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Home , Celia Dropkin, Yiddish theatre

Michael Yashinsky Instructor and Researcher, Writer, Director, Actor [email protected] | www.yashinsky.com

——————————————————————————————————————— EDUCATION Harvard College, A.B. Cum Laude, 2007-2011 Concentration: History and Literature (Modern Europe subfield) Awarded Highest Honors by department Secondary concentration: Government (International Affairs subfield) Citation in German language Focuses of coursework: history and literature of 19th and 20th century Britain, Austria, and Germany; European languages; European , languages, and literature; playwriting; theatre; agrarian society and the dairy industry; culinary history; poetry; children’s literature

Yiddish Teachers’ Seminar, August 2016—Copake, NY1 Selected for a fellowship to attend this seminar on the best practices of Yiddish pedagogy, led by master Yiddish instructor Sheva Zucker, who invited me to present my own session at the seminar, on teaching Yiddish through theatre Yiddish Institute Summer Program, July-August 2015—Vilnius, Lithuania Student in the most advanced of four available levels, studying , language, and the Jewish history of Vilna, “the Jerusalem of Lithuania”; for final project, wrote a Yiddish-language screenplay, A vilner tsimes [A Vilna stew] that I filmed on the streets of Vilnius and am in the process of editing Steiner Summer Yiddish Program, June-July 2014—Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA 2-month intermediate Yiddish course combined with work for the Center; in internship portion, worked in education and research, doing biographical research on Yiddish writers for an anthology of short stories in translation then being planned by Anita Norich of the University of Michigan and Josh Lambert, YBC Academic Director, and creating unique Yiddish-language pedagogical materials (under Asya Schulman, Director of the YBC’s Yiddish Language Institute)

RESEARCH INTERESTS Current fields of research: pockets of Yiddish culture in the Midwestern, Southern, and Western regions of the , as well as America; Ashkenazic Eastern European food; Yiddish theatre; Yiddish encounters with the occult; interactions between and Yiddish-speaking

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP October 2012: Became a member of the American Guild of Musical Artists (as a stage director)

LANGUAGES Fluent: English (native), Yiddish, German, Hebrew, Spanish Intermediate: Italian Have studied at the collegiate level: Ladino (Judæo-Spanish), Russian

1 Bolded activities are those directly related to Yiddish-language teaching, research, writing, and performance. !1 Yashinsky Yiddish Instructor and Researcher, Writer, Director, Actor [email protected] | www.yashinsky.com

——————————————————————————————————————— EMPLOYMENT Yiddish Book Center, September 2015-August 2018—Amherst, MA Fellow; Applebaum Fellow; Applebaum Senior Fellow; Education Specialist

—Most recent project was collaborating in the creation of a new first-year multimedia Yiddish textbook, In Eynem, to be published by the Yiddish Book Center. My chief domain in this project is authentic texts: finding authentic Yiddish-language materials in a variety of mediums (film, poems, stories, songs, radio, newspaper advertisements, etc.), devising ways to present them in the textbook, and writing exercises using them, along with surrounding cultural information. At the same time, co-taught a beginners Yiddish course for the Five Colleges; created and edited educational resource kits on and culture for the new site, Great Jewish Books Teacher Resources (teachgreatjewishbooks.org); undertook a trip to Jerusalem to advise on a potential Yiddish exhibition at a Holocaust museum in the capital; and wrote on and translated Yiddish literature for the Center’s website and journal, Pakn Treger.

—Before this, I was the first recipient of the Applebaum Fellowship, a position awarded to young Yiddishists who show promise in the field, to work and research at the YBC as full- time staff. My other responsibilities in this and my current position have included: teaching Yiddish to visiting high school and college classes; leading educational opportunities for our students and advising them in their Yiddish-language activities (discussion groups, Yiddish nature walks, language lessons, theatre workshops; a summer Theatre Club, etc.); serving as a facilitator for a Reboot fellowship, curating and interpreting Yiddish materials in our collection for the creative use of a group of artists; planning and executing a weeklong lecture tour representing the Yiddish Book Center at various locations around Detroit, in which, among other appearances, I taught courses to teachers and students at the Frankel Jewish Academy and a seminar on Yiddish in Detroit at Wayne State University’s Cohn- Haddow Center of Jewish Studies; returning to Detroit on a voluntary basis to build, curate, and catalogue a new Yiddish library at Congregation Shaarey Zedek, drawing from the shul’s basement archive; serving as managing editor for the 2016 Translation Issue of our magazine, the Pakn Treger; administrating a program to train Yiddish-English translators; participating in book rescue expeditions (including a week in Mexico saving nearly 10,000 Yiddish books); researching and writing original content on Yiddish literature and culture for the YBC’s website; translating from Yiddish and Hebrew (essays, poems, archival clips of authors speaking); and conducting oral history interviews in Yiddish.

