Yiddish Women Playwrights Series Continues With ALE FENTSTER TSU DER ZUN (ALL WINDOWS FACE THE SUN)

At long last, women playwrights take center stage at the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. The Yiddish Women Playwrights Series, scheduled to proceed on June 21, 2022 with a FREE streamed production of Kadya Molodowsky's Ale Fentster Tsu der Zun (All Windows Face the Sun), highlights revolutionary, avant garde, feminist works from writers whose contributions to the Yiddish theatre have long been overlooked, ignored, and locked away.

This Summer, the Folksbiene celebrates the work of Kadya Molodowsky - a groundbreaking Yiddish dramatist, theatre critic, and poet.

The production was translated by Sabina Brukner and Faith Jones. Jenny Romaine directed and designed the production, with sound design by Nathan Leigh. It was produced and edited by Motl Didner.

The cast includes Mendy Cahan, Motl Didner, Zeydi Gold-Shapiro, Dylan Seders Hoffman, Heather Klein, Lori Leifer, Avram Mlotek, Zelda Kahan Newman, Jenny Romaine and Lili Rosen.

All Windows Face the Sun is the story of Binyumen, an optimistic builder's apprentice who creates a magical tower that allows listeners to hear the past - hoping that looking back will help the world to move forward. But when the tower shares some unpleasant truths, the people in power must choose between the convenience of forgetting and facing the ugly realities of human history head on.

The all-virtual production begins streaming for free on the Folksbiene! LIVE platform starting midnight EST on June 21, 2022. It will be available to watch indefinitely - please click here to view the Folksbiene's full library of virtual concerts and theatre productions.

The Yiddish Women Playwrights Series began last Spring with a virtual reading of Chava Rosenfarb's Bird of the Ghetto. Based on a true story and presented in Yiddish for the first time ever, the play chronicled the tragic true story of Jewish resistance fighter Itsik Vitenberg and was presented during the anniversary of the start of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Now entering its 108th season, Drama Desk Award-winning National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF) is the longest consecutively producing theatre in the US and the world's oldest continuously operating Yiddish theatre company. NYTF is in residence at the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Zalmen Mlotek and Executive Director Dominick Balletta, NYTF is dedicated to creating a living legacy through the arts, connecting generations and bridging communities. NYTF aims to bring history to life by reviving and restoring lost and forgotten work, commissioning new work, and adapting pre-existing work for the 21st Century. Serving a diverse audience comprised of performing arts patrons, cultural enthusiasts, Yiddish-language aficionados and the general public, the company presents plays, musicals, concerts, lectures, interactive educational workshops and community-building activities in English and Yiddish, with English and Russian supertitles accompanying performances. NYTF provides access to a century-old cultural legacy and inspires the imaginations of the next generation to contribute to this valuable body of work

The Folksbiene recently produced the New York premiere of Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman's Harmony: A New Musical, which closed in May of 2022 after a sold-out run. The production won a Drama Desk award (outstanding book of a musical, Bruce Sussman) as well as an Off-Broadway Alliance award for best musical and the BroadwayWorld Theatre Fans' Choice Award for best off-Broadway musical. Harmony was also nominated for eight Outer Critics Circle Awards (outstanding ew off-Broadway musical; outstanding actor in a musical, Chip Zien; outstanding director of a musical, Warren Carlyle; outstanding choreography, Warren Carlyle; outstanding book of a musical, Bruce Sussman; outstanding score, Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman; outstanding orchestrations, Doug Walter; and outstanding sound design (play or musical, Dan Moses Schreier); and two additional Drama Desk Awards (outstanding musical and outstanding actor in a musical, Chip Zien).

NYTF's production of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish sold out for six months before moving uptown to Off-Broadway's Stage 42. It won a Drama Desk Award (outstanding revival of a musical), an Outer Critics Circle Award (outstanding revival of a musical), a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award special citation, a Lucille Lortel Award (outstanding lead actor, Steven Skybell); and an Off-Broadway Alliance award (best musical revival). It was nominated for additional Drama Desk Awards (outstanding director of a musical, Joel Grey; outstanding actor in a musical, Steven Skybell; outstanding orchestrations, Larry Blank); Lucille Lortel Awards (outstanding revival; outstanding director, Joel Grey; outstanding featured actress in a musical, Jackie Hoffman); Drama League Awards (outstanding revival of a musical; distinguished performance award, Steven Skybell); Outer Critics Circle Awards (outstanding director of a musical, Joel Grey; outstanding actor in a musical, Steven Skybell); and a Chita Rivera Award (outstanding ensemble).