Chai Life presents ‘The Last Yiddish Speaker’ May 20-June 7 in Calgary

by Irena Karshenbaum, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 

(AJNews) – The February 2024 production of Fiddler on the Roof presented at Calgary’s La Cité des Rocheuses, a theatre in the Francophone community, by The Painted Fish Performing Arts Society, a local community theatre company, proved to be more than entertainment. The popular musical, based on short stories by Yiddish writer, Sholem Aleichem, was performed to packed audiences, and served as a catalyst for the revival of Jewish community theatre in the city.

At the time of the production, Tracy Smith, who played Yenta, spoke to many of her fellow actors, some of whom were part of the Jewish community, and discovered there was interest in reviving Jewish community theatre in Calgary. It wasn’t long after that Smith, together with Laura Shuler, who was the other actor performing as Yenta, and actor, Ari Cohen, founded Chai Life Productions, Calgary’s first Jewish community theatre company since Beth Israel Players was forced to seize operations in 1986 due to a lack of performance space in the Jewish community, after having entertained audiences for fifteen years.

Beth Israel Players was co-founded by Zelda Dean, along with the late Donna Riback and Rivka Schechter, who now lives in Texas. Dean directed and acted in many of its productions and has a long history with numerous of the Chai Life Productions’ key players. Shuler produced and performed in many Beth Israel plays, along with Dorothy Hanson, a singer and actor who is currently serving on the Chai Life board, and Dean herself was Smith’s nursery school teacher.

These long relationships helped fuel the quick rise of the theatre company. In March of 2025, Chai Life secured theatre space in the Jewish community, at Temple B’nai Tikvah, and by the end of the same year, staged sold-out performances of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber with lyrics by Tim Rice, based on the Biblical figure, Joseph.

Just six months later, Chai Life is planning its next play, The Last Yiddish Speaker, written by New-York-State-based playwright, Deborah Zoe Laufer.

The Last Yiddish Speaker was chosen by the emerging theatre company, as Smith explains because, “We agreed that this was a good show and a timely show to do in light of the state of affairs around the world, not only in the Jewish community, but in others experiencing similar issues of racism, hate or marginalization. Because this is a Jewish story about the last Yiddish speaker it can be relatable to other cultures and peoples.”

Set in a fictional town in New York State in May of 2029, eight years after the January 6 insurrection, the play tells the story, as Shuler explains, “Of a father [Paul, played by Ari Cohen]  and a daughter [who goes by Mary, but is actually hiding her Jewish identity as her name is Sarah, played by Galya Wornovitsky] who live under a nationalistic regime that prohibits them from practicing their religion, and cultural beliefs. They are confronted with a moral and existential dilemma when the one-thousand-year-old aunt Chava [who is “the last Yiddish speaker,” played by Reva Faber] knocks on their door. To hide her or not to hide her? That is the question.”

Shuler continues, “This play in the micro sense represents the purpose for our theatre’s existence. Understanding the human condition is shared by all, whether you are Jewish, or you are not.”

Reva Faber states that this is a very serious story, but laughs at how she got the part having never acted before, “Am I meshugenah, or what?”

After Faber saw Joseph, and thought it was “so well done,” she was approached by Ari Cohen who suggested she audition for the play because it requires a Yiddish speaker, “And I speak Yiddish.” She continues, “I did it just for fun, and I never thought that I would ever be chosen for the part. When I got a call-back after my audition, I had to ask what a call-back was.”

Faber, who is turning 82 in April, used the latest technology, AI, to prepare herself for the initial audition. “I am a budding actress at age 82!” Faber exclaims, and at the same time admits, “It’s challenging, but I am enjoying it. I am worrying that I will not remember the lines and worrying that I will not present the lines the way the director will want me to present them. I had to learn the lines very quickly because I am working full-time right now.”

Faber explains why the play is important, “I do feel the Yiddish language should be preserved and there are so few people speaking it. This language has so much tam, one word has so much deeper meaning.”

With themes that resonate with audiences, the play has travelled through many cities across North America in just two years since it has been written. Performances have been staged in Los Angeles, Houston and Philadelphia, among others across the U.S., with Calgary being the second Canadian location where it arrived via Victoria, when The Last Yiddish Speaker was staged in June of 2025 by Zelda Dean’s production company, Bema Productions.

Even though Dean is based in Victoria, at 84, she continuous her involvement with Jewish community theatre in Calgary by directing the play remotely, which Smith, who is serving as the company’s artistic director maintaining its creative vision, explains, is done through a virtual meeting that Dean watches on her computer while the cast performs in-person on stage.

Shuler, at 75, is the lead co-producer of the play, along with Dorothy Hanson and Scott Ellsworth. Shuler concludes, “Like Beth Israel Players, we welcome total community involvement, not just Jewish involvement. You don’t have to be Jewish to be part of this theatre.”

The Last Yiddish Speaker will be presented at Temple B’nai Tikvah on May 20, 24, 30, 31, June 6 and 7, 2026. Tickets can be purchased at https://www.chailifeyyc.ca/.

Irena Karshenbaum is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter. She writes in Calgary: irenakarshenbaum.com