By Ron Levitt
Florida Media News
ENV Magazine
CORAL SPRINGS, FL – Cheers to Abraham Goldfaden – the Ukrainian-born Jewish poet, who wrote some 40 plays, was a prominent stage director and actor — who is considered the father of the Yiddish modern theatre. His prominence is underscored as a recurring theme on a local stage nowadays.
Goldfaden’s importance is one of the historic truths and tributes to evolve out of playwright Tony Finstrom’s fictional play – Knish Alley – currently in its world premiere at Broward Stage Door in Coral Springs. The other “truths” are the quite realistic name of this production and playwright Finstrom’s on-target humor skills.
The rest of the play by the Fort Lauderdale-based playwright/arts supporter is imaginary –a comedic look at a troupe of Yiddish actors crossing the Atlantic in the steerage belly of an early 1900’s ocean vessel. They may have some semblance to reality! They certainly look and act like some of the characters I recall when my grandparents took me – as an 8 year old who spoke and understood only English – to a traveling Yiddish theatre group, which played in upstate New York, in a rented Labor Union Hall, a couple of times a year (usually around Purim and Hannukah). That’s about the closest time frame and location that Jews in Rochester could hope to see Yiddish theatre.
But, back to today! Finstrom’s play evolves around the oceanic voyage by this group of Yiddish-speaking actors who look forward to their acceptance on an American stage, hopefully on New York’s 2nd Avenue, eventually called Knish Alley. That’s a name for the Lower East Side, specifically Second Avenue. It was also called the “Yiddish Rialto” because actors performed there and ate at the local Jewish restaurants that served food (such as knishes). The term “Knish Alley”was first recorded in the New York Times in 1953 (actually several decades after this play’s setting), but it has had greater use recently in nostalgia for the old times. Finstrom’s play will probably revive that usage, at least for history buffs anxious to trace such colorful names and the wonderful world of Yiddish theatre.
Finstrom’s romantic comedy has had as much of a “new beginning” history as his characters in this production. Knish Alley has had several readings in South Florida before the current version evolved. It also won the 2006 Best New Play competition from Palm Beach Dramaworks, which stages the annual playwriting friendly rivalry. Finstrom re-tuned this play while working on others, including two penned at his Sunshine State home — All About Evan and Standing at the Gates of Janus, both of which received high praise at their South Florida readings in recent months. Evan is taken from Finstrom’s career experiences in publishing; Janus, recounting his time in the military.
Knish Alley is set in the steerage area, as this group of poor Yiddish actors travel to the new land on board a luxury liner, working menial jobs on the ship by day and performing operettas and various plays – even comedic Shakespearian re-writes — up on deck by night. Finstrom has come up with a unique set of characters (all fictional as far as I know), including a budding playwright (a funny Kevin Reilley), a family of thespians (Steven A. Chambers, Miki Edelman, Kally Khourshid), a philandering stage star (Todd Bruno), a pregnant actress (Jaime Libbert) and a handsome, “I-wanna-be an actor” , cabin-boy (the excellent David Hemphill). Broward Stage Door Director Dan Kelley held the baton over this cast.
The second-act interchange between Reilley and Chambers in which they translate a Yiddish version of Shakespeare into American English – using “title cards” — is priceless vaudeville-style comedy. It is a highlight of oft-mentioned potential play-within-a-play productions in Knish Alley, which includes references to Bella and the Blind Rabbi, Yankee Doodle Boychick as well as The Merchant of 2nd Avenue. Finstrom is at his best in writing laugh-provoking satires.
The show runs through August 30. Call 954 344-7765.