Ben Kaplan is a writer, educator, and opera librettist based in New York City.

Bio

Born in Brooklyn, NY, Ben studied literature and theater at Williams College. He currently serves as Director of Education at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, where he directs programs that teach Jewish history and culture to a broad and diverse audience. These programs include the Uriel Weinreich Summer Program in Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture and the YIVO-Bard Winter Program on Ashkenazi Civilization.

Ben wrote the libretto for State of the Jews, an opera collaboration with composer Alex Weiser based on the life of Theodor Herzl. As a librettist, he creates historically-informed dramatic works that chronicle turning points in history lost to contemporary cultural discourse. He is currently writing his next libretto— for a forthcoming opera collaboration with Weiser— about the controversies surrounding a great Yiddish dictionary.