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Vilna Troupe
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The Vilna Troupe (also known as Vilner Troupe; Lithuanian: Vilniaus trupe; Romanian: Trupa din Vilna) also known as Fareyn Fun Yiddishe Dramatishe Artistn (FADO, Federation of Yiddish Dramatic Actors) and later Drama si Comedie ("Drama and Comedy") was an international and mostly Yiddish-speaking theatrical company, one of the most famous in the history of Yiddish theater.
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The Vilna Troupe (also known as Vilner Troupe; Lithuanian: Vilniaus trupe; Romanian: Trupa din Vilna) also known as Fareyn Fun Yiddishe Dramatishe Artistn (FADO, Federation of Yiddish Dramatic Actors) and later Drama si Comedie ("Drama and Comedy") was an international and mostly Yiddish-speaking theatrical company, one of the most famous in the history of Yiddish theater. It was formed in and named after Vilnius (Vilna), a city which was then part of the Russian Empire and is now the capital of Lithuania. Distinctly modernist, and strongly influenced by Russian literature and by the ideas of Konstantin Stanislavski, their travels in Western Europe and later to Romania played a significant role in the dissemination of a disciplined approach to acting that continues to be influential down to the present day.
Early years
Founded in 1915 or 1916 in the midst of World War I, the troupe began with the deserted Vilna State Theatre as their base, toured Kovno, Bialystock and Grodno, and soon moved to the Polish capital, Warsaw. Their repertoire epitomized the second golden age of Yiddish theater, with works by S. Ansky, Sholom Aleichem, and Sholem Asch, but also by Molière, Maxim Gorky, Henrik Ibsen, plus some Jewish-themed plays by non-Jews, notably Karl Gutzkow's Uriel Acosta. Their uniform Lithuanian Yiddish stood in contrast to the mix of dialects often heard in Yiddish theater at the time.
They were the first to stage Ansky's The Dybbuk. Early versions of the play were written variously in Russian and Yiddish, but Russian director and method acting pioneer Stanislavski (who first encountered the work in Russian) made several suggestions to Ansky. One of these was that for the sake of authenticity the piece should be in Yiddish. Stanislavski's death prevented the play from being produced at the Moscow Art Theater. At the time of Ansky's death, November 8, 1920, the play was complete but had never been professionally produced. As a tribute to Ansky, the Vilna troupe, under the direction of David Herman, utilised the 30-day period of mourning after his death to prepare the play, which opened December 9, 1920, at the Elysium Theatre in Warsaw. Its unanticipated success established the play as a classic of modern Yiddish theater.
They toured extensively; they played in New York City, London and Paris. Their 1923 London production of Sholem Asch's The God of Vengeance at the Pavilion Theatre in London's Whitechapel district was shut down by the censor (who had originally passed it based on an English-language synopsis). The play includes a portrayal of a lesbian relationship, which is the most favorably portrayed relationship in this rather dark play.
Among the members of the troupe was Joseph Green, later one of the few Yiddish-language filmmakers.
Bucharest
In 1923, the Vilna troupe came to Bucharest at the invitation of Isidor Goldenberg of the Jignita Summer Theater. At the time, the troupe included actresses Hanna Braz, Luba Kadison, Helene Gottlieb, Judith Lares, Hanna Mogel, and Miriam Orleska and actors Alexander Stein, Joseph Buloff, Aizic Samberg, Joseph Kamen, Jacob Weislitz, Leib Kadison, Samuel Schäftel, Benjamin Ehrenkrantz, and Haim Brakasch. The director of the company was Mordechai Mazo. Also instrumental in helping the transition was author, businessman and Zionist activist A. I. Zissu (the brother-in-law of celebrated Romanian poet Tudor Arghezi), who was reportedly the company's main financial backer after 1923.
According to playwright and cultural promoter Israil Bercovici, their disciplined approach to theater impacted not only Romanian Yiddish theater but Romanian theater generally. Their audience went beyond the usual attendees of Yiddish theater: they drew the attention of the Romanian-language press, the Romanian theater world, and of "men of culture" generally. For example, an article August 23, 1924 in the daily newspaper Adevarul wrote that "Such a demonstration of artistry, even on a small stage such as Jignita and even in a language like Yiddish ought to be seen by all who are interested in superior realization of drama." Romanian literary critic Paul Cernat argues that the Vilna Troupe acted as a ferment for the local avant-garde and Expressionist scene, and, through extension, for cutting edge Romanian literature. Cernat also notes that, while most Romanian avant-garde shows remained "simple playful curiosities", "expressionist aesthetics were not without consequences on the [new Romanian] theatrical texts." In Cernat's view, the Vilna Troupe accomplished this in tandem with various local companies and promoters. Among the latter, he cites Zissu, Benjamin Fondane, Ion Marin Sadoveanu, Armand Pascal, Sandu Eliad, Scarlat Callimachi, Dida Solomon, George Ciprian and various authors affiliated with Contimporanul magazine. Citing cultural historian Ovid Crohmalniceanu, Cernat also concludes that the branch of Expressionism favored by the company followed a distinct path, having its roots in Hasidic Judaism.
