The Dueling Scholars Who Bickered a Yiddish Dictionary Into Existence
By Rob Tannenbaum, The New york times
Sept. 17, 2025
The Jewish tradition of debate is at the center of a new chamber opera about two scholars clashing over a Yiddish dictionary in the aftermath of World War II.
The opera, which will be performed at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in Manhattan, Sept. 18 and Sept. 21, is based on the true story of the relationship between Yudel Mark and Max Weinreich.
Opera about a unique Yiddish dictionary to have its world premiere
By Jennifer A. Stern, The Forward
September 3, 2025
Rebecca Miller Kratzer, the director of the staged production, gave me a taste of how the imagery will enhance the dream-like mood. “The singers will be engulfed by paper in different proportions and scales,” she said. She explained that some of the paper will be tangible and sculptural, part of the actual sets. But the staging will also use digital projections. The combination of physical and projected imagery will move the action between the scholarly world of books and card catalogs at YIVO, and the mystical world of the three alephs — the realm of memory and mourning, sometimes touched with a flicker of humor.
Kratzer also described researching historical Yiddish theater in New York City for the costumes and sets. “We want to go beyond images of Eastern European Jewry that are familiar to audiences from ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ and paintings by Marc Chagall. There’s a whole visual world of Yiddish theater that was born right here in New York, and we decided to mine that incredibly rich resource,” she said.
OPERA America Selects Four Teams for the 2025 Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer Prize
Press Released: 22 Jan 2025
OPERA America is pleased to award the Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer Prize to four teams of creative artists. The biennial prize recognizes promising stage directors and designers whose ingenuity brings operatic work to life for contemporary audiences. The prize connects these rising artists with producers who can advance their careers.
Rebecca Miller Kratzer, director; Tyler Herald, set designer; Camilla Dely, costume designer; Stacey Boggs, lighting designer; and Anisa Rose Threlkeld, dramaturg, for a production concept for La traviata (Giuseppe Verdi/Francesco Maria Piave)
Directing Thesis Interview: 'The Trojan Women'
BY LUZ LORENZANA TWIGG, NOVEMBER 12, 2021
For her thesis production, student Rebecca Miller Kratzer directs the thrilling new opera The Trojan Women.
The Trojan Women features a libretto by Barnard faculty member Ellen McLaughlin and music by acclaimed classical composer Sarah Taylor Ellis. Set in both the Capitol on January 6th, 2021 as well as the shores of Troy, Miller Kratzer finds new resonance in McLaughlin’s contemporary language of Euripides’ enduring classic.
Dream of a City: Rebecca Miller Kratzer's MFA Directing Thesis, 'The Trojan Women'
BY EMILY JOHNSON, OCTOBER 14, 2021
“In staging Euripides’ monumental tragedy in an imagined aftermath of the Capitol insurrection, one in which the forces of fascism and white supremacy have won, Kratzer and her team press the trauma of an ancient war against the most potent symbols of contemporary American democracy, allowing fundamental human experience to bleed through new fabric.”
Review: Opera Saratoga's outdoor 'Don Quichotte' a charming affair
BY JOSEPH DALTON, JULY 15, 2021
“SARATOGA SPRINGS — Opera Saratoga rounded out its abbreviated season with Telemann’s “Don Quichotte at Camacho’s Wedding,” a light and charming one-act opera performed under a pavilion in Spa State Park. Singing in an English translation, the eight-member cast brought clarity, presence and a touch of melodrama to the proceedings.”
Don’t Wish, Do It Yourself: Women Finding Their Power in Cendrillon
by Shari Caplan, October 17, 2019; Howlround Theatre Commons
“[Miller Kratzer’s] vision for the project used ensemble, intuition, and fairy tale tropes as guides for the design, characterizations, and approach to development. Kratzer drew inspiration from Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ book Women Who Run with Wolves […] Through this lens, Kratzer found ways to enhance and complicate the well-known characters of Cinderella, in part by drawing from other similar archetypes. This Cendrillon alluded to the dark subconscious, the gory aspects of womanhood, and the bone-bright mystery of transformation.”