Frankel Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit, 2013-2015—West Bloomfield, MI —Directed a Yiddish play with the students, the first Yiddish-language play performed by a non-Chassidic high school in the United States since , as reported by the Yiddish newspaper Forverts [Forward], which called the production “historish” [historic] —Taught two classes of Spanish III and Spanish IV—created engaging curriculum (including the examination of linguistic and historical connections between Sephardic Jews and Spanish society), taught Spanish grammar and vocabulary, as well as culture and history of the Hispanophone world, guided students through short performances of Spanish- language songs and scenes, and composition of papers, poetry, and fables based on Ladino proverbs —Also worked as Communications Specialist, producing a weekly newsletter for this college preparatory Jewish high school (my alma mater); editing and proofing; writing articles for and running a news website (fjanews.org); writing for and editing Annual Reports, grants, !2 Michael Yashinsky Yiddish Instructor and Researcher, Writer, Director, Actor [email protected] | www.yashinsky.com

——————————————————————————————————————— and letters to donors. As the leading person in the Communications Department, supervised one other employee.

Michigan Theatre (Detroit Opera House), 2012-2015—Detroit, MI —Assistant directed a number of and directed two children’s operas with the Michigan Opera Theatre Children’s Chorus—in the latter position, I directed fully staged productions with casts of over 80 Detroit youths, aged 8 to 16 years old, and led workshops for them in acting technique, language, movement, improvisation, etc. —Also worked as Coordinator of Community Engagement for the opera house’s Communications Dept., planning free concerts, lectures, and other events to educate the public about opera, classical music, and dance; delivering multimedia presentations on opera at local libraries, museums, schools, and theatres; writing and arranging “classroom guides” for schools on the season’s operas and ballets; collaborating with fellow arts and educational organizations in the area to teach about opera and culturally mobilize the public

Eileen McDonagh, Professor of Government, 2011-2012—Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science Researcher and co-writer on project relating the origins of social welfare institutions to the history of European hereditary monarchies. An article written with my assistantship, “Ripples from the First Wave: The Monarchical Origins of the Welfare State,” was published in the American Political Science Association’s journal Perspectives on Politics (December 2015).

Maya Jasanoff, Professor of History, 2011—Harvard College Reseatrcher and cataloguer of media and visual culture relating to British history

PRIZES Inaugural Applebaum Fellowship, January 2016; renewed September 2016 First recipient of this annual prize from a Detroit-based foundation to fund a Yiddishist spending a year honing his or her scholarship at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA Fishman Foundation for Yiddish Culture Grant, December 2014 For Frankel Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit, won a grant to produce a Yiddish- language one-act play with the students of the school, from this New York foundation that awards prizes for projects that promote young people learning Yiddish Tent: Fashion “Pitch” Prize, August 2014 At the concluding pitch event of the this Yiddish Book Center and Federation CJA- organized workshop on Jewish involvement in the garment industry, my team won this grant to develop “Pack Light,” a line of tote bags featuring portraits of Jewish activists and containing tools relevant to the social causes they advanced. The first bag, honoring labor activist Léa Roback, launched September 2015 in . Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize, Spring 2011 Annual Harvard prize for the most distinguished senior theses at the College, for work entitled, Churning Hearts: The British Milkmaid in the Nineteenth Century John Clive Prize, Spring 2011 For the Harvard thesis of greatest distinction in the field of British History & Literature Radcliffe Doris Cohen Levi Prize, Spring 2011 (Finalist) For the Harvard undergraduate who shows the most promise in Summer Senior Thesis Research Travel Grant, March 2010 Awarded by the Harvard Center for European Studies, to fund thesis research in English rural archives and attendance at the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery !3 Michael Yashinsky Yiddish Instructor and Researcher, Writer, Director, Actor [email protected] | www.yashinsky.com

