(TEANECK, NJ) -- The Ma'ayanot Yeshiva High School Drama Society, in ongoing partnership with Black Box Studios, presents three performances of Fiddler On The Roof from December 27-30, 2025 at Ma'ayanot Performing Arts Center. Winner of nine Tony Awards when it debuted in 1964, this musical is the brainchild of Broadway legends, Jerome Robbins and Harold Prince; songwriters, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick; and bookwriter, Joseph Stein. Touching audiences worldwide with its humor, warmth and honesty, this universal show is a staple of the musical theatre canon.
Set in the little village of Anatevka, the story centers on Tevye, a poor milkman, and his five daughters. With the help of a colorful and tight-knit Jewish community, Tevye tries to protect his daughters and instill them with traditional values in the face of changing social mores and the growing anti-Semitism of Czarist Russia. Rich in historical and ethnic detail, Fiddler on the Roof's universal theme of tradition cuts across barriers of race, class, nationality and religion, leaving audiences crying tears of laughter, joy and sadness.
The Ma'anot Drama Society's Student Producer/Director team are seniors Tzippora Chouake and Adina Goldstein. The Production Stage Managers are Clara Fraenkel and Elisheva Herman. The cast features talent representing all four grades including Adina Goldstein, Tzipporah Chouake, Shira Halberstam, Sophie Muschel, Chaya Spool, Adira Feldhamer, Adiya Clement, Rebecca Anotenko, Avital Hermann, Sarah Gutkin, Chaya Piltz, Belana Dworkis, Ella Bracha Friedman, Shira Nagar, Sarah Manevitz, Gabi Miller, Bella Sanders, Leah Shevchuk, Dahlia Spool, Hannah Steinberg, and dancers Anna Secemeski, Racheli Herman, and Naomi Woitovich.
The production is directed and choreographed by Ilana Schimmel Lipton.
Performances take place Saturday, December 27th; Sunday, December 28th; and on Monday, December 30th at 7:00pm. Tickets are $18 for general admission and $15 for students/senior citizens. Tickets are available for purchase online. The Ma'ayanot Performing Arts Center is located at 1650 Palisade Avenue in Teaneck, New Jersey.
Leile Rockoff, Yael Hornung, Shira Whitehead, Eliana Weber, Tali Ray and Batya Cohen make-up the tech/design crew, various Ma'aanot and Black Box alum help out behind-the-scenes. Ms. Samantha Kur, English Department Chair, serves as the Ma'ayanot Arts Department chair and Black Box founder Matt Okin, the show's producer, is a writer, director, producer, and performing arts educator -- and Ma'ayanot's long-time Performing Arts head.
Ilana Schimmel Lipton's previous Drama Society productions are The 25th...Spelling Bee, Matilda the Musical, and Into the Woods. Previous Teaching Artist director highlights include Once Upon A Mattress, Little Shop of Horrors, Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief, A Day in Hollywood/A Night in Ukraine. Professional NY and NJ production credits include Eric Bogosian's 1+1 (Off Broadway Premiere), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Woyzek, and The Wolves.
When not working behind the scenes, she works as a professional actor. Her latest career highlight was the role of Rosina Sacco in a sold-out NY production of the new play Sacco & Vanzetti are DEAD!. Additional actor credits include Fragments performed alongside F. Murray Abraham, Fiddler on the Roof (Tzeitel), Legally Blonde (Elle Woods), Sam Shepard's The Unseen Hand (Willie), Edward Albee's The Play About the Baby (Girl). She holds a B.A in Theater Studies with a double minor in Musical Theatre and Dance, and resides in Bergenfield, NJ with her husband.
Past Ma'ayanot Drama Society/Black Box productions include Spelling Bee, Murder On The Orient Express, The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime, Matilda The Musical, Fools by Neil Simon, Into The Woods, Golden Boy by Clifford Odetts, The Ballad Of The Sad Cafe by Edward Albee adapted from the novella by Carson McCullers, Blue Stockings by Jessica Swale as well as A Few Good Men, Street Scene, The Grapes Of Wrath, My Aunt's Son Vinny, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Detective Story, and Odett's masterwork Paradise Lost.
Fiddler on the Roof is presented through special arrangement with Music Theater International (MTI). All authorized performance materails are also supplied by MTI.
