This is a call for papers for a volume of essays and translated historical documents (mostly memoirs) tentatively entitled Women on the Yiddish Stage co-edited by Alyssa Quint (YIVO) and Amanda (Miryem-Khaye) Seigel (NYPL).
We welcome the submission of any paper that intersects with this basic topic including the treatment of women in plays as well as papers on women playwrights, comedians, set designers, composers, lyricists or choreographers. The aim of the volume is to revise our history of the modern Yiddish theater by recovering the lives of its women with detail and dimension, and to see the theater anew through the lens of their experiences. It is also meant to be a resource for interested parties in and beyond the field of modern Yiddish theater including performers as well as scholars and students of Theater Studies, Jewish Studies, and Women's Studies. We welcome work on socio-historical topics, like, for instance, a study of female theater-goers or, perhaps, a social profile of women actors. Already included in the volume are treatments of the actresses Ida Kaminska, Klara Segalovtish, Bertha Kalich, and Bina Abramovitsh.

The volume will also feature a section of excerpted memoirs that, so far, include those of Chayele Grober and Bertha Kalich. For those interested, we also seek translators for excerpts of memoirs including those by Esther-Rokhl Kaminska. These excerpts have already been selected and all exist in typed and readable Yiddish. First-time translators are welcome.

TIMELINE AND ARTICLE AND ANNOTATED MEMOIR LENGTH:

Submission topics with (minimally) a one-paragraph précis of the paper are due by March 2, 2018. A draft is due by June 15, 2018. Final papers are due August 23, 2018. Submissions should be approximately 7500 words and will be submitted to peer review.

Prospective authors are welcome to be in touch with questions and ideas.

Contact: Alyssa Quint - alyssaquint@gmail.com ,