Lives in the Yiddish Theatre
SHORT BIOGRAPHIES OF THOSE INVOLVED IN THE Yiddish THEATRE
aS DESCRIBED IN zALMEN zYLBERCWEIG'S "lEKSIKON FUN YIDISHN TEATER"

1931-1969
 

Leon Dushman

 

Born on 12 April 1886 in Vilna, Polish-Lithuania. He received a home education, and in 1907 he became a prompter in Bleykhman's troupe in Paris, then with Miriam Trilling and Herman Berman, with whom he traveled to Antwerp. Later D. became engaged as a prompter (known under the pseudonym of "Genose") to M. D. Vaksman in Paris. 1909-10 D. went with the troupe across Belgium and England. 1912 D. staged in Feinman's Theatre in London, and then became an assistant regisseur in the Pavilion Theatre (Directors Vaksman-Moshkovitsh). In the beginning of 1913 he traveled with Vaksman's troupe to Argentina and returned to London, where he worked for Bleykhman and Joseph Sherman in the Cambridge Theatre, then for a year with Joseph Kessler in the Pavilion and Peregn(?) Theatre.

1917 D. traveled to Russia and became an assistant regisseur in Kharkov in the troupe of Adolf Segal and Dimarsky, 1918 -- in Moscow, then in Vilna as a regisseur with Lipovski, and in 1919 as a regisseur in the same troupe under the name "Fareynikter yidisher folks-teater" (without Lipovski). In 1919 D. acted in Bobruisk with only several actors for some weeks, and went on to Kharkov, where the troupe united with "Unzer vinkl", and D. became assistant regisseur and actor in the theatre until 1921, when the theatre disbanded in Minsk, where D. joined in with the

 

Jewish State Theatre under the direction of Baratov. 1922 acted with Zaslavski and went on a tour with him across Mohilev, Vitebsk and Leningrad. From 1923 until 1925 he worked in Minsk's workers' clubs as a director of drama circles. From 1925, D. was secretary of the Jewish sector with the White Russian Scientific Academy (Minsk), born "Inveyskult".

 D. had in 1924 written a shteyger play named "Etel geyt in zhenotrel", which was performed in several workers' clubs in Minsk. He also translated several one-acters and dramatized several stories.

D. printed in periodic editions material about the history of Yiddish theatre, had published in Minsk's journal "Shtern" (1926, 1-4) the memoirs of the actor M  Myodovnik, and prepared a book "Zkhrunus vegn yidishn teater in oysland".


Sh. E.

  • M. Lifshits -- M. Myodovnik, meyene teater-zikhroynes, "Archive", Vilna, 1930, p. 509.


 

 

 

 


 

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Adapted from the original Yiddish text found within the  "Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre" by Zalmen Zylbercweig, Volume 1, page 548.
 

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