Peninnah Schram

Schram was born and raised in New London, Connecticut. She was the second child of Samuel E. Manchester (1878-1970), a Lithuanian-American cantor and composer, and Dora (nee Markman, d. 1978), a Belarusian-American Yiddish enthusiast and entrepreneur.^[1][2][3] Growing up, both of her parents frequently told her stories.^[3] She attended The Williams School in New London.^[4]

She earned her bachelor's degree at the University of Connecticut (graduated 1956), and went on to obtain a master's degree at Columbia University in 1968.^[1][5]

In 1964,^[1] Schram and one of her friends founded Theatre à la Carte, which put on plays in New York. She two began working with the Jewish Heritage Theatre at the 92nd Street Y in 1966, where they wrote musical plays for children.^[3]

Schram began teaching at Iona College in 1967.^[3] After two years, she began working at Stern College for Women in their speech and drama department.^[3][5]

Schram became interested in Jewish storytelling in 1970, after working with the Jewish Braille Institute to record books for the blind.^[3] In 1974, Schram taught a class on Jewish storytelling for the first time;^[3] the class was the first American college course to focused on the subject.^[5] That same year, she became "storyteller-in-residence" at The Jewish Museum in Manhattan, recorded three albums, and headed two radio series on storytelling.^[3] During her time at Stern, Schram organized three Jewish Storytelling Festivals.^[5] She later founded the Jewish Storytelling Center.^[3]

Schram retired from teaching in 2015,^[3] and remains professor emerita of speech and drama at Yeshiva University.^[5]

In 1958, Schram met and married Irving Schram. The couple moved to Paris in 1960, and visited Israel for the first time in 1961.^[1] They had two children: Rebecca (b. 1963) and Mordechai (b. 1965).^[1] Irving died in 1967 of a heart attack.^[1][6] Schram remarried in 1974.^[1]

In 1995, Schram received the Covenant Award for Outstanding Jewish Educator.^[3] That same year, she received the National Jewish Book Award for Jewish folklore and anthropology for her book Chosen Tales: Stories Told by Jewish Storytellers.^[5][7] In 2003, the received the National Storytelling Network's Lifetime Achievement Award.^[5]