Yiddish theatre emerged in the modern era in 1876, in a tavern in Jassy, Romania. By the 1930’s it reached the height of its popularity. Original plays, musicals and translations were performed internationally by hundreds of theatres. On the eve of WWII there were approximately 12 million Yiddish speakers around the world and hundreds of theatres. After the war only 7 million remained. Today there are less than 2 million speakers…and less than a dozen Yiddish theatres.