Jewish-American writer and theater critic (1890–1956)
For the American neuroscientist, educator and administrator, see
Nathaniel A. Buchwald.
Nathaniel Buchwald (1890–1956) was a 20th-century, left-leaning Jewish-American theater critic, writer, and scholar of
Yiddish theater who wrote in
Yiddish and English and translated from Yiddish and Russian into English.[1][2][3]
During
World War I, Buchwald worked for Forverts by translating its editorials from Yiddish into English as required by wartime security regulations regarding foreign-language publications in the US.[4]
In the 1920s, Buchwald began publishing articles appeared in Di naye velt (The New World), after which he wrote for this and other Yiddish labor publications. Following the founding of Frayhayt (Freedom–later the Jewish Daily Forward) in New York City in 1922, Buchwald joined its editorial board and contributed as theater critic. Later, he wrote for Morgn Frayhayt (Morning Freedom) and Jewish Life, also in New York.[1][2][3]
In 1925, Buchwald helped found the
Artef Players Collective, a Yiddish theater group in New York City. (The name "Artef" came from Arbeter teater-farband or "workers' theatrical alliance."[5]) Members included: Moyshe Olgin,
David Pinski, David Abrams, Melech Marmur, Kalman Marmur, Shachno Epstein, Moyshe Nadir.[5] Regarding Artef's aims, Buchwald wrote: " Life pulled in one direction, to world upheavals, to Revolution, to Soviet Russia, to collective consciousness and collective action, [while] the theatre still busied itself with bygone idylls, Hassidic legends, all kinds of tall tales, or with the routine of bourgeois life, family drama and romantic complication."[5] They staged their first performance in 1927 but slowed during the
Great Depression and even took a hiatus from 1937 to 1939. In 1940, the group resumed performances with Clinton Street by
Louis Miller. The group disbanded in the 1940s.[1]
During the 1930s, Buchwald came to the attention of the
Dies Committee of the US House of Representatives for his contributions to
Agitprop theater[7] and again in the 1950s for his theater criticism that appeared in The Daily Worker.[8]
Personal life and death
Buchwald married Stella Buchwald, also a writer.[citation needed]
Buchwald wrote under several
pen names including: B. Tulin, B. Brand, N. Poloner, and Bert Toulens (in English).[2][3]
Buchwald's friends and letter correspondents include
Abraham Cahan.[9]
Pogromshtshikes farfleytsn amerike, faktn vegn der aynvanderung fun natsis, fashistn un gorgl-shnayder (Pogromists invade America, facts about the immigration of Nazis, fascists, and cut-throats) (1952)[15]