KARP, SOFIA (née SEGAL):
Rumanian Jewish actress; born at Galatz, Rumania, 1861; died in New York March 31, 1904; the first actress to appear on the Yiddish stage. She made her début in 1877, in Goldfaden's "Die Bobe mit'n Enikel," and soon won distinction in the dramas and operasthat author produced at Bucharest, Jassy, Galatz, and other cities. Sofia Karp then went to Russia, and appeared at Odessa in the Maryinski and the Royal theaters, taking part in the classical plays "Zhidovka," "Uriel Acosta," and "Deborah." She played also in various cities in Germany and Galicia. In 1882 she went to New York, where she appeared first at the Rumanian Opera-House, then at the Oriental Theater. In 1902 she established there, in conjunction with other actors, the Grand Theater.
- H. Hapgood, The Spirit of the Ghetto, p. 154, New York, 1902.
