorate the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, the true story behind The Bird of the Ghetto is a moving testament to the bravery and resilience of the Jewish resistance during the Holocaust,” NYTF artistic director Zalmen Mlotek said in a statement.