www.jta.at, May 01, 2012
Party.at, July 31, 2011 Yelp Wien, July 27, 2011 Die Juedische, March 22, 2011 TACE, March 01, 2011 TACE, March 01, 2011 Wien-Heute.at, Aug. 31, 2009 Artez, July 01, 2009 www.jta.at, Jan. 15, 2009 Die Furche, Sept. 04, 2008 Wiener Zeitung, Sept. 03, 2008 Wiener Bezirksblatt Mariahilf, Sept. 01, 2008 Augustin, Aug. 27, 2008 Ether Magazine Blog, Aug. 24, 2008 DiePresse.com, Aug. 22, 2008 Kurier, Aug. 20, 2008 Der Standard, Aug. 20, 2008 Jews in the News, Aug. 17, 2008 Die Furche, Aug. 14, 2008 Salzburger Nachrichten, Aug. 14, 2008 Augustin (online), Apr. 15, 2008 Augustin, March 26, 2008 Augustin, Feb. 27, 2008 Augustin, Feb. 01, 2008 Jewish Renaissance, Dec. 01, 2007 Jewish Renaissance, Oct. 01, 2007 USCJ, Sept. 01, 2007 Association of Jewish Refugees, Aug. 01, 2007 Jewish Renaissance, July 01, 2007 AJT Newsletter, June 30, 2007 AJT Newsletter, June 30, 2007 action.at, May 02, 2007 Konkret, May 01, 2007 art in migration, May 01, 2007 The Canadian Jewish News, May 01, 2007 Die Gemeinde, May 01, 2007 Australian Jewish News, Apr. 30, 2007 Arts Hub, Apr. 26, 2007 Der Standard, March 27, 2007 Der Standard, March 20, 2007 Wienweb, March 19, 2007 Ö1 Morgenjournal, March 19, 2007 Profil, March 19, 2007 wien.ORF.at, March 19, 2007 Tikun Olam Program, March 18, 2007 Die Presse, March 15, 2007 Jews in the News, March 15, 2007 Der Standard, March 14, 2007 WienInternational.at, March 13, 2007 derStandard.at, March 08, 2007 Neubauerrundschau, March 01, 2007 Augustin, Feb. 01, 2007 volksgruppen.orf.at, Jan. 20, 2007 Die Presse, Jan. 20, 2007 Ö1 Kultur - Bühne, Jan. 03, 2007 wien.ORF.at, Dec. 07, 2006 wespennest, Sept. 19, 2006 Augustin, Sept. 01, 2006 Augustin, July 01, 2006 Profil, Feb. 20, 2006 Volksgruppen@orf.at, Nov. 21, 2005 haGalil Online, Nov. 16, 2005 Politix, Nov. 07, 2005 Illustrierte Neue Welt, Sept. 25, 2005 Newsletter of the Association for Jewish Theatre (AJT), Sept. 01, 2005 CeiberWeiber, May 11, 2005 art in migration, May 01, 2005 Maxima, March 01, 2005 Kleine Zeitung, Jan. 25, 2005 Kurier, Nov. 18, 2004 Wiener Zeitung, Nov. 18, 2004 Die Presse, Nov. 18, 2004 derStandard.at, Nov. 18, 2004 Wienweb, Nov. 17, 2004 haGalil Online, Nov. 17, 2004 Glocalist, Oct. 15, 2004 OÖ Nachrichten, Oct. 14, 2004 Contrast, Oct. 01, 2004 Die Presse, Sept. 29, 2004 Datum, Sept. 01, 2004 Schalom, Sept. 01, 2004 Glocalist, July 24, 2004 Wiener Zeitung, June 15, 2004 Die Gemeinde, June 01, 2004 All About Jewish Theatre, June 01, 2004 NIW, Feb. 13, 2004 Die Presse, Feb. 04, 2004 Die Presse, Feb. 02, 2004 action.at, Jan. 30, 2004 Kronen Zeitung, Nov. 30, 2003 Kleine Zeitung, Nov. 29, 2003 Wiener Zeitung, Nov. 14, 2003 L.A. Times, Nov. 09, 2003 Wiener Zeitung, Sept. 16, 2003 Die Presse, Sept. 16, 2003 action.at, Sept. 09, 2003 Die Gemeinde, Sept. 01, 2003 Illustrierte Neue Welt, Sept. 01, 2003 All About Jewish Theatre, Sept. 01, 2003 Die Jüdische, July 13, 2003 Gesellschaft für TheaterEthnologie, Jan. 01, 2003 Mac Guffin, May 01, 2002 Kleine Zeitung, Apr. 27, 2002 Illustrierte Neue Welt, Jan. 01, 2002 Haller Stadtzeitung, Dec. 01, 2001 Kleine Zeitung, Nov. 21, 2001 Tiroler Tageszeitung, Nov. 19, 2001 Kleine Zeitung, Nov. 14, 2001 Die Steirische Wochenpost, Apr. 26, 2001 Die Presse, Apr. 25, 2001 Kleine Zeitung, Apr. 21, 2001 Kronen Zeitung, Apr. 20, 2001 Neue Zeit, Apr. 20, 2001 Korso Info Server, Apr. 01, 2001 Jewish Journal, Apr. 01, 2001 Der Standard, Feb. 02, 2001 Grazer Woche, Jan. 28, 2001 Juden in Österreich, Jan. 01, 2001 Jewish Austria, Jan. 01, 2001 Kronen Zeitung, Nov. 11, 2000 Jewish Telegraph, Nov. 10, 2000 Neue Zürcher Zeitung, July 10, 2000 Salzburger Nachrichten, June 20, 2000 Kurier, June 16, 2000 Wiener Zeitung, June 16, 2000 Illustrierte Neue Welt, June 01, 2000 Die Gemeinde, June 01, 2000 haGalil Online I, May 17, 2000 haGalil Online II, May 17, 2000 Illustrierte Neue Welt, May 01, 2000 Megaphon, May 01, 2000 Kulturen und Künste, Jan. 01, 2000 Denken + Glauben, Jan. 01, 2000 www.jta.at, Dec. 01, 1999 |
