Last year, I read an article in the New York Times about the Studio and about Tom Oppenheim, who runs it. Oppenheim is the great-grandson of Jacob Adler, the great Yiddish actor, who was the closest collaborator and colleague of my great-grandfather, Jacob Gordin, between 1891 and Gordin’s death in 1909 – exactly one hundred years ago. I called the Studio and left a message for Tom, and a few days later was having lunch with him and with his mother, a former actress, Stella Adler’s niece and once the lover of Marlon Brando. Tom is warm, open and idealistic, with an intense belief in the theatre as a tool for social change, just as our ancestor’s had. We have developed a great friendship, hopefully less fiery and melodramatic than the one enjoyed by our relatives a century ago.

I will be speaking about Gordin’s life and about the family’s bond with him down through time, but also about the Yiddish theatre in those days and its influence on American show biz, and about Adler himself, a magnificent man with a mane of white hair. They don’t make actors like they used to, that’s for sure.

This is half of the Studio’s brochure. I have tried to shrink it but can’t, sorry – but this gives you the general idea.