Jews and the Theater

I've grown up appreciating theater, whether it be dramatic or musical.  My mom grew up on Long Island, and would go see Broadway shows with her family quite often.  My dad grew up seeing a lot of plays with his family up in Oregon, a rich and cultural environment.  Of course there is Fiddler on the Roof and plays about Anne Frank which are often seen as stereotypical Jewish theater, but until exploring the internet I was not fully aware that Judaism was brought to light in many other plays, dramas and musicals.

The website Jewish-Theatre.com is quite an interesting and informative website, in my opinion.  The front page has a lot news articles that somehow tie Judaism and theater together.  There are also job and writing opportunities, and a lot of research about theater throughout the world, with a concentration in Europe it seems.  Their advertisements are mostly geared for those living in Europe.  For example, there is an ad for UCL's Jewish studies and Hebrew program, which is the University College London, where in fact my brother studied abroad last spring.  It seems as if there is not a lot of focus on American Jewish theater, which then makes me question if there is much of American Jewish theater community.

I also really enjoyed looking at Yuri Lane's website.  I think beatboxing is an awesome way of expressing yourself, and to put a Jewish and Hebrew twist on it makes it much more fascinating since I can relate myself to the music in a way.  Yuri Lane seems to be very talented, and I wish I had heard of his work before.

For me, the whole concept of taking theater and putting a Jewish "twist" on it is really interesting.  I hope that in class tomorrow we will take a closer look at things such as Yuri Lane and Caroline or Change.