Kadimah Yiddish Theatre (KYT) has been nominated for a total of 26 prestigious Theatre Awards across its last four productions, winning nine.
Video preview of Yentl for the Sydney Opera House production
Under the leadership of our award-winning Directors – Evelyn Krape Artistic Director and Gary Abrahams Executive Director, Kadimah Yiddish Theatre (KYT) has re-emerged as one of Melbourne’s most courageous and thought-provoking theatre companies.
As the only contemporary bilingual Yiddish-English theatre company in Australia and one of only a handful around the world, KYT has been hailed by audiences and critics alike for its unique voice, telling stories that are universal, relevant and prescient through a quintessentially Yiddish lens reaching broad-ranging audiences.
The Kadimah has championed Yiddish language, culture and theatre since its establishment in Melbourne in 1911 and staged its first in house production in October 1925, making Kadimah Yiddish Theatre the oldest theatre company in Australia.
Bipartisan in its ethos and approach Kadimah Yiddish Theatre is passionate about the theatrical exploration and preservation of all endangered and culturally specific languages, customs and folklore. Applying theatrical modalities and practices from across the globe they create contemporary multi-lingual and multi-modal contemporary theatre that sits across political, cultural and social divides, and embraces curiosity, creativity and complexity.
Our People
Kadimah Yiddish Theatre Committee
Lin Bender AM Chair, Evelyn Krape, Gary Abrahams, Jill Smith AM, Troy Sussman, Jeff Robinson, Rob Miller (Observer)
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An Australian acting icon, with more than 30 years’ experience in theatre, film and television, Evelyn Krape has won numerous awards and honours across her career. Her acting credits include her Green Room Award-winning performance in A Toast To Melba, her one‑woman show Female Parts and performances for Melbourne Theatre Company, Playbox, 11th Hour, Victoria Opera Company, the Malthouse and Shakespeare in the Park. Her television appearances include Australia You’re Standing In It, Flying Doctors, Blue Heelers and Laid. Film credits include Dimboola, The Sound of One Hand Clapping and the voice of “the Old Ewe” in the award-winning animated movies Babe 1 & 2.
In 2011 she toured internationally as part of the Yiddish group show Ek Velt for Kadimah Yiddish Theatre and appeared in several cabarets, directed the 2019 productions Play Me A Poem at the National Theatre, the sold-out season of Yiddish Divas for the Melbourne Cabaret Festival at Chapel-Off-Chapel, and narrated the new audiobook of Arnold Zable’s novel Scraps of Heaven and co-created its musical stage show. She capped off 2019 with a Green Room Award Nomination for Best Artiste for her performance in KYT’s The Ghetto Cabaret (fortfivedownstairs) and shared the Best Actor Award at Tropfest.
2023 has been an extraordinary year. A Green Room Award nomination for Best Actor Award for her performance in KYT’s acclaimed production of Yentl at the Arts Centre Melbourne and starred in MTC’s productions of Bloom and A Vey Jewish Christmas Carol.
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Since graduating from The Victorian College of The Arts, Gary Abrahams has established himself as one of Melbourne’s most critically respected and sought after freelance stage directors and theatre makers. He has directed the Australian premieres and national tours of several commercial shows, as well as classic texts, contemporary plays, new Australian scripts, and devised projects. His work encompasses large scale commercial plays and musicals, mainstage works, independent shows and self-produced theatre projects. He also works as a dramaturg, script advisor, outside eye and mentor, as well as a playwright and freelance writer. He is a recipient of prestigious awards for writing and directing and a Green Room Award Winner and multiple nominee for his directing, playwriting and dramaturgy work.
Director highlights include the Australian premiere of 33 Variations starring academy award winning actor Ellen Burstyn at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre, the Australian premiers of Buyer and Cellar for The Melbourne Theatre Company, Hand to God and Bad Jews for The Vass Theatre Group, and Resident Alien for Cameron Lukey Productions. His recent credits for Kadimah Yiddish Theatre include Ghetto Cabaret and Yentl (Co-Writer and Director), winning the 2023 Green Room Award for Best Writing of Yentl and nominated for Best Director.
Productions
In Development
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Initial Collaborative Development in Darwin funded by Arts Northern Territory and Supported by Brown’s Mart Theatre
A contemporary multi-lingual and multi-modal work told in English, Yiddish, Italian and First-Nations dialect, this bold and exciting project explores an extraordinary chapter in Australian-Yiddish history. Incorporating live-music and song, contemporary dance, and character and narrative driven text The Poet King and The Dreaming tells the true story of a European Yiddish poet and his journey from Alice Springs to Darwin in the early 1930’s. Armed with little more than a letter of introduction from Einstein, Polish-Yiddish poet Melekh Ravitch embarked on his journey, guided by a fifteen-year-old indigenous man named Angus, and an Italian migrant mail-van driver named Zamacci. The work explores this early intersection between NT indigenous culture and early Yiddish diaspora and migrant culture, deftly balancing Yiddish, Italian-European and First Nations perspectives.
