Lando Theater
The Jewish Encyclopedia
of Western Pennsylvania
A project of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center
The Lando Theater was a Yiddish playhouse at 1851 Center Avenue in the Hill District neighborhood of Pittsburgh. It was the only dedicated Yiddish theater in Pittsburgh and one of the few in the United States, outside of New York City. The 1,000-seat theater opened in early October 1928 with a production of “His Jewish Girl” and closed sometime after an April 1942 production of “Two Sisters.” In addition to producing Yiddish plays, the theater also showed Yiddish films, held benefit concerts, hosted speakers and meetings, and made its space available to community groups.
Using newspaper advertisements from the Jewish Criterion, the Rauh Jewish Archives compiled a database of every known event held at the Lando Theater during its 14 years of existence. The database includes the title, date and time for each production and occasionally includes expanded information such as cast and crew notes, performance descriptions, and ticket prices. While efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information, researchers are encouraged to view the original advertisements by visiting the Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project.
The Rauh Jewish Archives is working to expand this database to include Yiddish productions at other theaters throughout Western Pennsylvania.