Mirele Lernt Zich Yiddish

Overview

A One-Woman Cabal! Bringing in different stories every night, this semi-improvised dance/theater show journeys through my reclamation of Yiddish and the whitening process of Ashkenazi Jewry that squeezed it out of us in the first place. Go beyond schlep and kvetch with me!

There’s a slippage in authenticity and ownership. Did WE (Jews/Americans/My family) shape IT (America/Judaism/Whiteness/Nationalism/Culture) or does IT shape US?

This performance exists in dialogue with Karen Brodkin’s How Jews Became White Folks, Cécile McLorin Salvant’s performances of minstrel songs, the poetry of Reyzl Zhikhlinski, and that guy at the klezmer festival who indignantly asked me “Who are you?” in the coffee line because he’d never seen me at one of them before.

About the Artist

Miryam Coppersmith (she/they) is a Philadelphia-based performance artist and educator who aims to create spaces for transformation for her collaborators, audience, and greater community. She works with movement, speech, and sound coming from her own body, drawing on training in Contact Improvisation, Six Viewpoints, acting, Black American social dance, and other influences. Miryam holds a BA in Dance and Creative Writing from Oberlin College. She is 2023 Mitsui Collective Kollelnik, a 2020 Get What You Need artist in residence and has presented work at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, You Can’t Fail, Fresh Juice, and more. Miryam is a writer/editor for the online dance journal thINKingDANCE un zi red a bisl Yiddish. miryamcoppersmith.com

Elijah Jones is a professional actor who just wrapped his Off Broadway run in the musical Scouts. An Iowa City native, he graduated in 2020 from The University of Iowa with a BA in Theatre Arts and a Certificate in Writing. During that time he worked with regional theatres Riverside and The Old Creamery. Before that, he trained in improv and sketch comedy at The Second City Chicago and was an intern for The Second City Hollywood while living in LA. When he isn't acting, you can find him writing songs, gaming, TRYING to write a play, and taking good care of his cat Seinfeld alongside his wife Allison.

Credits