The Mother of Yiddish Theatre - (Yiddish Voices) by Mikhl Yashinsky (Hardcover)

About the Book

An historically contextualized English translation of the memoir of actor, impresario and 'Mother of the Yiddish Stage', Ester-Rokhl Kaminska (1870-1925).

Book Synopsis

This book presents a contextualised volume of memoirs penned by the pioneering Polish-Yiddish actor Ester-Rokhl Kaminska. Originally appearing in instalments in Yiddish in the Warsaw Jewish daily 'Der Moment', the memoirs are introduced and translated into English here for the first time. They cover Kaminska's life and work, reflecting on her childhood, how she navigated the move from shtetl to city, and staged underground Yiddish performances, first in the Russian Empire and, after World War One, openly and to great acclaim in independent Poland. The memoirs are little known, despite Kaminska's high standing in the Yiddish theatre world, and yet they richly disclose the texture of everyday life for working Jewish women and the benefits and perils of their move from rural shtetls to more urban environments.

The introduction offers a concise biographical background to Kaminska and points to further sources for all aspects of her career, her life, and the life of her children and important protégés. The result is the most definitive volume available on this towering figure and a significant contribution to our understanding of this little-known period of Yiddish theatre (1890-1920) and the lives of female cultural producers in Russia and Poland at the turn of the 20th century.

Review Quotes

"This important memoir by the "mother of the Yiddish theatre" recounts her path from a sheltered shtetl upbringing to a life of high adventure in a touring Yiddish theatre troupe. Along the way, readers encounter fascinating details about Jewish life in Tsarist Russia and a compelling cast of characters." --Sonia Gollance, Associate Professor of Yiddish Studies, UCL, UK

"Never did I have to sing with an orchestra consisting of only a woman who played the French horn as she breastfed her baby. Nor did I ever have to wheel out manure from a stable before I invited audiences into it so that it could serve as a theatre. But I can certainly relate to the aspiration to act while coming from a family with another path in mind. She writes, 'If some mystery man had appeared before me, God knows who, I would have gladly married him, as long as it meant I would be allowed to go off and perform.' A woman with priorities, I thought, as I read her words in our fellow actor Mikhl Yashinsky's robust and lively translation." --from the preface by Tovah Feldshuh

About the Author

Mikhl Yashinsky was born in Detroit and lives in New York, where he works as a playwright, actor, and Yiddish scholar. His performance in the operetta The Sorceress brought a 'keen, if malevolent, psychology' to the title role (New York Times) and his Yiddish drama The Gospel According to Chaim 'jolted the repertoire with a work that is both traditional and delightfully subversive' (Forward). He is also the translator of Adventures of Max Spitzkopf: The Yiddish Sherlock Holmes (2025).