Narrative Motion in Rad Yiddish Theater

For the final lecture in the 2023 Zhargon Speaker Series, we welcome Jenny Romaine, who will discuss “Narrative Motion in Rad Yiddish Theater.” The lecture will take place Saturday, June 3rd on Zoom 4:00 – 5:30 pm PST.

In preparation for the lecture, Jenny asked us to share with you the following media and reading recommendations:

1. Great Small Works' website is filled with images and descriptions of all of the work I mention in the talk, and more. Please enjoy listening, reading and watching more about politically engaged theater there. Also feel free to add yourself to our e-list to stay connected.

2. Craftivism by Anne Cvetkovitch (short Youtube video)

3. Part 1 and/or Part 2 of “Truth in Gay Clothes, or Gagarin’s Space Suit” by Romaine and Yevgeniy Fiks

4. Introduction (pages 4 - 9) of Ezra Berkley Nepon’s 2016 book Dazzle Camouflage: Spectacular Theatrical Strategies for Resistance and Resilience (PDF provided)

Jenny Romaine is a director, designer and puppeteer and co-founder/artistic director of the OBIE winning Great Small Works visual theater collective. She is music director of Jennifer Miller’s CIRCUS AMOK and artist in residence at Milk Not Jails and Inside Change. With Great Small Works Romaine performs, teaches, and directs in theaters, schools, parks, libraries, museums, prisons, street corners, and other public spaces, producing work on many scales, from gigantic outdoor spectacles with scores of participants, to miniature shows in living rooms. She has directed and designed community-based spectacles for numerous projects in New York City and around the world.

Romaine was a sound archivist at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research for 13 years and for several decades has drawn on Yiddish/Pan Jewish primary source materials to create art that has contemporary meaning. 

Event Image: Jenny Romaine in the play The Revival of the Uzda Gravediggers, 2015