Paper short abstract:

The poster discusses a problem of cultural identification through a comparable analysis of home images displayed in theater programs of the two different Israeli productions of the notorious play Die Megillah by Itzik Manger.

Paper long abstract:

The design of theater program, its various visual images and motifs, and the accompanying text, all serve as a type of "declaration of intent" of the creators. The front cover of the play Die Megillah by the notorious Yiddish poet Itzik Manger, performed in the Hammam theatre (Yaffo,1965), displays an "Oriental" looking picture: The houses represent an Eastern-style construction as opposed to European, and a figure dressed in fancy Persian clothes. The front cover of the production of the Yiddish Theater in Israel (1988) shows us a completely different picture, emphasizing the Eastern European Jewish element. The poster offers a comparable analysis of the programs, created for the two meaningful Israeli productions of Die Megillah, engaging with the questions of cultural sources, encounters and identification.