| Grand Theatre | |
|---|---|
| Address | 255 Grand Street, at Chrystie Street |
| City | New York City |
| Opened | February 1903 |
| Years active | ? |
| Rebuilt | ? |
| Previous names | Adler's Grand Theatre |
The Grand Theatre was a theater in New York City built for Yiddish productions, the first of its kind.[1]
On March 12, 1902, Sophia Karp, with Jacob Fischel and playwright Joseph Lateiner, founded the Grand Theater in New York City. The city's first theater built specifically for Yiddish productions,[2] the Grand was typical of Yiddish theaters of the time by being largely artist-managed. Besides Karp and Lateiner, the directors included leading man Morris Finkel, comedian Bernard Bernstein, L. S. Gottlieb, and composer Louis Friedsell. It opened in February 1903.[3]
"Two events in 1904 symbolized the decline of the serious stage. Jacob Gordin failed as the director of his own theater and Jacob Adler, the leading exponent of Gordin's dramas, opened the Grand Theater - the first structure built specifically for the Yiddish stage. In 1912 Tomashefsky's new National Theater on Houston Street even surpassed the Grand in the magnificence of its appointments. The National compared favorably with Broadway palaces and offered similar enjoyments subject to the same commercial will-o'-the-wisp.[2]
Italian performances also were done at the theater.[4]