The Paper Brigade | Yiddishpiel Theater

Yiddishpiel Theatre, in collaboration with Rimon School and the National Authority for Yiddish Culture, is proud to present:

The Paper Brigade | Di Papirene Brigade

The extraordinary story of the members of the Paper Brigade—poets, writers, and intellectuals from the Vilna Ghetto, who were ordered by the Nazis to sort Jewish cultural treasures ahead of their destruction, and chose to risk their lives to save them.

At the center are Avraham Sutzkever, Shmerke Kaczerginski, and their friends—a group that understood that the struggle for the books, poems, and manuscripts was a struggle for memory and for the very existence of Jewish culture.

The play returns to the moments when, amid an impossible reality, some of the songs most closely associated with Vilna and the ghetto were written and born—“Under the Radiance of the Stars,” “Ponary,” “Friling,” and “Do Not Say This Is the Last Road”—and to the people behind the words.

A new musical play connecting the story of the members of the Paper Brigade with a young generation of singers and creators, graduates of the Rimon School of Music, who give the songs of the period and Yiddish song new life through original, contemporary arrangements, under the musical direction of Ohad Hitman.

They risked their lives to save the words. Now their words return to the stage.

Cast: Michael Hanegbi, Yehonatan Rozen, Sharial Yosef, Itay Evron, Ariel Boing’iu, Liam Fuhrman, Lihi Yolzari, Nitai Yaniv, Maya Levi, Adi Arbel, Rotem Sharabi, Saar Alon

Written by: Hadas Calderon and Oded Ehrlich
Direction and Artistic Direction: Hadas Calderon
Musical Direction: Ohad Hitman
Musical Arrangements: Itay Evron
Vocal Arrangements: Liam Fuhrman
Yiddish Language Support and Coaching: Sharial Yosef
Movement Design: Tom Applebaum
Video Design: Yaara Nirel
Set Design: Batya and Michael Pick
Costume Design: Ella Kolesnik
Assistant Director: Inbal Shalom
Show Management: Asaf Rotem
Theatre CEO: Zelig Rabinovich

With a contribution from the A. I. Lerner Foundation