Segal Centre to host Yiddish theatre fest

By Julia Gerke

Just when you think there couldn’t be another festival added to Montreal’s summer lineup, a new one is being announced.

From June 17-25, the Segal Centre for Performing Arts at the Saidye will host the inaugural Montreal International Yiddish Theatre Festival. Presented in partnership with the city of Montreal, the festival includes 36 events and brings the major Yiddish theatres from around the world to the Segal.

“It’s gratifying to know that we can create a festival in the city of festivals — and it’s befitting to get all Yiddish theatres under one roof,” said the Segal Centre’s artistic director Bryna Wasserman.

The featured artists and scholars come from Israel, Poland, Romania, Australia, Austria, France, the U.S. and Canada. Their plays bring Jewish customs, legends and culture to life on the stage. Included in the lineup is Batia Bettman’s heart-breaking story about the Holocaust, No More Raisins, No More Almonds,  performed by Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre’s YAYA (Young Actors for Young Audiences) troupe.

Aside from theatre performances, there will also be a symposium, presented in partnership with McGill University’s Jewish Studies Department, a series of Yiddish films (including restored classics, documentaries and filmed plays), nightly concerts and music presentations, an outdoor celebration, art exhibits and many other events.
The festival is the Segal Centre’s salute to the 50th anniversary of the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre.

“What better way to celebrate this kind of milestone than with international theatre companies?” Wasserman said. Her mother Dora Wasserman was born in the Ukraine in 1919 and came to Canada in 1950. She founded the Yiddish Drama Group, which later became The Yiddish Theatre and the resident company of the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts. Dora Wasserman died in 2003 at the age of 84. Her commitment to the stage and to reaching out to other communities is what helped Yiddish theatre thrive in Montreal, Bryna Wasserman explained.

“Dora has always said we probably wouldn’t have celebrated our 50th anniversary if it wasn’t for the two solitudes in this city,” she said. “It’s a miracle that we’re still here. A lot of our Yiddish speakers are not with us anymore, but Yiddish theatre is still vibrant and successful in Montreal.”

Wasserman pointed to the June 21 outdoor “ZumerFest” as one of the festival’s highlights. Taking place on a Sunday afternoon — and coincidentally Father’s Day — at Mackenzie King Park opposite the Segal Centre, the event features a stage show with Montreal Yiddish rapper SoCalled, MC Mendy Cahan and Canadian klezmer band Beyond the Pale. Other highlights are undoubtedly the June 17 kick-off gala event and the reunion weekend planned for June 19-21, which includes the symposium, lectures, theatre performances, play readings, discussions, special activities and schmoozing with old friends.

For Wasserman, celebrating the 50-year anniversary of her mother’s legacy to the community makes this a very special event.

“I lived with Yiddish theatre my whole life,” she said. “All the memories that I have are about Yiddish Theatre… it seemed so natural when she [Dora] could no longer do it to take over.

We need to celebrate our culture — we call it mending the torn curtain.”

All theatre performances, many films and Yiddish presentations will be subtitled.

Info: yiddishtheatre.org.