We’re in Paris. The city adopted by Beckett as his own. I look for him on the streets, a tall, gaunt, figure, dressed in black. I know he’s here somewhere, taking long slow strides and smiling at the thought that we will be performing “Godot” in Yiddish. He’ll be at every performance.

Tonight we attended a reception at the Irish Embassy, a grand mansion near the Arc d’triomphe. Actors, writers, dancers, sculptors, all of them very gracious and looking forward to seeing our show. Anne Atik Arikha, whose husband painter Avigdor Arikha and Beckett were close friends, told me that “Sam would have been delighted to have it played in Yiddish. It was a pleasant couple of hours.

I was speaking to one of the Irish actors about Yiddish theater and he said to me that it was primarily known for musicals. Well, who can we blame but ourselves for giving him that impression. The much touted exhibition on Yiddish theater at The Museum of the City of New York ends with Funny Girl and Fiddler on the Roof. New Yiddish Rep isn’t represented at all. Perhaps because we don’t do musicals.

Have had no contact yet with the Yiddish/Jewish community here. Although I’m not surprised, i must admit I’m disappointed. I was told by the festival’s line director that she has been contacted with inquiries about the show. Perhaps we will be pleasantly surprised.

I can’t wait to get on stage.

It's been a long time between posts. In a couple of days we leave for Paris and another festival. We'll be performing Vartn Af Godot at the Centre Culturel Irlandais, in the shadow of Notre Dame, in a city that has been under attack, in a country deeply embroiled in the burgeoning "refugee problem."

I've been a refugee, and the phrase "refugee problem" has an all too familiar ring to it. So I look at the video clips of people who have lost everything, living in camps and hoping that someplace will take them in and I feel like the only thing I can do is go to Paris and perform Vartn Ah Godot. It may not be much, it won't feed a single homeless child, maybe it will only help me to delude myself that I've actually done something. Martin Luther King said, that at the end of the day what we will remember is not the invective of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. At the very least I can say that I wasn't silent, that I and my colleagues will raise our voices through what we know best: the transformative power of theater. I hope we will be heard by our brothers and sisters in the Jewish community and all the people of France. In our small way we are here to stand with you.

Since Vartn Af Godot  is a play about refugees, and the current situation is the greatest crisis of its kind since the Second World War, it seems as if the opportunity to play it at this time and in this particular place was bashert.

Put yourself in the other guys shoes. We are you.

Montreal

Just getting back from The International Yiddish Theater Festival in Montreal. What an amazing experience. First of all, Montreal is a fabulous city, and Bryna Wasserman, the artistic director of the Segal center for the arts, and her team put together a spectacular event. Everyone treated us great, the production staff was on the highest level, and they made me look good in Yosl Rakover Speaks to G-d. We were surprised at the level of interest in the show and gratified by the response, which was everything we could hope for.

The facility itself is state of the art. My friends, there are about 80,000 of us in Montreal, a large portion from Sephardic background, and this relatively small but cohesive community has put together a fabulous multi-discipline arts center with wonderful programs for all ages. I come back to New York with my head hung in shame at our inability to emulate their achievement, but filled with inspiration and the determination to say the things that nobody wants to hear. We need to wake up and put aside all the bull in order to unite and take our rightful place as the city where Yiddish theater reached its greatest heights. But more of my raving later.

For an overview of the festival and more on The Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theater go to: yiddishtheatre.org