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Yiddish language and culture are seemingly unquenchable springs of inspiration for the analytical and the creative mind. Contemporary artists are able to draw from these multifaceted texts, images and memories to create meaningful art today. Jana Mazurkiewicz Meisarosh – founder of the Yiddish Arts and Academics Association of North America (YAAANA) – will take you through a brief history of Yiddish, Yiddishland, and the imperative of its legacy for imagining a sustainable creative community.
Jana Mazurkiewicz Meisarosh is a PhD candidate in the Slavic Department at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is working on her dissertation on Yiddish theater in Communist Warsaw. Originally from Poland, Jana holds a Master of Arts degree in Polish Philology and Jewish Studies from the University of Wrocław. Jana is not only a practicing academic, but also an active theater artist and critic. She is an actor, director, playwright, and producer of Yiddish theater. In October 2017, she moved to San Diego and launched the Yiddish Arts and Academics Association of North America (YAAANA).
Before the 163, before the familiar skyline, there was a pioneer with a vision. Arriving in a nascent San Diego, Louis Rose wasn’t just one of its earliest developers; he was its first identifiable Jewish settler, weaving his cultural thread into the fabric of a growing town. Witness his incredible story, from his arrival to the unexpected challenge that thrust him into the city’s making.