SALUTING THE DORA WASSERMAN YIDDISH THEATRE!
For over fifty years, the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre has presented more than 85 plays. It has built bridges to the French and English theatre communities through collaborative projects and received numerous awards. Dora Wasserman, the company’s founder, was honoured with many awards including the Order of Canada, the Order of Quebec, and a Masque Award for Lifetime Achievement from her peers in the Quebec theatre community. The Yiddish Theatre was renamed in Dora’s honour in 2002. From 1996 to 2011 the company was led to new heights by Dora’s daughter, Bryna Wasserman who remains the Honorary Artistic Director.
In 2008 the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre marked its 50th anniversary with an unprecedented 9-day international festival. The Montreal International Yiddish Theatre Festival was the largest international gathering of Yiddish theatres from Poland, Romania, Israel, USA, Canada, France, Austria and Australia along with musicians, scholars and filmmakers. The 2nd edition of this Festival took place in June 2011 and was also an enormous success.
The Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre (DWYT) consists of three major components: its mainstage theatre production and year-round programmes, its Young Actors for Young Audiences courses, and the DWYT Archives.
TODAY, THE GREAT TREASURES OF YIDDISH CULTURE THAT DORA WASSERMAN SOUGHT TO SUSTAIN OVER FIFTY YEARS AGO ARE BEING PASSED ON TO YET ANOTHER GENERATION.
DWYT Artistic Director: Bryna Wasserman
Committee Chair: Aron Gonshor
Committee Co-Chair: Edit Kuper
DWYT Liaison: Silvan Slapak
Outreach & Events Chair: Ronnie Roter
DWYT Committee Members: Batia Bettman, Fred Bettman, Raizel Candib, Maia Cooper, Stephanie Finkelstein, Paula Wolfman Frank, Dan Goldstein, Abe Gonshor, Bronna Ghita Levy, Richard Martz and Jeremy Pinchuk