——————————————————————————————————————— American Prize in Opera Performance, July 2011 For stage direction of Lowell House Opera’s production of Puccini’s Tosca David Rockefeller International Experience Grant, March 2009 Awarded by the Harvard Office of International Programs, to fund an internship at the Theater an der Wien in , Austria National Merit Scholarship, September 2007 Named a National Merit Scholar and given reward towards college tuition AP Scholar with Distinction, June 2007 For having received the top score of 5 on five Advanced Placement tests (English Language; English Literature; Spanish; U.S. Government and Politics; U.S. History)

PUBLISHED/PERFORMED/PRESENTED WRITING To-be published article on the Detroit Yiddish poet Korman, Jewish Historical Society of Michigan, Fall 2018 Currently researching and writing this. “Destined to Create,” February 2018—yiddishbookcenter.org Translation of a speech delivered by Yiddish poet Rokhl Korn at Montreal’s Jewish Public Library in November 1977, on the birth of the poetic impulse in her and other Jewish writers “Feasting is the Finest Prayer: Dreams of the Holy Land In the Pans of Ashkenaz,” July 2017—Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery (St. Catherine’s College, Oxford University) —At this leading culinary history conference, presented a paper on Eastern European- Jewish imaginings and importations of food from pre-State , drawing on Yiddish- language recipes, travelogues, and reminiscences of the period —Will be published in the Symposium’s Proceedings (Prospect Books) “Loshn-Libe” [Tongue-love], August 2017—Yiddish Idol, Mexico City Performed this song I wrote at an international festival of Yiddish music. The song is a fantastical love duet between a student of Yiddish and the language itself. Yiddish Tish: “From the Mouths of Babes,” Fall 2017—Pakn Treger Glossary and article on the language of Yiddish children living in DP camps after WWII “Chapters: Ours,” Fall 2016—Pakn Treger On the ubiquity of the word “undzer” in Yiddish periodical titles, and how it relates to the Jewish communal spirit “The Signs and Symbols of Ezra Korman, Detroit’s Soulful Yiddish Poet,” June 2016— yiddishbookcenter.org On the life and afterlife of a little-known writer. “Eating the Archives,” March 2016—yiddishbookcenter.org A culinary journey into a mysterious bag of archival recipes from 1950s Yiddish newspapers, found in a corner of the Yiddish Book Center “Poet Celia Dropkin’s Paintings,” February 2016 (co-authored with Eitan Kensky)— yiddishbookcenter.org Findings on the rare paintings of Yiddish poet Celia Dropkin, who in her latter years replaced her pen with a paintbrush “Di goldene kale and , From Broadway To Battery Park,” December 2015 —In Geveb (online journal of Yiddish studies) Review of two new Jewish productions seen on one island-hopping day in

!4 Michael Yashinsky Yiddish Instructor and Researcher, Writer, Director, Actor [email protected] | www.yashinsky.com

