American academic and folklorist
Peninnah Schram (born December 28, 1934) is an American academic, author, and folklorist focused on Jewish storytelling.
Early life and education.
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. Growing up, both of her parents frequently told her stories. She attended The Williams School in New London.
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.
Career.
In 1964, 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.
Schram began teaching at Iona College in 1967. After two years, she began working at Stern College for Women in their speech and drama department. 
Schram became interested in Jewish storytelling in 1970, after working with the Jewish Braille Institute to record books for the blind. In 1974, Schram taught a class on Jewish storytelling for the first time; the class was the first American college course to focused on the subject. That same year, she became "storyteller-in-residence” at The Jewish Museum in Manhattan, recorded three albums, and headed two radio series on storytelling. During her time at Stern, Schram organized three Jewish Storytelling Festivals. She later founded the Jewish Storytelling Center.
Schram retired from teaching in 2015, and remains professor emerita of speech and drama at Yeshiva University.
Personal life.
In 1958, Schram met and married Irving Schram. The couple moved to Paris in 1960, and visited Israel for the first time in 1961. They had two children: Rebecca (b. 1963) and Mordechai (b. 1965). Irving died in 1967 of a heart attack. Schram remarried in 1974.
Recognition.
In 1995, Schram received the Covenant Award for Outstanding Jewish Educator. 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." In 2003, the received the National Storytelling Network’s Lifetime Achievement Award.