Yeshiva Girls School’s production ‘Out of the Depths’ teaches leadership, new skills
The production gives the girls the opportunity to pick up new skills and, for those acting, experience the world from another’s perspective.

When most people are getting home from work and settling in on a Tuesday evening, the students at Yeshiva Girls School are steadily streaming back into their school in a raucous chorus of giggles, conversation and questions about their job for the day.
These moments happen regularly now as the girls practice for the school’s biennial theatrical production, which the girls direct, produce and perform. This year, they are presenting an adaptation of “Out of the Depths,” a book by Rabbi Marcus Lehmann.
The story follows a married couple, Edward and Minna, as they navigate their Jewish faith in mid-19th-century Germany. Edward is not religiously observant, but he promises to change when he marries the pious Minna.
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The girls have prepared for their March performances since December, but for production heads Rivka Presman, Shayna Backman, Fraidy Rosenblum and Esther Rosenblum, the work began much earlier. Leah Feller is overseeing and advising the students, under the guidance of principal Batsheva Deren.
About six months ago, the four debated over what story to tell. It was Rosenblum’s mother who suggested “Out of the Depths,” a production that the school had put on more than two decades ago, written by Terri Naiditch.
Initially, the production heads were unsure about the script, but seeing it performed changed their minds.
“We were able to find a VHS of the production, and so we all watched it together and, just watching that production, we all became obsessed with it,” Backman, 18, said.
The costumes were part of the draw. As the story is set in the 19th century, the students responsible for costuming are getting creative.
The three costume heads, Rivky Tebeka, Aviva Taibe and Hadassah Rothman, are leading the creation of the wardrobe from scratch. Although Taibe and Rothman didn’t know how to sew when they began, they now man the sewing machines twice a day as they make clothing for the production.
“It’s just using your hands to create something. It’s a lot of fun, and then seeing it — like your creation, your thoughts — out on a person and it looks good, is just a lot of fun,” Rothman, 17, said.

That spirit of ingenuity runs throughout the entire school as the girls prepare. Cousins and prop heads Bracha Shkedi and Batsheva Shkedi emphasized that they always keep a vigilant eye out for potential props as their team practiced moving props on and off stage — the stage itself an extension of that innovation.
The girls will perform at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall, equipped with a large stage and row after row of seats, a big change from the gym the girls are practicing in.
To account for the change, they taped the dimensions of the music hall stage onto the floor of the gym for practice.
The girls will combine dance, singing and acting to tell the story of Edward’s struggle with wealth and devotion in his marriage to Minna. While the girls take the story seriously, it’s not without its levity. At one point, Edward finds himself face-to-face with swashbuckling, dancing pirates.
It’s clear that the girls don’t shy away from their imaginations, with the production heads even writing some of their scenes to get the script closer to the book.
“This production lets my creativity flow,” said Leah Rochel Taub, 13, who plays Edward’s sister, as well as a dancer and singer.
The production gives the girls the opportunity to pick up new skills and, for those acting, experience the world from another’s perspective.
“It’s cool to, like, get into that character’s eyes,” said 14-year-old Mariasha Rosenblum, who plays Edward. “I’m so in tune with my character. I’m like, ‘Oh, what would Edward do?’ It’s just a really cool thing to be able to play another person.”

“It’s important to have good communication and flexibility and teamwork,” Gabriella Balyasny, 17, who handles PR for the production alongside acting. “It’s like a big unifying experience because you could be working with and under people that, like, you don’t usually talk with or work with.”
“You get to be involved with people who you’re not necessarily in classes with,” drama choir head Chaya Gurevitz, 17, said. “You get to know seventh and eighth graders, you get to know girls who you’re not in class with and spend time with them in a different way that’s not academically focused.”
Almost every girl shared the same message nearly verbatim: Buy a ticket and come to one of the performances.
“You’re not only going to like it; you’re going to love it,” Esther Rosenblum said.
The girls will perform on March 4 and 5 at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall in Carnegie. The performance is for women and girls only. Doors open at 6:15 p.m., and the performances begin at 7 p.m. There will also be a raffle where attendees can enter for the chance to win a self-care, family or couple’s basket.
In-person and livestream tickets can be bought here. PJC
Abigail Hakas is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.
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