Moshe Leib Gurevitsh
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Born in 1896 in Tshzshniki,
Vitebsk Gubernia, White Russia. His father was a teacher. He
learned in a modern cheder, and in a Russian early
(onfang) school. In 1905 he immigrated with his
family to Lodz, where he learned in Katzenelson's Hebrew
pro-gymnasium, then in the Russian Aleksander school.
In 1911 he debuted in the
Ukrainian troupe of Y.M. Magaydatshny in the
dramatization of Gogl's "Taras Bulba," studied the
theatre arts with regisseur and actor M.L. Meyerson. In
1913, together with friends, he founded the drama
circle "Drama and Music," where he participated in
Russian in Edelheim's one-acter "The Passenger," and in
Yiddish in Sholem Aleichem's one-acters.
In the beginning of
1914 he staged with his circle Gordin's "Chasia the
Orphan" (acting as "Trakhtenberg"), and "Tree of Knowledge" (acting as "Motye").
In 1915 he was with
the same circle in Stanislav Psibishevski's "Gest," and
Andreyev's "The Days of our Lives," and one-acters by
Sholem Aleichem, David Pinski and Mark Arnstein. In
1918, he entered into the provincial troupe "Lida," under the
leadership of Zalmen Zylbercweig, and acted as "Prokop"
in Kobrin's "Dorfsyung," and under Zylbercweig's
direction, he also participated in several Hebrew
productions across the Polish province. In the summer of
1919 he participated in the guest-starring of Leonid Snegoff in "Harbst-fidlen" and "Father."
From 1919-20 he was with
the "Lodz Yiddish Dramatic Theatre" (Director: A.
Kompaneyets, artistic direction -- Avraham Morevsky).
In the summer of 1920 he acted with a member troupe in Bialystok
and Grodno. |
At the end of 1920
he arrived in Kovno, Lita (Lithuania), where he
entered into the dramatic theatre (Leader -- L
Sokolov), then in the "Folks Theatre" (founder:
N. Lipovski), and in the "First United Troupe in
Lita," where he acted until 1928, from where he
was invited as an artistic leader of the studio
with Kovno's "Kinder hoyz," where he staged for
the first time on the Yiddish stage, a
conception of Chasidic stories, words, melodies
under the name "Chasidic Evening," Itzhak
Katzenelson's "The Sale of Joseph" in Yiddish, a
dramatization by W. Bush's "Notl un motl,"
Sholem Aleichem's "People," A. Kuprin's "Kolwn,"
Andreyev's "The Seven Who Were Hanged," and
Pinski's "The Treasure."
In 1928 he was the
co-founder of the "New Yiddish Theatre in Lita," which began with a member troupe in which he
performed as "Lou Mozgovoyer" in Sholem
Aleichem's "Gold Diggers," and remained there
to act, where the troupe went over to private
hands under the direction of the guest-starring
Menachem Rubin, Julius Adler, Rudolf Zaslavsky, Celia Adler, Zygmunt Turkow
et al.
When the Nazi's occupied Lita, they had him deported and killed.
Sh. E.
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