Tikun Olam and the Nestroyhof
Report on World Congress of the Association for Jewish Theatre in Vienna

by Susan Lodish

We gathered together to dialogue, to interact, to heal-TIKUN OLAM. We came from 6 continents, 16 countries and 20 U.S. states. We represented Jewish theatres around the world. Our power as a theatrical community was stronger than the individual theatres we represented. Our keynote speaker, Theodore Bikel, performed, dialogued and participated as a delegate. It was a week we will never forget.

But the real reason we came together was to save a Jewish theatre. The ancient ethical imperative, tikun olam, suggests that there is no world without humanity. If we don't do what can be done to counter social injustice, the whole world will fall to pieces. Following "aryanization" (Nazi confiscation of Jewish businesses and property) and the persecution and elimination of many of the artists active in Vienna's international Jewish theatre known as the "Nestroyhof," the building had been closed and was eventually rented out to supermarket tenants. Instead of pulling down the balconies, glass roof, and sculpted reliefs, the new tenants simply installed a dark skin to conceal the original structure from unsuspecting, cart-pushing shoppers for decades. Today, the Nestroyhof-former home of the Yiddish theatre company, Jüdische Künstlerspiele (1927-1938) and final remnant of a once robust Viennese Jewish theatre scene-remains in the hands of the same family that, as Nazis, first took possession of the property in 1940 in their successful attempt to build a post-war family empire.

In late 2001, the Jewish Theater of Austria, under the ambitious direction of Warren Rosenzweig, began its work for the reestablishment of an international Jewish theatre at the site, which, since 2003, has come to be known as the "Nestroyhof Initiative." But, in 2004, one of the inheritors laid down the law to Warren:" It will never be a theatre and certainly not Jewish! Even if I wanted it, my family would never agree! A Jewish theatre is the last thing it will ever be!" The "entertainment rooms," he said, would be used for business and gastronomy.

Informed of this by Warren, the Association for Jewish Theatre, consisting of Jewish theatres all over the world, was moved to hold their annual conference in Vienna to support his effort to restore the international Jewish theater in the Nestroyhof! This was the first time this conference met outside the United States. Artistic directors, playwrights, performers and other theatrical professionals came from Russia, Australia, South America, Israel, Hungary, South Africa, France, Germany, Norway, Canada, the United States and many other countries to show their positive support for the Jewish Theater of Austria and for the future of intercultural diversity and renewal in Vienna. I represented Theatre Ariel, the Jewish professional theatre in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley. Jewish Theatre around the world is performed in all the languages spoken by the artists who stage it and is inspired by at least as many social and cultural settings. Aesthetically, thematically, and politically, artistic companies run such a gamut that it may be impossible to define one principle that is common to all. But if there is anything they do have in common, it is probably the spirit of tikun olam. Each of us is called upon to fix what is broken in the world and to make it whole again. The Nestroyhof Initiative has symbolic resonance for tikun olam in a city that gave rise in the twentieth century to the undoing of the world, and at a time when it is increasingly at risk of falling to pieces.

In his keynote address, the internationally renowned actor, musician and activist for Jewish and other causes, Theodore Bikel, inspired the Congress to take action. Bikel was born in Vienna in 1924, and it was in Vienna that he had his first taste of high culture and where he developed his lifelong passion for theatre. It was also the place where he first experienced Jewish theatre, specifically Yiddish theatre, and where his father read Yiddish plays aloud at the table after dinner on Tuesday nights.

"Like all theatre, Jewish theatre is not one thing alone," Bikel began:

Theatre is high art and low art. Theatre is light-hearted laughter and wrenching emotion. Theatre is stark naturalism and highly fanciful stylization. Theatre is political and a-political. But even at its most political, seeking to cure social ills is not the primary purpose of the artist's work, although at times that may be a by-product of it. Art carries its own demands and fashions its own imperatives. The artist is not intended to be the bearer of a message and theatre is not meant to do what a pamphlet would do better. Drama represents a distillation of ideas not of ideologies. We who work in the theatre are neither educators, nor preachers, nor social workers. We are performers. We dance, we sing, we make grownups laugh and children clap their hands. While we sometimes draw the audience into a heightened awareness of their lives, we just as often make them forget the day and lighten the burden.

