Meet the Author: Stefan Kanfer, Mon Nov 13, 2006

By Bert Gambini, WBFO

Buffalo, NY – Stefan Kanfer, author of Stardust Lost: The Triumph, Tragedy, and Mishugas of the Yiddish Theater in America

Monday, November 13th at 7 p.m.
MusicalFare Theatre at Daemen College

Click here to buy the book

Once a vibrant part of the cultural life of New York City, Yidish theater disappeared over the course of the 20th century, but in STARDUST LOST Stefan Kanfer brings the tradition roaring back to life. He tracks its emergence in 19th-century Eastern Europe, where anti-Semitism created the perfect environment for an ancient theatrical tradition to flourish as both escape and communal experience. He shows how Yiddish theater found its best home when European Jews immigrated to America, reaching a brilliant pinnacle on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the 1910s and 1920s. Kanfer describes the energy, belief and pure chutzpah it took to establish and run the theaters. He reveals the drama and comedy that played on the stage and behind the scenes, and introduces all the players: actors, playwrights, directors and producers. Finally he describes the effects of assimilation and world events on the theater: slowly draining it of its relevance and ultimately, of its audiences.

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