L.A. Times - Nov. 09, 2003A Jewish Cultural Gem: the Nestroyhof Jewish Theatre in Vienna AFTER HITLER ANNEXED AUSTRIA IN 1938, THE NESTROYHOF THEATRE IN VIENNA WAS BOARDED UP. CAN IT BE REVIVED?Vienna In 1930s Vienna, art fought a nightly war against prejudice at the Nestroyhof theater. With Adolf Hitler´s rise in neighboring Germany and widespread pro-Nazi sentiment in Austria, life was increasingly precarious for Vienna′s Jews. But the Jewish theater troupe at the Nestroyhof aimed "through artistic endeavor ... to refute the arguments of Judaism´s adversaries and show their cruelties," artistic director Jacob Goldflies wrote at the start of the 1937-38 theater season. Hitler´s annexation of Austria on March 13, 1938, brought a brutal end to such optimism and to Vienna´s once-thriving Jewish theatre scene. The Nestroyhof theatre was forgotten, its graceful Art Nouveau moldings and wrought iron balconies hidden behind the shelves of a supermarket that had moved into the space. Now, after more than half a century of neglect, the theater has been discovered virtually intact within the Nestroyhof building. However, it remains closed, blanketed in dust and lost to public view. The theater is on the first floor of a privately owned apartment building, which is to be granted landmark status soon. The original building was designed at the beginning of the 20th century by Oskar Marmorek, a well-known Viennese Art Nouveau architect and Zionist Jew. While Austria´s current landmark-protection laws forbid the owners from destroying architectural details, it would not proscribe what the theater space could be used for or require the owners to foot the bill for restorations. Warren Rosenzweig, the American founder and artistic director of Jewish Theater Austria, is fighting to reopen the theater but has struggled to gain official backing for the project. "It´s high time to do something for Jewish culture for the present," he said. "It is the only space that is fully recoverable, and the building is absolutely spectacular. But it is not possible to restore this building without government support." Vienna′s theaters have traditionally survived on generous subsidies from the city, which provides more than 50 million euros annually to the performing arts. Rosenzweig petitioned the city government to finance the Nestroyhof′s restoration and reopening, but his proposal was turned down on financial grounds. And while Rosenzweig recently received notice from the city that it would reconsider the Nestroyhof project, the government is revamping its funding system and aims to reduce -- not increase -- the number of theaters operating in Vienna. "Vienna has a lot of theaters and, unfortunately, not an increasing number of theatergoers," said Saskia Schwaiger, spokeswoman for the Vienna city councilor in charge of cultural affairs. "Not every theater group can get its own theater." Public, private investment The feasibility of reopening a theater in the Nestroyhof, Schwaiger said, remains in question. "The requirements for a theater are different now than they were then -- access for the disabled, technical requirements," she said. "It would not just be a normal restoration. We have to ask if it makes sense to invest a high amount of money in something like that." The cost of leasing and restoring the theater is estimated to be in the lower hundreds of thousands of dollars, an amount Nestroyhof supporters argue is a small price to pay to revive Jewish theater in the city. "As with any restoration it requires an investment, but in proportion to the importance of the project it is a reasonable investment," Rosenzweig said. The Los Angeles-based Center for Jewish Culture and Creativity, a nonprofit organization that supports Jewish arts around the world, has joined efforts to resurrect the Nestroyhof. The center´s president, John Rauch, was born in Vienna and remembers going with his grandmother to children´s shows at the theater, before he fled Austria in 1938 at age 8. He called the reopening of the Nestroyhof an important part of "reclaiming Jewish cultural venues in