Israeli Husband & Wife Stars to Appear Off-Broadway in AWAKE AND SING!

Renowned husband & wife Israeli actors Gera Sandler and Ronit Asheri are set to star in the upcoming Off-Broadway revival of Clifford Odets' masterpiece AWAKE AND SING!, with performances beginning this Saturday, November 25th at the Theater at the 14th Street Y, 344 East 14 Street (between First & Second Aves.)

A Yiddish version of AWAKE AND SING! was produced by the Federal Theatre Project on Broadway in 1938 and it is this translation that will be performed in this new production with English supertitles.

Gera Sandler is a distinguished Israeli actor with numerous film credits including JELLYFISH, A FILM UNFINISHED and A TALE OF LOVE AND DARKNESS. He was one of the leading actors in the Yiddish theatre in Israel where his prominent roles included Nathan Rothschild in the musical THE ROTHSCHILDS, Herschel in SIMPLE STORY and Yasha Mazur in THE MAGICIAN OF LUBLIN. Ronit Asheri is a major leading lady at the prestigious Yiddishspiel Theater, Israel's only Yiddish theater now in its 30th year of operation. She starred in many productions there including THE MAGICIAN OF LUBLIN, THE DOCTOR IN SPITE OF HIMSELF, THE BIG WINNER, and A YIDDISHE MAMEH.

The famed Group Theatre presented the Broadway premiere of Clifford Odets' AWAKE AND SING! in 1935 and the play returned to New York three years later featuring a Yiddish-speaking cast directed by Jacob Mestel. This 1938 Federal Theatre production restored to the play some qualities it lost earlier when Odets' colleagues at The Group Theatre had asked him to tone down the Yiddish colloquialisms and syntax that were part of his New York ghetto characters' English. The playwright's initial impulse to let Jewish immigrants speak of struggle, poverty and survival in their own language and speech rhythms was realized anew in Chaver Paver's adaptation. Odets' distressed characters who longed for a life "not printed on dollar bills" could be heard speaking Yiddish nightly on Broadway, at Daly's 63rd Street Theatre, from December 1938 to April 1939.

Generally considered Clifford Odets' finest play, AWAKE AND SING! is the story of the Bergers, a lower-middle-class, three-generation Jewish family living in a Bronx apartment during the Depression. AWAKE AND SING! recalls that this country was founded as the land of opportunity for immigrants who came with an enduring belief in the American dream.

Under the direction of New Yiddish Rep artistic director, David Mandelbaum, the international cast of AWAKE AND SING! will also feature Amy Coleman (original productions of BEEHIVE & THE LAST SESSION), Lea Kalisch (COCOADIOS, BOUNTIFUL), Mira Kessler (GOD OF VENGEANCE), Moshe Lobel ("Untold Genius"), David Mandelbaum (WAITING FOR GODOT, YENTL), Eli Rosen (RHINOCEROS), and Luzer Twersky ("Transparent," new Netflix documentary ONE OF US).

New Yiddish Rep is dedicated to creating modern theater which speaks to a diverse contemporary audience, including those who never might have thought they could connect to a performance in a language other than their own.

AWAKE AND SING! is being presented in association with the Theater at the 14th Street Y and performances will be Tuesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 pm, with matinees Saturday & Sunday at 2 pm through December 24th. Tickets are available through www.NewYiddishRep.org or by calling 646-395-4310.