The Artists
Darwin based:
Don Christophersen, Historian, First Nations, Darwin
Gary Lang, Choreographer, First Nations, Darwin
David Spry, First Nations Musician, Darwin
Bella Neba, Performer/Dancer, First Nations, Darwin
Miriam Charlie, Artist/Storyteller, First Nations, Darwin
Elizabeth Rogers, Creative ProducerMelbourne based:
Evelyn Krape, Artistic Director KYT/ Collaborator and Performer
Gary Abrahams, Executive Director KYT/Director and Dramaturge
Therèsa Borg, Writer
Dann Barber, Set/Costume Design/Creative Contributor
Rachel Burke, Lighting Design/CreativeContributor
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A bold and ambitious original Klezmer-Tango musical set amongst backdrop of the vibrant barrio’s of early 20th century Beunos Aries, La Dorada tells the moving story of a young Yiddish woman named Gittel who is tricked into marriage by a member of the Zwi Migdal - a Jewish mafia-style organisation operating in South America at the turn of the 20th Century - only to be forced into prostitution once she arrives in Buenos Aries.
Inspired by a little known and unsettling chapter in Yiddish history, this musical courageously lifts the veil on this dangerous and influential organisation that controlled the Jewish sex-slave trade in South America. Gifted with a magnificent voice, Gittel is coerced into performing for her brothels’ patrons, and soon becomes a major cabaret star. Using her new found status, Gittel heroically teams up with a local journalist to uncover and reveal the nefarious activities of the Zwi Migdal, putting herself and her comrades in life threatening danger.
With a contemporary twist on the music styles of Klezmer and the Argentinian Tango this heroic story is told through song, music and dance, in English, Yiddish and Spanish.
Based on an original play by Melbourne-based Tomi Kalinski, with an original book by playwright Gary Abrahams.
Initial Table Reading funded by Australian Government RISE Fund
Artist Development
KYT is an inclusive workspace and we are open to submissions from artists across cultural and ethnic backgrounds. It’s important to us to be in conversation with artists from across all parts of the world and society, and to create and develop work from the diaspora experience and perspective.
Inaugural 2024 recipients of the Rokhl Holzer and Paula Boltman Scholarship, Kandice Joy and Anthony Sandler
Kadimah Yiddish Theatre acknowledges the generous support from Ralph and Ruth Renard and the Boltman family in creating and funding this scholarship, and thanks them for their ongoing commitment to Yiddish theatre, storytelling, and creativity.
This unique scholarship will grow the pool of professional performers able to work with KYT as we continue to develop and present groundbreaking contemporary theatre works that champion Yiddish language and culture, and foster creativity, inclusivity and understanding.
This is not an entry-level actor-training scholarship. It is specifically for professional performers who wish to train in Yiddish language to work at a professional level within Yiddish theatre.
Further Information: Gary Abrahams, Executive Director
Advancing Yiddish language performance
KYT is committed to developing a growing ensemble of professional actors who can work in Yiddish-language theatre, contributing to its contemporary evolution and long-term sustainability. This generous scholarship creates a practical pathway for live performance artists to develop their skills working with a second language, while collaborating with the development of new works for KYT.
Each year, one artist will be awarded a $10,000 cash-scholarship to support a year-long engagement with Yiddish language, Jewish culture, and live performance. This includes Yiddish language classes, participation in creative developments with KYT, and performance opportunities at Kadimah events.
The award is intended for professional performers (actors or music theatre performers) who are not from a Yiddish-speaking background and who demonstrate curiosity about Yiddish language culture and a desire to be able to work professionally in Yiddish language theatre and live performance.
News & Reviews
Thank you – a hartziken dank
Kadimah Yiddish Theatre
The Erdi Foundation
Besen Family Foundation
Gandel Foundation
Ralph and Ruth Renard and the Boltman Family - The Rokhl Holzer and Paula Boltman Scholarship
Frankel Lawyers
Anonymous Donors
Production Partners
Government:
Yentl and Durkh a Modnm Gloz: Australian Government RISE Fund
The Poet King and the Dreaming (In Development): NT Arts Council
Co-Producers – YENTL – Sydney Opera House season:
Monstrous Theatre, Neil Gooding Productions, Shalom Collective (Jewish Communal Appeal)
Venue Partners:
Yentl: Arts Centre - Melbourne (Season 1), Malthouse Theatre - Melbourne (Season 2), Sydney Opera House (Season 3)
Shrapnel and The Ghetto Cabaret: fortyfivedownstairs - Melbourne
The Poet King and the Dreaming: Brown’s Mart theatre - Darwin
Trusts and Foundations:
Finkel Foundation, Krystal Fund, Lisa Farber, Justin Liberman & Family, Malcolm Robertson Foundation, Robert Salzer Foundation, S B & W Foundation
Supporters:
Isaac Apel, Miriam Faine & Greg Shalit, Ros Horin, Fender Katsalidis, iUser, Lisa Farber, Justin Liberman & Family, Miriam Orwin, Gary Peer, Qualitas, Vertex Funds Management, Anonymous Donors
Media & Production Partners:
Australian Jewish News, The Saturday Paper, Accor Group
Support Us
Kadimah Yiddish Theatre provides a range of funding opportunities from the Development and Staging of new work, International collaboration, Artist development and General support.
For further information contact Mikhaela Bourke our Cultural Producer.