Europe and breathing new life into them with young creativity." "A big question here is, how much does Vienna value its Jewish connection and does Vienna have the vision to become, like Paris or Prague, a center for Jewish culture?" he said. "I have been to Austria several times, and Austrians are not particularly keen on fostering that Jewish connection. But that is a decision that the Viennese ultimately have to make." Rosenzweig, who moved to Austria from New York and founded the country′s sole Jewish theater troupe in 1999, first learned of the Nestroyhof´s existence two years ago. The owners of the supermarket that had occupied the space until the late 1990s had put up partition walls and a false ceiling, lashed with steel cables to the glass-paneled roof of the theater, concealing -- but also preserving -- the original structure and details. An architect, who had rented office space in what was once the theater′s foyer, drilled through a wall to cut new windows, uncovering the old theater. In its heyday, under ever-changing artistic direction, the theater showed at various times light fare, such as French boulevard comedies, as well as more ambitious works. In 1905, Karl Kraus, a satirist and one of Vienna´s most influential intellectuals of the time, arranged for a private, invitation-only performance of Frank Wedekind´s "Pandora´s Box" at the Nestroyhof. Wedekind acted in the production; Austrian composer Alban Berg was in attendance and later based his famous opera "Lulu" on the play he saw for the first time that night. In the early 20th century, several Jewish theaters began to spring up in the area of the city that housed the Jewish ghetto and after World War I remained home to a large percentage of Vienna´s Jewish population. These theaters primarily catered to the Yiddish-speaking Jews who had emigrated from the former Habsburg lands in Eastern Europe, but Vienna´s leading artists also found reason to go. Expressionist painter Oskar Kokoschka wrote in his memoirs about frequenting the Yiddish theaters with Karl Kraus and architect Adolf Loos, describing the "unforgettable performances that distinguished themselves with originality and imagination." Jacob Goldflies´ troupe, the Jüdische Kunstlerspiele, began performing at the Nestroyhof in 1927. The company′s primarily Yiddish productions included well-known Jewish dramas, such as "The Dybbuk" by An-Ski and popular revues like "To Tel Aviv" by Zionist Abisch Meisl, which called on Jews to emigrate to then-Palestine. "They were ambitious, they tried to put entertainment and high culture on the stage," said Brigitte Dalinger, a historian of Yiddish theater. But Vienna´s vibrant Jewish Broadway became a distant memory as the theater troupes and their audiences fled abroad or died in the Holocaust. Many of the buildings housing the theaters were damaged during the war, including the Nestroyhof, which was restored in 1957. Others were later torn down. Of the eight Jewish theaters that existed before 1938, only the Nestroyhof remains. If support to reopen the Nestroyhof can be found, Rosenzweig envisions an ambitious program for the theater that would creatively explore Jewish issues and foster critical discussion. "If there was even a tradition of Jewish theater it was that it was a reflection of what is happening here and now," Rosenzweig said. "Jewish theater was always contemporary." Other Jewish cultural events that take place in different venues in the city, such as the annual Jewish Film Festival and the Yiddish Theater Festival, could also find a home at the Nestroyhof. Rosenzweig said public interest in Jewish theater in Austria is high, even if official support has been less forthcoming. "Our project has been met with such enthusiasm," he said. "Austrians still have a great need to positively come to terms with their past. But they also need the means. Jewish theater offers Austrians the chance to understand better what Jewish identity is and can be, the many aspects of Jewish experience." Sonya Yee © 2003 L. A. Times |