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
 

Binyamin Lyman

 

L. was born in July 1800 in Aran (Orany, Varena), not far from Vilna, Polish Lithuania. As a child of six-and-a-half he went with his family to Vilna, where his father worked ad a cashier in the karabke. He learned in a cheder, in a Talmud Torah, and then he completed five classes of an [early=onfangs] school.

At the age of eleven he saw Genfer act in "Shulamis" and from then on he became a frequent attendee of the Yiddish theatre and a permanent monitor of the actors.

Together with Stein (later -- the actor Yosef Kamyen) and Bulkin (later -- the actor Joseph Buloff), founding a dramatic circle in Russia and he acted in the wine cellar of the parents of Binyamin Epstein (who also later became an actor) plays, adapted by Bulkin. Later L. was an understudy in Yiddish and Russian theatre (in the span of 17-915[?]) there came a name to the dramatic circle in the city, and in these productions there often came great roles. The preparations for the productions went for his own purposes.

In 1920 he went away to Vitebsk, where he acted further in a Yiddish dramatic circle and went over to Mindlin's troupe, which performed in serious repertoire. In 1922 he traveled about with itinerant troupes, acting in shund repertoire, and after a short time became a prompter, then traveled with G. Beker, Zolkover, Brandesko and at the end withdrew from the theatre and became an employee.

In 1924 he entered into the Yiddish state studio of White Russia, which since October 1926 was transformed into the White Russia Yiddish State Theatre, where he has acted up to today.


Sh. E.

 


 

 

 

 


 

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Adapted from the original Yiddish text found within the  "Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre" by Zalmen Zylbercweig, Volume 2, page 1090.
 

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