the New York Times remarked on how the Irving Place Theater embodied German patriotism in the U.S before America's entrance into the war. After America's involvement, German patriotism decreased because Germany had become America's enemy, and in 1918 the Irving Place Theater was driven to its demise as a German company. The collapse of the Irving Place theater like any other German theater was caused by various many factors: anti-German prejudice, German America's lack of interest in the German stage, and other competing forms of entertainment such as films, English-language theater, and the vaudeville. As a Yiddish theater By 1910 Yiddish theater was flourishing on the Lower East Side in New York City, and Yiddish companies had taken over many German theaters on the Bowery; from the late 1910s to the early 1920s, Yiddish theater gradually moved northward, first to Second Avenue and then to Irving Place and East 16th Street, reflecting the beginning dispersion of the East European immigrant Jewish community. The Irving Place theater came under the management of Jewish actor, director, and producer Maurice Schwartz in 1918, and he changed the name to the new Yiddish Art Theater. His new theater thrived until it is disbanded in 1950. Yiddish Theater began in Europe in the early 18th century and came to the United States with mass Eastern European immigration, thriving primarily in New York City from the late 19th to mid-20th century. The idea to establish a Yiddish theater came from the immigrant community who wanted to combat the effects of shund (trash) popular entertainment. For the immigrant community, Yiddish theater offered entertainment, an escape, and reminisces of immigrant life and home traditions. When the theater opened for the first time as the new Yiddish Art Theater on August 30, 1918, it did not find huge success. Zalmen Libibin's Man and his Shadow, did not meet audience and critic expectations. The new theater would find success with Peretz Hershbein's The Forgotten Nook and The Blacksmith's Daughter, both of which emphasized on the idyllic, village life, something that resonated strongly with immigrants. The Yiddish Art theater at Irving Place, like other Yiddish theaters, rejected popular, sentimental and melodramatic improvisations, and instead focused on quality by carefully rehearsing plays, ensemble, acting, and presentation. Yiddish theater was an entertainment of cultural exchange. Through the translations of classics, immigrants could learn about world literature; through the translation of popular American theater,