——————————————————————————————————————— “Unfading Voices: The Many Languages of The Passenger,” November 2015—The Metropolitan On the many-tongued universality of this opera set in Auschwitz and performed at the Detroit Opera House Lid fun der levone [Song of the moon], May 2015—Two Muses Theatre, West Bloomfield, MI I performed this poem for a new character, the “Spirit of the Moon,” as a prelude to the Yiddish-language play I directed, Nokh tsvelf baynakht [After midnight] “The Nutcracker: Leaping Away From, and Toward, Holiday Tradition, with Victoria Morgan,” November 2017—Detroit Free Press; Detroit News An interview with the choreographer and artistic director of the Cincinnati Ballet, in anticipation of the company’s performance at the Detroit Opera House “Some Like it Rethought: The Artistic Integrity of a Mob Rigoletto,” October 2017—Detroit Free Press; Detroit News On the creative conception of an English National Opera production of Verdi’s Rigoletto, re-mounted by Michigan Opera Theatre Picture Imperfect, April 2016—Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, Indianapolis, IN In the dining room of President Benjamin Harrison’s mansion, the Candlelight Theatre performed this Victorian-set drama that I wrote on its commission “Through Love She Floats, and Founders: The Tragedy of Butterfly,” November 2014—The Metropolitan Detroit Article on the psychology of Madame Butterfly and its dark historical echoes, for this alternative monthly focusing on Detroit culture “Mycenæ in Motown: Detroiters Evaluate an Enduring Diva,” October 2014—The Metropolitan Detroit Article on Strauss’s opera Elektra, and differing views on it from a Wayne State classics professor and a psychiatrist for the Detroit Police Also produced a podcast on this topic “Sparks of Eternity: Breakthrough,” August 2014 and “Sparks of Eternity: Kerem b’Yavneh,” August 2015—Michigan State University’s Games for Entertainment and Learning / Frankel Jewish Academy Wrote storylines, and composed dialogue and content-related quizzes for these adventure computer games designed to educate about halacha and Talmudic history, set respectively during the Roman siege of Jerusalem, and the rise of Yavneh, a post-Temple center of learning; available free on the iTunes App Store Lilies Among Thorns, March 2014—Detroit Opera House main stage Play drawing on poems and artwork by child internees of Theresienstadt concentration camp, performed before the production of Brundibár that I directed. The play included a recitation of a Yiddish Holocaust poem I discovered in my archival researches and translated for the surtitles. “Blooms from Barbed Wire,” May 2014—Detroit Jewish News Article on the Theresienstadt opera Brundibár, the Michigan Opera Theatre’s production thereof, and the significance of having children perform it Games We Played, April-May 2014—Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, Indianapolis, IN Performed by the Candlelight Theatre in the parlor of President Benjamin Harrison’s mansion “Turandot Plays Hard to ,” May 2014—The Metropolitan Detroit Article on Puccini’s struggle to complete his final opera

!5 Michael Yashinsky Yiddish Instructor and Researcher, Writer, Director, Actor [email protected] | www.yashinsky.com

——————————————————————————————————————— Roast Owl with Capers: A Rustic and Domestic Opera, June 2013—Tent: Creative Writing, Amherst, MA At the conference’s culminating reading, performed an excerpt from this verse libretto If Plums Grew on a Thistle, April 2011—New College Theatre Magical-realist drama, put on by a professional director and cast, at the 3rd annual Harvard Playwrights Festival “Baltika,” July 2009—Union of Baltic Cities Penned the English lyrics for this international organization’s anthem “Confessions of a Teenage Mascot: My Life as a Bee”—The Best Teen Writing of 2007 (Scholastic) Comedic autobiographical essay published in this collection “A Raisman in the Sun,” August 2012—The Jewish Advocate Poem published in ’s Jewish newspaper, the oldest in the country “Sisera,” February 2012—Mosaic Poem published in Harvard’s Jewish literary journal Arts articles, 2008-2011—Harvard Crimson As Arts Editor, reported on-camera and wrote a number of reviews of music, theatre, and film, as well as interviews (with Grammy-winning American soprano Renée Fleming; Tony- winning set designer Derek McLane; Harvard President Drew Faust; etc.)

INTERNSHIPS/WORKSHOPS Tent: Creative Writing, June 2013—Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA Tent: Theater, August 2013—La MaMa Experimental Theatre in New York City Tent: Fashion, August 2014—Montreal, QC Workshops, discussions with artists (such as playwright Tony Kushner), and seminars on Jewishness and modern culture, for young Jewish professionals working in these creative fields Theater an der Wien, Summer 2009—Vienna Intern in Artistic Administration Dept.—observed rehearsals and production meetings, wrote correspondence, researched and catalogued musical scores, participated in German- speaking work environment Detroit Opera House, Summer 2008 Intern in Communications Dept.—worked to engage youth, designed and wrote articles for educational pamphlets on the season’s opera and dance programs

DIRECTING Nokh tsvelf baynakht [After midnight] (Daixel), May 2015—Two Muses Theatre, West Bloomfield, MI Directed this Yiddish fantasy with a group of young people to whom I taught the language through rehearsal How Nanita Learned to Make Flan (Gonzalez-Medina), April-June 2015 (and ongoing)—Michigan Opera Theatre (various locations around the city) As part of a project of outreach to the Latino communities of Metropolitan Detroit, directed this contemporary opera set in Mexico, which was performed at the Detroit Opera House and in various locations around the city Brundibár (Krása), March 2014—Detroit Opera House main stage Performed by Michigan Opera Theatre Children’s Chorus—worked with the Holocaust Memorial Center on a related event at that museum, at which I spoke along with survivor of Theresienstadt’s Brundibár cast Ela Stein Weissberger, who spoke at and performed in our production of the opera

