Fiddler on the Roof Announces Special Performance in Honor of World Refugee Day

The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene production of Fiddler on the Roof, in Yiddish with English Supertitles, will invite refugees to fill every seat in the theater in celebration and in honor of World Refugee Day on June 20 performance.

Every seat in the theater will be donated to allow refugees from all parts of the globe to see the show, and Fiddler on the Roof will celebrate their unique stories and journeys through this poignant and timely production with an afternoon and evening full of events.

The theater will open to its guests an hour prior to the show, and refreshments and concessions will be made complimentary to all in attendance. Attendees will also be free to explore an installation in the theater's lobby of After Anatevka: Jewish Immigration and American Reaction, an exhibition curated by author and Yiddish scholar Eddy Portnoy for the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research that reveals the Yiddish response to 1920s-era restrictions placed on Jewish immigrants.

Immediately following the evening performance, the production will host a postshow town hall event allowing this diverse community of refugees (and the leaders of the organizations that work to protect their rights) the opportunity to connect with one another in a safe and celebratory space. The postshow talk will be moderated by Luis A. Miranda Jr., an activist, educator, and businessman.

Directed by Academy Award and Tony Award winner Joel Grey, the Fiddler on the Roof cast features Steven Skybell as Tevye, Emmy Award nominee Jackie Hoffman as Yente, and Jennifer Babiak as Golde.

Fiddler on the Roof is based originally on the Tevye the Dairyman vignettes by Sholem Aleichem, and features music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein. The Yiddish translation, originally performed in Israel in 1965, was crafted by Shraga Friedman, an Israeli actor and director, just one year after the Broadway debut of Fiddler on the Roof.

The production was first presented by NYTF at the Museum of Jewish Heritage where it ran July 4, 2018-December 30, 2018.