Zypora Spaisman, 86; Fixture in New York’s Yiddish Theater Scene

Zypora Spaisman, 86, a fixture in New York’s singular Yiddish theater scene for half a century, died Saturday of cerebral trauma in a New York hospital, said her son, Ben-Ami Spaisman.

Born Zypora Tanenbaum in Lublin, Poland, she began acting in the Polish State Theatre at age 10 and never stopped.

After attending nursing school and marrying Joseph Spaisman, she became a midwife.

The couple fled Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939 only to be interned in a Russian labor camp.

The midwife delivered more than 1,000 babies, and organized other internees to perform Yiddish theater in the barracks.

The Spaismans returned briefly to Poland, then moved to Paris and Montreal before settling in New York City in 1955.

Spaisman immersed herself in the Folksbiene (People’s Stage) Yiddish Theatre, founded in 1915 and the oldest continuous theater of its type in the world.

She acted, raised money and served as artistic director, single-handedly keeping the theater afloat for more than 40 years.

But after an acrimonious separation over modernizing management, Spaisman formed her own competing Yiddish Public Theatre in 1999.

Spaisman earned an Obie award, a Drama Desk award and a New York City People’s Choice award for her acting.

In addition to her extensive stage resume, she appeared in such films as “Enemies: A Love Story,” directed by Paul Mazursky and starring Anjelica Huston and Ron Silver, in 1989.