Jewish theatre is defined, he continued, by the audiences it addresses:

On the one hand we seek to present a picture of the Jewish world in its many facets to a general audience. But we also hold a mirror up to ourselves for Jewish audiences to see . . . Audiences must be given the chance to experience changes of empathy, identify with characters in ways positive, negative or neutral. . . .We do not ask audiences, whether Jewish or non-Jewish, to go easy on us, because we are "Jewish theatre." We insist that we be looked at as any other theatre is and be judged on professionality, on quality and on excellence-by others and by ourselves. . . . The function of the artist is not only to please, to soothe, to pacify but also to ruffle feathers. We must be able to present plays, films, poem or songs which are critical of society and thus point the way toward a world which is better than the world we have. That surely must resonate with anyone who is serious about Tikun Olam, the betterment of the world, the motto of this Congress.

. . . Clearly, theatre is not likely to stop wars or influence governments. But we know that theatre does help restore to our world an atmosphere of faith, does remind us that greatness is to be measured not by economic or military might, but rather by culture, by music, by poetry and drama. Because the arts may be society's last best hope for meaningful survival.

The varied performers came from all over the world to express themselves Jewishly:

The performers from Moscow use contemporary or radical artistic forms in conjunction with ancient Jewish scripture to build a bridge between tradition and our times. "LaboraTORIA.golem" is based on the dramatic text by the great Yiddish poet Halper Leivik and on texts from the Torah. It was presented in Russian with simultaneous English interpretation.

Teater Fusentast in Norway presents puppet plays to children. In its repertoire is a play called "Sand Between Your Toes" which explores issues of discrimination and anti-Semitism using puppets and Hetty Messias' curiosity cabinet. Hetty encounters people with an open mind and a playful heart, even if the world around her was ever so horrible.

Yossi Vassa of Nephesh Theater in Tel Aviv recounted his personal experience of a 700 kilometer journey on foot from Ethiopia to a refugee camp in the Sudan and then, finally, a flight to Israel. In "It Sounds Better in Amharic," he shared poignant moments from the journey, dreams, traditions, and lives of Ethiopian Israeli immigrants.

Irina Andreeva of St. Petersburg and Prague gave a moving physical theatre performance called "The Dybbuk." Her Teatr Novogo Fronta creates work that stands at the frontier between mysticism and abstraction, circus art, and modern dance. It circumvents all language.

Deborah Leiser-Moore of a new company in Melbourne, Australia, also utilized physical theatre to express herself.

Brenda Adelman, in "My Brooklyn Hamlet," related a true tale of triumph over tragedy, based on Brenda's life growing up in Brooklyn. Her artistic work set her upon a journey of personal and public healing through theatre.

Other performers came from Vienna, Singapore, France and Germany.

Jewish theatres all over the world rely on the work of new playwrights. The International Playwrights' Forum allowed everyone to enjoy interpretations by international directors and actors of scenes from ten new plays. Dialoguing with these playwrights and being on the forefront of international Jewish theatre was indeed exciting.

What are the consequences of this conference and how can everyone, even those who were not present, be involved in doing acts of Tikun Olam?

Join with international theatrical professionals by helping to restore the Nestroyhof Theatre. Write letters and postcards to: "Restore the Nestroyhof" - Kandlgasse 6/1 -1070 - Vienna, Austria. Ask government leaders of Austria to restore the once vibrant historic theater and bring back Jewish theatre and culture to Vienna and Austria. Go to www.nestroyhof.at for further information.

Support your local Jewish theatre. Attend a performance at one of the Jewish theatres in your area or plan a trip to a Jewish theatre nearby. Support theatres in your area producing plays by Jewish playwrights or of Jewish content. Check out your local theatre pages in the newspapers.

Learn about Jewish theatre on line by going to www.jewish-theatre.com or www.allaboutjewishtheatre.com. Here is global Jewish theatre at your fingertips: a single source of more than 3000 professional articles; theatre, performance, workshop and festival listings; scripts, resources and information.

As Theodore Bikel affirmed:

Whenever I am asked why I sing Jewish songs, I am moved to reply that I do not believe that the Jewish song is better than the song of my neighbor; I sing it because it is mine. In the world of theatre there are others who from time to time do Jewish-themed plays; they may even do it well. But this is us, our turf, our theatre; we do it because it is we who were entrusted with its guardianship.

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