Zypora Spaisman (January 2, 1916 in

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

– May 18, 2002 in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

) was an actress and

Yiddish theatre Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satire, satiric or nostalgic revues; melodr ...

empresaria.

Life in Poland

Spaisman was born Zypora Tannenbaum. She began acting at the age of 10, but for much of her life she worked in her native

as a

midwife A midwife (: midwives) is a health professional who cares for mothers and Infant, newborns around childbirth, a specialisation known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughou ...

. In 1938, she married Joseph Spaisman. In 1939, when Nazis invaded Poland, she witnessed her sister being shot. After this, the family moved to the Soviet-controlled region of Poland, and then were taken to a labor camp in the

Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.

. There, she continued to work as a midwife and to put together Yiddish plays. Upon returning to Poland after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, she continued her Yiddish theatre work. However, her entire family had been killed, as had most Jews in Poland. The Spaismans thus emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1955.''New York Times'' obituary
/ref>

Career in the United States

Spaisman, during her career as an actress, was long associated with the Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre in New York City. For several years, Spaisman was executive producer for the theatre while continuing to act. In 1998, Spaisman's position with the company was replaced by

Zalmen Mlotek Zalmen Mlotek (; born June 15, 1951, in the Bronx, New York) is an American conductor, pianist, musical arranger, accompanist, composer, and the Artistic Director of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF), the longest continuous running ...

and

Eleanor Reissa Eleanor Reissa is an American actress, singer, theatre director, playwright, librettist, choreographer, translator, and author based in New York City. She works and performs in English and Yiddish speaking stages, and also interprets and perfor ...

, who were named co-artistic directors. They invited Spaisman to stay on as a consultant. However, Spaisman's vision for the Folksbiene differed from the new directors' vision: while the new directors wished to modernize, Spaisman wanted the theatre to preserve Yiddish art and culture. As such, Spaisman left the Folksbiene and formed the Yiddish Public Theater. In the summers, Spaisman worked as a camp nurse at Camp Boiberik, in Rhinebeck, NY (an offshoot of the Sholem Aleichem Folk Institute). Spaisman also had some film roles. She played the role of Sheva Haddas in

Paul Mazursky Irwin Lawrence "Paul" Mazursky (; April 25, 1930 – June 30, 2014) was an American film director, screenwriter, and actor. Known for his dramatic comedies that often dealt with modern social issues, he was nominated for five Academy Awards for '' ...

's film '' Enemies, a Love Story'' (1989), an adaptation of

Isaac Bashevis Singer Isaac Bashevis Singer (; 1903 – July 24, 1991) was a Poland, Polish-born Jews, Jewish novelist, short-story writer, memoirist, essayist, and translator in the United States. Some of his works were adapted for the theater. He wrote and publish ...

's novel of the same name. She also acted alongside Michael J. Fox in '' The Hard Way''. A documentary by Dan Katzir about Spaisman and the Yiddish Public Theater, ''Yiddish Theater: A Love Story,'' was released in 2006.

Death

She was married to Joseph Spaisman until his death; the couple had one son, who survived her following her death from a brain hemorrhage on May 18, 2002, aged 86.

References

External links

IMDb bio

"Yiddish Theater: A Love Story" official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spaisman, Zypora 1916 births 2002 deaths Yiddish theatre performers Jewish American actresses American film actresses American stage actresses Polish midwives Polish Holocaust survivors Polish emigrants to the United States Actresses from Lublin Actresses from New York City 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American Jews