Newspaper Page Text
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HE CENTER'S
News from the Atlanta Jewish Community Center, Inc.
From
Mike Lainoff
Assistant Executive Director
“The Halls are Alive
With the sounds of Yingiish”
My grandparents and my mother, who was the oldest
child, arrived at Ellis Island in 1904 from the Ukraine
area of what is now Soviet Russia. Coming off the boat,
the family spoke nothing but Yiddish, and like many
Eastern Europeans, my grandparents also spoke a smat
tering of Polish.
As a young child growing up in the ’30s, 1 lived one
block from my grandparents. In our house, we spoke
English since my parents were both young children when
they came to this country (they actually grew up bi
lingual, since Yiddish was a language with which they
communicated to their parents). After 20 some odd years
in the United States, my grandmother, who was a very
important part of my life, still did not speak English.
However, due to contacts with neighborhood people and
in the marketplace, her Yiddish became interspersed with
a variety of English words, thus the language “Yingiish”
was a language with which I grew up in my childhood.
The development of Yingiish in our Jewish communities
was not unique to my neighborhood in St. Louis. A
number of our Atlanta Senior Adults, to this day, speak a
brand of “Yingiish.”
When Beverly Shmerling, AJCC Cultural Arts direc-
Some of the cast members
are, left to right, standing,
Ravona Molkner, Rachel
Lehmann, Pat Rosenberg,
Harry Axlerod, Lisa Little,
Playwright Scott Orlin, Rita
Levine, Enoch David Goodfriend and Gene Schmuckler.
In the front row are Debbie Ulman, Susan Barbe and
Herb Broder. Other cast members are listed below.
tor, decided to do a Yiddish theater program using local
talent, she began to realize that Yiddish was more than a
language, it was a culture. Futhermore, although there is
an excellent audience in Atlanta for pure Yiddish theater
and entertainment programs, there is a dearth of talent
available locally for an all-Yiddish production. Thus, the
idea of a “Yingiish” theater presentation was born.
In working with the elderly, there is a recognition and
understanding of a method called “reminiscent therapy.”
Essentially, translated into lay terms, this is a process in
which the therapeutic value of elderly people discussing
and verbalizing and reminiscing about, their past has been
proven. Not only does this have enormous psychological
value for the elderly, but for those us who are able to
listen and to hear, we learn of the development of our
country and of our Jewish community. Thus, the basis
for the material for Yingiish Theater was gleaned from
our Jewish elderly in Atlanta.
1 met with Scott Orlin, a native Atlantan, (who is the
writer of our first Yingiish theater show) in New York in
August when 1 accompanied the Israeli youngsters from
Yehud on their tour of New York City and Washington.
We toured the lower East Side and as we toured, we
spoke to many of the old shopkeepers who are still ped
dling their wares on the sidewalks much as they had done
in mv grandmother’s time. Scott made many notes and
engaged many of these elderly in conversations in order to
piece together the information that our elderly in Atlanta
had given with those who had remained in the area on the
lower East Side of New York. Scott took these notes,
together with the tapes and the written material based on
interviews with Atlanta's elderly, and put together a
beautiful script entitled, “Have I Got A Story For You.”
Written by Scott Orlin and directed by Beverly Shmer
ling, the play is in English with familiar Jewish melodies
and it relates the history of the Jewish experience in
America.
The cast is an intergenerational cast and represents all
segments of our Atlanta Jewish community. Included in
the cast are Betty Goodfriend, Dr. Sanford Shmerling,
Bebe Forehand, Jody Avren, Susan Barbe, Mr. and Mrs.
Herb Broder, Rita Levine, Belle Kalefsky, Ravona
Molkner, Tony Rosenberg, Debbie Ulman, Gary White,
Nate Becker, Enoch David Goodfriend, Bernie Gross,
Harry Axlerod, Rick Rosenthal, Rachel Lehman, Lisa
Little. Babs Karesh, Pat Rosenberg, Dr. Gene Schmuck
ler and Sara Shapiro.
“Have I Got A Story For You” will make its world
premier and will be shown only twice in Atlanta. The first
showing will be April 5, at the AJCC, Peachtree Building,
at 8 p.m. and the second and last showing will be Sunday,
April 6, at the Peachtree Building at 3 p.m. The show is
something for the entire family. The stories will delight
you, and the melodies will entertain you. Have we got a
story for you? Come and find out for yourself! For
further information or for tickets, call Beverly Shmer
ling, 875-7881.
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PAGE 13 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE March 28, 1986