Art
In 1934, Jewish immigrants and their children watched this Yiddish-language stage adaptation of Sinclair Lewis's anti-fascist novel. For audiences who had fled or lost family to European persecution, the story of an American dictator felt urgently real—a warning performed in their own language, in their own theaters.
Art · Full story
You sit in a packed Yiddish theater, the air thick with coat wool and winter breath. On stage, actors speak your language, your accent, your rhythms—but they're acting out an American nightmare. The character Doremus Jessup fights back against tyranny creeping into his own country. Around you, people lean forward. This story is not distant. This could be here.
Reflect
What stories do you turn to when you're afraid about the future? Why does it matter who tells them?