The Vilna Troupe was instantly made notorious by its staging of The Deluge, a work by Swedish-born dramatist Henning Berger, which was positively reviewed by the prominent literary magazine Rampa. The Deluge was a headliner by the company, until being replaced by Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths (August 1924). The artistic praise did not pay the bills, and touring elsewhere in Romania only made the financial picture worse. According to modernist author Mihail Sebastian, the actors' commitment and the quality of the shows contrasted heavily with the venues they were touring. Sebastian referred to one of the latter as "once destined for Jewish pornography", and recounted how news of the Vilna Troupe "miracle" had spread by word of mouth. The situation was aggravated when the actors had to take a break from performing at the Jignita, following the death of its female owner, Sofia I. Lieblich. During that period, several actors left their temporary home in Romania, most of them settling in the United States.
Their fortunes were salvaged by a 1925 production of Osip Dymov's Der Zingher fun Zain Troirer ("The Singer of His Sorrow"), created in collaboration with Jacob Sternberg's troupe. Der Zingher… was another critical success: writer Victor Eftimiu called it "a model of stylized realist theater", while dramatist Ion Marin Sadoveanu argued that it was comparable to "the best scenes" produced in France by the acclaimed director Jacques Copeau. It was also an unprecedented hit, and ran at length at Bucharest's Central Theater. On their 40th show with the play, the actors were rewarded with portraits specially drawn by caricaturist Kapralik. The company was by then also being reviewed by the modernist platform Integral, and especially by its two main columnists, Ion Calugaru and M. H. Maxy, both of whom later chose to become directly involved in its activities. Their initiative followed their dissatisfaction with the choice of Der Zingher fun Zain Troirer and in particular with Joseph Buloff's directing: the magazine accused Buloff of having "abused color in order to complete a null text." For a while, Calugaru replaced Mazo as director of the troupe, while Maxy provided the scenic design for several productions.
In time, the positive reception indirectly helped establish close cultural connections between the newly-emancipated Jewish-Romanian community and sections of the ethnic Romanian majority. This, Cernat notes, was in glaring contrast to a parallel phenomenon, "the recrudescence of antisemitic manifestations, particularly among the students". Solidarity with the company and the Jewish community at large was notably expressed by left-wing public figures, among them Arghezi, Gala Galaction, N. D. Cocea and Contimporanul editor Ion Vinea. In an article for the leftist magazine Lupta, Victor Eftimiu also expressed his opinion that the cultural renaissance heralded by the Vilna Troupe could enforce cultural patriotism and nationalism among the Romanian Jews, and thus make "Jewishness" prove itself more worthy than "the braggadocios" of other nationalist discourses. Writing in the Warsaw Yiddish language Literarishe Bleter during the run of Der Zingher…, Joseph Buloff was amazed at the positive reception that Yiddish theater received among the Gentiles of Bucharest. He remarked that the Romanian actor Tanti Cutava was equally comfortable acting in French and Yiddish as in his native Romanian, that he often hear ethnic Romanians sing a song from Yiddish theater over a glass of wine, that Romanian writers and artists invited Yiddish actors to their get-togethers. Apparently, this formed a stark contrast to Warsaw at the same time. Following the November 1924 establishment of an Amicii teatrului evreiesc ("Friends of the Jewish Theatre") association designed to help the troupe recover from its financial slump, several such clubs were set up by Jews and Gentiles in various Romanian localities.
The company also registered success when, in late 1925, it decided to reinstate The Deluge as its headliner. Apparently, the production was the work of several directors, and underwent significant changes from one staging to another, in both direction and assignment of roles. It earned further praise from critics, especially after Luba Kadison replaced Orleska in the play's sole female role (Buloff and Leib Kadison, who had been assigned the title roles in the original variant, had by then withdrawn). Der Zingher… and The Deluge were followed by successful Bucharest productions of David Pinsky's Melech David un Zaine Froien ("King David and His Women") and Leo Tolstoy's The Living Corpse. Pressured, in part, by a 32% tax on performances by foreign troupes, by the end of 1925, the troupe had decided to reconstitute themselves as a Bucharest-based troupe, taking the Romanian-language name Drama si Comedie.
Drama si Comedie
"The wandering troupe from Vilna will stay put... after an era of prolonged touring," reported Integral. "They will fix on a program, which will no longer oscillate between melodrama and an expressionist mural. Apparently, the prospect launched today is precise: a new group tending to go along the route of modern innovation. 'No compromise with lack of taste—no compromise with bad taste': a shout that justifies an existence and would be worthy of realization."
The "no compromise" slogan came from the statement of program, really more of an artistic manifesto, with which the reconstituted group launched itself. The same document also declared the troupe's intent "to offer the masses and intellectuals simultaneously an institution of culture". The new troupe included actresses Braz, Luba Kadison, Lares, Orleska and actors Stein, Buloff, Kamen, Weislitz, Leib Kadison, Schäftel from the 1923 roster, plus additional actresses including Noemi Nathan and Joheved Weislitz, and actors including Jehuda Ehrenkranz, Samuel Irish, Simha Nathan, Sholom Schönbaum, Henry Tarlo, and Simi Weinstock.
