Yentl and Teibele Onstage: Dramatic Adaptations of I. B. Singer’s Work for a 1970s American Audience

This article examines two English-language stage adaptations of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s short stories: Singer and Leah Napolin’s Yentl (1974) and Singer and Eve Friedman’s Teibele and Her Demon (1979). These plays show how gender issues in Singer’s work were staged in the 1970s in the context of Second Wave feminism, prior to twenty-first-century ideas of sexual consent. In both plays, love is used to explain or excuse the behavior of characters who deceive partners they claim to love. By considering these plays, we can better understand the changes that were made to achieve Singer’s goal of entertaining theater audiences.