Polin is a dark comedy about Polin, a young entertainer who finds out that her Yiddish comedian grandmother was performing schtick musical numbers while her family was being killed in 1940s Poland. “That’s bad and embarrassing,” Polin might say. “Is that bad and embarrassing?” she might say next. In the hopes of figuring out whether to be ashamed of her grandmother, Polin journeys to her (grand)motherland: Poland. There she meets ghosts and Polish people who reveal the tragedy of her family’s past. As she tells us what she’s learned, Polin worries that her show might be a bummer (“Am I also bad and embarrassing?” Polin has been known to ask). She recreates her grandmother’s hit songs and schtick from the Yiddish stage to keep things light; real winners like “Gimme Back My Jewelry! A comedy skit” and “Honeymoon in Jersey!” Is it working? Polin can’t tell. Please tell her.

Inspired by the playwright’s Yiddish performer ancestors, Polin combines clown, cabaret, and theater to explore the messiness between comedy and tragedy, generational loss, and the inheritance of family possessions. Brought to you by a travelling bag of entertainment materials, Polin is a contemporary tribute to Yiddish entertainment, in all its rowdy, diasporic glory. ​

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