What is the Bobe Mayses Theater Project?

We are delighted to announce the creation of a daring, new work of experimental theater during Yiddish Summer Weimar 2016. Written by New York Times best-selling author Michael Wex, directed by radical Yiddish theater visionary Jenny Romaine, with music composed by New Jewish Music pioneer, Alan Bern, “Bobe Mayses: Yiddish Knights and Other Impossibilities” transforms the fantastic tales of Elia Levita’s Bovo Bukh (1507) into a wild mixture of street theater, installation, puppet theater, circus and more.

The Bovo Bukh, the first printed work of secular Yiddish literature, is an incredible cultural treasure that retells the medieval romance of the Bevis of Hampton (now the Jewish knight Bovo d’Antona) in ottava rima in Western Yiddish. For generations of readers, its stories represented pure fantasy, and indeed its title "Bovo Bukh" evolved into "Bobe Mayses," grandmother's tales that one would be wise not to believe.
Bobe Mayses commemorates Elia Levita’s remarkable life and the 500th anniversary of the Venice Jewish Ghetto, where he lived.

The creative team also includes New York-based artists Gregory Corbino, Abigail Miller and Daniel Rosza Lang/Levitsky and Milan-based Avery Gosfield, together with a colorful cast of European actors, dancers, circus artists and musicians. Bobe Mayses is a modular work, adaptable to large indoor and outdoor stages, street venues, black boxes, and other venues. This unique international collaboration is made possible by a generous grant from the German Federal Cultural Foundation. Starting in August 2016, Bobe Mayses is available to travel to festivals and other venues.

For further information: Andreas Schmitges, email: Schmitges@aol.com, Phone: +49 177 6017686 back