Off-Broadway's The Wild Project will commemorate the Night of the Murdered Poets with a staged documentary created by Yelena Shmulenson August 10 at 7 PM.
The upcoming performance, which examines how the Soviet state repressed Yiddish culture, will feature Shmulenson and her husband Allen Lewis Rickman plus Suzanne Toren and Shane Baker.
On August 12, 1952, 13 Jewish writers, artists, journalists, and scientists—including Yiddish writers David Bergelson, David Hofshteyn, Perets Markish, Itsik Fefer, and Leyb Kvitko as well as actor Benjamin Zuskin—were executed by a firing squad in Moscow's Lubyanka prison after being convicted on accounts of treason and espionage. The mass execution, which would become known as the Night of the Murdered Poets, was one of Joseph Stalin's final acts of persecution before he died less than a year later. The performance also commemorates the state-sponsored assassination of Solomon Mikhoels, who led the Moscow State Jewish Theatre.
Co-sponsored by the Congress for Jewish Culture, the evening will be performed in English, Yiddish, and Russian.
The Wild Project is located at 195 East 3rd Street. Reservations can be made by clicking here. For more information, visit CongressforJewishCulture.org.
