About DWYT
Since 1958, the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre has been dramatising the Jewish experience and sustaining the Yiddish theatre legacy at home at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts in Montreal and on tour to 48 cities in North America, Israel and Europe. This Yiddish Theatre has many reasons to celebrate. Its audiences keep growing, numbering in the thousands for each production, and young actors keep joining the large repertory company. Its plays – classics and original works, dramas and musicals – are critically acclaimed. Its archives record the treasures of the past while YAYA (Young Actors for Young Audiences), its youth wing, remains vibrant and popular.
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.
THE DORA WASSERMAN YIDDISH THEATRE ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Co-Presidents...........................................................Jesse Krolik, Jodi Lackman
Vice Presidents.........................................................Stephanie Finkelstein, Sam Stein
Treasurer...................................................................Betty Kis Marer
Secretary...................................................................Mikey Samra
Past Presidents.........................................................Aron Gonshor, Edit Kuper
Board Members........................................................Mark Buch, Maia Cooper, Dr. Abraham Fuks C.M.,
Dan Goldstein, Michelle Heisler, Bronna Levy, Bryna Wasserman