Jews and Theater in an Intercultural Context

Edna Nahshon, Ph.D. (1988) in Performance Studies, New York University, is professor of Hebrew and Theater at the Jewish Theological Seminary. She specializes in the intersection of Jewishness and performance. Her books include Yiddish Proletarian Theatre: The Art and Politics of the Artef, 1925-1940, From the Ghetto to the Melting Pot: Israel Zangwill’s Jewish Plays, Jews and Shoes, Jewish Theatre: A Global View and the forthcoming Countering Shylock: Jewish Responses to ‘the Merchant of Venice’.

• Religion and origins1. The Biblical Balaam ‘Play’ and its Stage Design in Pictures: A Religious Satire?Shimon Levy2. From Alexandria to Berlin: The Hellenistic Play Exagoge Joins the Jewish CanonSarit Cofman-Simhon3. The Passion of Tafi del Valle: The Representation of Jews in an Argentinean Passion PlayTamara Kohn4. Going Against the Grain: Jews and Passion Plays in America, 1879-1929Edna NahshonPlays and Playwrights5. Conceptions, Connotations, and /or actions: How to Present Jewish Characters on the German Post-War Stage – The example of Heinar Kipphardt’s PlaysMatthias Naumann6. Between “I and Thou”: Buber, Expressionism and Ernst Toller’s Search for CommunityDavid Garfinkle7. Holocaust Memory in the French-Jewish theater of Jean-Claude GrumbergSeth L. WolitzHolocaust8. Voices from the Edge of the Abyss: Theatrical texts from the Terezin GhettoLisa Peschel9. Jewishness in American Documentary TheatreCarol Martin10. Fritz Kortner on the Postwar Stage: The Jewish Actor as a Site of MemoryMichael BachmanInterpretations and reinterpretations11. Jews in Fashion at the Moscow Art TheatreLaurence Senelick12. Restaging Halevy’s Opera The JewessHans-Peter Bayerdoerfer13. Contemporary Audiences, Shylock, and the Infamous ‘Pound of Flesh’ in The Merchant of VeniceMelia BensussanThe Contemporary Scene14. The Joy of Breaking Taboos: Jews in Postwar German TheatreAnat Feinberg15. From Merchant of Venice to Mein Kampf: The Representation of Anti-Semitism and its Reception by Jewish and Gentile Audiences in Contemporary HungaryAniko Szucs16. From Purimspiel to Polish MasqueradeBrigitte Sion17. "Jewface” Minstrelsy and “Jewfaçade” Display: Performing Jewish Cultural Memory in Contemporary Europe and EurasiaS.I. Salamensky18. Hadassah and Halacha: the Interventions of Queer Jewish Performance ArtCarol ZemelAppendix: Mama’s Coming Back, Poor Orphan [A Song]A play by Jean-Claude Grumberg, Translated by Seth Wolitz