Gabrielle Hoyt, Graduate Student in Drama
Stages of Assimilation: The Lives and Afterlives of Yiddish Theater in the US
I plan to engage in primary source research at the New York Public Library, the Jewish Museum, the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, and other New York City institutions. I aim to trace the rise and fall of Yiddish theater in the US, mapping its lives and afterlives onto the discrimination against and prohibition of Yiddish theater in Europe; the upsurge of American antisemitism in the late 19th and early 20th century; and the Holocaust. In so doing, I hope to trouble the idea that, by the mid-twentieth century, Yiddish theater had “died.” Rather, I plan to trace Yiddish theater’s relationship to Jewish assimilation within the US, exploring how its influences led directly to the rise of musical theater as an artform shaped heavily by (among others) Jewish composers, lyricsts, and directors. This creative impulse was a direct consequence of and response to antisemitism; and I plan to track how antisemitism, both external and internalized, has shaped the American musical into the present day.
Goksu Elif Simsek, Undergraduate Student in Economics
Sepharad: History and Heritage of Jewish Spain and Jewish Turkey
I will work towards exploring questions such as: How is Jewish heritage and history presented in Spain and Turkey? What are the strategies and outcomes of such projects? What is the prevalent discourse in these cultural initiatives? How do the Spanish and Turkish societies face their Jewish cultural roots today? What initiatives can be taken to fight antisemitism in the Spanish and Turkish societies?