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Shakespeare and Yiddish Theatre were blended together by local talent in Jersey City on Feb. 8, as a theater troupe from New Jersey City University performed "The Jewish King Lear" at Congregation B'nai Jacob.

The program kicked off what Cantor Marsha Dubrow hopes will be a series of initiatives to enhance the synagogue's appreciation of arts and culture. Ten members of NJCU's Actors Shakespeare Company put on the show as part of the group's "The Play's the Thing" series of dramatic readings.

The play, written by Jacob Gordin in 1892, takes place in Vilna, Lithuania, and mimics the familial relations of William Shakespeare's 17th century "King Lear". The household of prosperous merchant Dovidl Moysheles is progressively torn apart by tension following Dovidl's announcement that he plans to spend the remainder of his life in Israel, just like Lear divides his empire in Shakespeare's play.

But despite the similarities between the two plays, Dubrow made sure the audience of about 55 people understood that they were separate works.

"I hope you weren't expecting to come today and see King Lear, just because the Shakespeare theater company is putting on the show," she joked before the performance.

The actors read an English translation of Gordin's play, but sang several songs in Yiddish accompanied by Dubrow on the keyboard. There were no costumes or props involved, except for a short portion of the play involving Purim, reflecting a minimalist and semi-staged style that Artistic Producing Director Colette Rice said "makes you use your imagination and gives you a real idea of what the play is about."

While "The Play's the Thing" series originated to explore new work, NJCU's Shakespeare company now also explores older but little-known work like "The Jewish King Lear," Rice explained, adding that Dubrow approached her a year ago about putting on this play.

Before the performance, Dubrow gave the crowd a lesson on the history of Yiddish Theater in the United States and Europe. In 1876, Abraham Goldfaden founded the first Yiddish Theater troupe in Romania, moving away from philosophical work to more exciting musical projects due to popular demand.

Goldfaden shifted back to philosophical themes after a wave of pogroms in 1881, Dubrow said, but Yiddish Theater was eventually banned in Russia. Therefore, Goldfaden brought his brand to the United States and helped pave the way for writers like Gordin. New York City was filled with Jewish immigrants when Yiddish Theater came to America in 1882, and the genre became an important form of cheap entertainment.

"There was no competition for Yiddish Theater, there were no movies yet," Dubrow said.

In Gordin's play, Dovidl's family is inherently contentious because one of his daughters married a Hassidic man, another married a Misnaged (opponent of the Hasidic movement) and a third is unmarried and tutored in science and other secular studies by an enlightened German Jew named Yaffe.

Dovidl's decision to leave for Israel is met with flattering assurances by his married daughters, but with considerable fear by the unmarried Taybele, who eventually leaves home to become a physician. The conflict resulting from the disagreement within Dovidl's family touched on human themes that resonated with the crowd at B'nai Jacob.

"I'm thinking about how much our lives are really like this," said Jane Canter, B'nai Jacob's co-president. "It was very exciting and the actors are very professional. I like the philosophy behind the show," added Dan Gordon, who isn't a member of B'nai Jacob but was invited to the event by his friends at the synagogue. Though the program ended after the two-hour show and an ensuing reception with the actors, it was only the beginning of B'nai Jacob's cultural exploration.

"[Dubrow] has so many thoughts about how programming can make people aware of trends in the Jewish world and the non-Jewish world," Canter said.