Haute Event: The National Yiddish Theatre – Folksbiene Cabaret Dinner

The National Yiddish Theatre – Folksbiene held their annual Cabaret Dinner November 22 at Bohemian National Hall. The gala honored Five-time Tony Award-winning Broadway producer and critically acclaimed author and playwright, Stewart F. Lane and holocaust survivor and owner of Martin Greenfield Clothiers, Martin Greenfield.

Lane has War Horse and Priscilla Queen of the Desert currently running on Broadway. Greenfield has created clothes for celebrities, presidents, politicians and most recently, for the cast of the Emmy Award-winning series Boardwalk Empire.

The event featured performances by Judy Blazer, Judy Kaye, Elmore James, Stuart Zagnit, and Tony and Emmy-Winning Actor, Ron Rifkin. A celebration of light and hope, the gala benefit also featured performances by young Folksbiene company members — some in their teens — who are being trained and nurtured by the Drama Desk Award-winning company to carry the torch of Yiddish culture, with all its rich, varied and profoundly humanist traditions.

The Cabaret Dinner benefits The National Yiddish Theatre – Folksbiene, the nation’s only professional Yiddish theatre, and the longest continuously producing Yiddish theatre in the world. Now in its historic 96th consecutive season, Folksbiene presents plays, concerts and literary events in English and Yiddish, with English and Russian supertitles accompanying all performances.

The company’s two-fold mission is to preserve the legacy of the Yiddish theatre — dating back to the late 19th century in Europe — and to add to this legacy by developing new work. Through its numerous accommodations for non-Yiddish speakers, its outreach to underserved audiences in and outside of New York, and its cultivation of new work and young actors, the company has significantly broadened and diversified its audience.