!6 Michael Yashinsky Yiddish Instructor and Researcher, Writer, Director, Actor [email protected] | www.yashinsky.com

——————————————————————————————————————— The Happy Prince (Williamson, based on Wilde fairy tale), April 2013—Detroit Opera House main stage Performed by MOTCC—as part of the project, the children in the MOTCC engaged in a variety of service projects throughout Detroit, also the setting I chose for my reimagined staging Tosca (Puccini), February-March 2010—Lowell House Opera main stage Led a cast, staff, and orchestra numbering in the hundreds; production set in Fascist Italy The Gondoliers: or, The King of Barataria (Gilbert & Sullivan), April 2009—Agassiz Theatre Performed by the Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert & Sullivan Players Il turco in Italia [The Turk in Italy] excerpt (Rossini) La Juive [The Jewess] excerpt (Halévy), April 2011—Lowell House Library Both as part of performance Volumes: Opera Scenes in the Library Iolanta excerpt (Tchaikovsky), December 2009—Pforzheimer House As part of performance The Joy of Opera Carmen excerpt (Bizet) Il barbiere di Siviglia [The barber of Seville] excerpt (Paisiello), October 2008—Lowell House Junior Common Room Both as part of performance LHO Undergraduate Scenes

PERFORMING (Except where indicated, performed in original languages, e.g. German, Yiddish, Spanish) • Mordcha the innkeeper and Nachum the beggar in Fidler afn dakh (Yiddish-language Fiddler on the Roof)—July-August 2018, National Yiddish Theatre , NYC Directed by Academy and Tony Award-winning actor and director Joel Grey Music directed by • Bobe Yakhne (The Sorceress) in Di kishefmakherin (The Sorceress)—December 2017- January 2018, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, NYC Directed by Motl Didner Music directed by Zalmen Mlotek • Performed song I wrote, Loshn-libe (Tongue-Love) at the Yiddish Idol international festival of Yiddish song—August 2017, Mexico City • Guildenstern in Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead—June-July 2017, Hampshire Shakespeare Company, Amherst, MA The Greenfield Recorder, June 28, 2017: "The title characters are played by John McPhee and Michael Yashinsky, and I’m afraid I might be accused of hyperbole in describing their performances as completely absorbing, delightfully entertaining, intensely illuminating, masterfully slapstick, impressively lively, and poetically captivating. Too much? Too bad. I liked them." • Guildenstern in Shakespeare's —Summer 2017, HSC, Amherst, MA • Shloyme in scene from Shloyme gorgl, Yiddish NY theatre workshop and performance, dir. Allen Lewis Rickman—December 2016, Theater at 14th Street Y • Meyer the Beadle in first act of Der dibek at Yidish-vokh theatre workshop and performance, dir. David Mandelbaum—August 2016, Copake, NY • Gayst fun der levone (Spirit of the Moon) in Shmuel Dayksel's Nokh tsvelf baynakht— Two Muses Theatre, April-May 2015 • Scynthius in Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players’ Princess Ida—Spring 2012 • Bill Bobstay the Boatswain in HRG&SP’s H.M.S. Pinafore—Fall 2011 • Der Freund (The Friend) in Brecht’s Die Kleinbürgerhochzeit—Fall 2010

!7 Michael Yashinsky Yiddish Instructor and Researcher, Writer, Director, Actor [email protected] | www.yashinsky.com

——————————————————————————————————————— • Khonen and Leyvi-Yitskhok in Harvard Yiddish Players’ Di gantse velt iz a teater: An Evening of Yiddish Theatre—Spring 2009 • Sir Marmaduke in HRG&SP’s The Sorcerer—Fall 2009 • Odioso Señor (The Odious Gentleman) in Harvard Teatro’s performance of Miguel Mihura’s Tres Sombreros de Copa—Spring 2008

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