However, Drama si Comedie would play only one full season of theater (1925–1926), with some remnants struggling on another year. Their productions, beginning with Alter Kacyzne's Ger tzedek ("The Neophyte") and including Nikolai Gogol's Marriage, were critically acclaimed, but they never matched the commercial success of Der Zingher…. Directed by Sternberg, and endorsed by writers Arghezi, Felix Aderca and Alfred Hefter-Hidalgo, the Marriage production was also at the center of a dispute in the literary community, due to its innovative aesthetics. Integral reacted when some spoke of it as an example of the constructivist "pure theatre" guidelines theorized by Contimporanul, and instead explained it as an example of "synthetic" theatre. Also during that period, the staging of Ger tzedek received criticism from Contimporanul chronicler Sergiu Milorian, who saw in it proof that traditional "Yiddishist" plays were "unperformable", while arguing that the contribution of painter Arthur Kolnik in "the science" of scenic design was the show's only merit. After the sudden and unexpected death of actress Judith Lares, director Mazo left for Warsaw and then Vilna. The troupe continued briefly with Luigi Pirandello's Man, Beast, and Virtue in the 1926–1927 season.
Later years
After the breakup of Drama si Comedie, there were several revivals of the Vilna Troupe in New York City over the next decade or so. The first of these was a revival of The Dybbuk at the Grand Theater in April 1926. In late summer 1926 they were at the Liptzin Theater performing Rasputin and the Czarina. In March 1929, they were playing Clement Gottesfeld's Parnuse ("Business") in the Bronx. The production moved in May to the Yiddish Folks Theater at Second Avenue and 12th Street, near the center of New York's main Yiddish theater district of the time. Director Jakob Rotbaum began his professional career staging Eugene O'Neill with the troupe in 1930.
Shows continued to be produced in Bucharest under the Vilna Troupe name even after 1927. Following the breakup of Drama si Comedie, a play The Flood was put on at the Baraseum theater, which was loosely the story of the Vilna troupe. In a March 1929 article for Cuvântul newspaper, Mihail Sebastian announced that the company was returning to Bucharest. In early 1930, company actors also staged Isaac Leib Peretz's A Night in the Old Marketplace, later described by Crohmalniceanu as one of the "memorable dates in the history of European Yiddish theater", alongside 1925's Der Zingher fun Zain Troirer. The production, directed by Sternberg, was the subject of a "literary trial" in the intellectual community: Sternberg's radical modernist approach was scrutinized by the more reserved authors Camil Petrescu and Barbu Lazareanu, but their accusations were denied merit by a pro-avant-garde group comprising Maxy, Sandu Tudor and Ilarie Voronca. References to the troupe and its role were also present in Maxy's overview of modernist performances in Romania, published by unu magazine in February 1931.
In January of the following year, the fate of the company was also discussed by Sebastian, in his column for Cuvântul. The writer, who had followed the Vilna Troupe's activities over the previous decade, was reviewing Joseph Kamen's return to the Romanian stage with another group of actors. Remembering his impression of the original troupe's shows, Sebastian spoke of its "melancholic destiny": "ever since then, death, dissipation and perhaps fatigue have passed through all these things. [J]udith Lares, who sleeps her eternal sleep in some town in Transylvania. [Buloff], who confronts an infamous public in America. Stein, lost in some place I don't recall."
The company disbanded again in 1931. Still, several members of the troupe continued on occasion to perform together in the United States. In September 1936, Sonia Alomis, Alexander Asro, and Noah Nachbush performed a program of short pieces at the New School for Social Research, which The New York Times said "remind[ed] us that they are still an active force in [Jewish] theater." Among the plays performed were Sholom Aleichem's Kapores, Mikhail Artsybashev's one-act Jealousy, Der Tunkeler's Should I Marry, or Shouldn't I?, and Veviorke's A Philosopher—A Drunkard. Several members of the troupe participated in a 1937 New York revival of The Dybbuk, directed again by David Herman.
The Vilna Troupe's success with The Deluge had made various Romanian intellectuals seek to preserve the text in a Romanian-language translation. This was first attempted in 1928 by an author named Iosif Vanciu, but its staging by the National Theatre Cluj received bad reviews. During the final stages of World War II, following the August 23 Coup of 1944, the project was resumed by the Baraseum and Sebastian, resulting in a loose adaptation based not on Berger's original, but on the text as performed by the Vilna Troupe. In his stage program for the play, Sebastian offered additional praise to his predecessors, but noted that, although "excellent", the Vilna Troupe's text had to be adapted for being too "sketchy".
Members
- Sonia Alomis (alternatively Alumes)
- Alexander Asro (alternatively Aleksander Azro)
- Jacob Bleifer
- Joseph Buloff
- Moses Feder
- Joseph Green (then Greenberg)
- Leib Kadison
- Luba Kadison
- Matus Kowalski
- Jacob Lubotsky
- Mordecai Mazo
- Noah Nachbush
- Lea Naomi
- Chaim Shneier (also known as Chaim Hamerow)
- Eliosha Stein
- Sholom Tanin
- Miriam Veide
- Freda Vitalin
- Pola Walter
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