Rent strike

rent strike

Jewish Currents recently shared this short play "Rent Strike" written by sweatshop poet Morris Rosenfeld (we have sung a few of his poems, including Mayn Rue Plats, Mayn Yingele, and Ikh Ver a Mashin). The play was written in Yiddish in 1908 and you can still hear its echoes in today's world. This English translation is by Eddy Portnoy, author of Bad Rabbi: strange but true stories from the Yiddish press.

I have also sent a note to the Yiddish Committee about making it a bilingual reading! Fun to get ABV folks and Yiddish folks together!

How about 11/15 to allow some time to decompress post-election and organize the reading? I am working on a bilingual script and figuring out how to address some of the differences between the English and the Yiddish. Would you like me to create a Google Doc with a list of characters for folks to sign up for each character in English or Yiddish? Thanks.

Sure. For the English readers, keeping it informal is good. No need to pre-read, just experience it straight through without any interruptions. (that was my philosophy when I taught humanities, we did 3-4 plays a year like that). Do you think we read the english line, followed by the yiddish?

https://jewishcurrents.org/rent-strike/

CAST OF CHARACTERS:

Yankel Schwartz

A rich landlord, about 50 years old with a rotund body and a common facewe di

Mrs. Lempel

His sister, a poor widow

Bobe Gitele

Their mother; an old, sick, and poor woman

Leybe Gaytz

A tall, thin Jew; a real estate agent

Mrs. Tchotchke1

A wealthy landlady

Mrs. Knup

Mrs. Tchotchke’s housekeeper

Boodle2

A judge

Others

Landlords, strikers, people, police, etc.

intro

stage directions