50 Years: Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre

BRYNA WASSERMAN BIOGRAPHY

In 1999-2000, three years after arriving back in Montreal, Bryna Wasserman was awarded the Montreal English Critics Circle Award of Distinction for her contribution to the development of the Montreal theatre scene. Under her guidance, the Leanor and Alvin Segal Theatre consistently has won Masque Awards for Best English Production in Quebec, in addition to a long string of MECCAs (Montreal English Critics Circle Award (link to Segal Theatre Awards). A play she directed in New York in 2004 was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Best Revival of a Musical.

In 2007, Ms. Wasserman was appointed Artistic & Executive Director of the new Segal Centre for the Performing Arts at the Saidye (link to Segal Centre Home page). The Segal Centre is being built on five pillars. The first two are already in place - the Leanor and Alvin Segal Theatre and the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre and Bryna has been the Artistic Director of both since 1998. Bryna is developing the new pillars, an Academy of Performing Arts, a CinemaSpace and a Studio theatre that will add music, dance and multimedia programmes and provide a second stage for new companies and original works.

Born in Vienna, Bryna grew up in the theatrical milieu of her mother, Dora Wasserman C.M., C.Q., the Founding Artistic Director of The Yiddish Theatre. Bryna graduated with Bachelor and Masters Degrees in theatre direction from the Tisch School of Fine Arts, New York University. Her career in the performing arts is extensive and includes work at the American Place Theatre, The Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Centre, the Mercer Street Theatre, the Vancouver Opera Company and four seasons at the Folksbiene Playhouse. Among her New York credits are: Arrabal's The Architect And The Emperor of Assyria, Wojzeck, The House of Bernardo Alba and Bernstein On Broadway. Among her most recent directing credits are Man of La Mancha and an original English musical Houdini at the Segal Centre and restaged at the Outremont Theatre as part of the Montreal Jazz Festival.

Under Bryna's direction, the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre has won MECCAs for The Great Houdini and The Threepenny Opera. Other Yiddish musicals she has directed are Double Identity, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, On Second Avenue, The Golden Land, Fiddler On The Roof and Those Were The Days (link)and The Wise Men of Chelm . Among the Yiddish dramas she has directed are Mirele Efros, Old Wicked Songs, The Dybbuk and God of Vengeanceby Sholem Asch.

To carry the joy and meaning of Yiddish theatre far and wide, Bryna has organized touring productions to Florida and Toronto (1999, 2004, 2009) and to Europe (1998, 2001, 2004, 2006,). Always supportive of developing artistic talent in youth, she includes emerging theatre professionals in all her productions.

Bryna directs YAYA (Young Actors for Young Audiences), with its successful production of No More Raisins, No More Almond in which over 40 teenagers raise their voices to promote tolerance and to sensitize students from diverse backgrounds to the moral lessons of the Holocaust. This play has been performed in Montreal since 2003 and on tour in at Bibliothèque Gabrielle-Roy (Quebec City); Leah Posluns Theatre (Toronto), the Canadian Museum of Civilization (Gatineau/ Ottawa Capital Region) and at the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts (Virginia Beach).

Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre Productions directed by Bryna Wasserman

Partial Theatrography

  • 1996 Double Identity by Sholom Aleichem, book & lyrics by Miriam Hoffman, Music by Binyumen "Ben" Schaechter Mirele Efros by Jacob Gordon
  • 1996 YAYA production of The Sages of Chelm, adapted from Abraham Shulman's script
  • 1997 The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, adapted from Mordechai Richler's novel, music by Gary William Friedman, Lyrics by Edward Gallardo Old Wicked Songs by Jon Marans
  • 1998 On Second Avenue by Zalmen Mlotek and Moishe Rosenfeld On Second Avenue (reprise)
  • 1998 The Dybbuk by S. Ansky Vienna tour: On Second Avenue and The Dybbuk
  • 1998 YAYA production of Tekuma by Yigal Donets and Edit Kuper
  • 1999 Toronto Tour: On Second Avenue Florida Tour: On Second Avenue
  • 2000 The Great Houdini by Mel Shavelson, Alexander Ary and Elan Kunin
  • 2001 The Great Houdini for Montreal Festival 2001 Visages
  • 2001 The Threepenny Opera by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, translated into Yiddish
  • 2001 Vienna Tour: Double Identity by Sholom Aleichem & Green Fields by Peretz Hirshbein
  • 2002 Double Identity (reprise)
  • 2003 The Golden Land by Zalmen Mlotek and Moishe Rosenfeld
  • 2003 YAYA Production and Reprise of No More Raisins, No More Almonds, Children's Ghetto Songs by Batia Bettman
  • 2004 Fiddler on the Roof (Anatevka) based on Sholem Aleichem's stories, book by Joseph Stein, music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
  • Leeds International Jewish Theatre Festival Tour
  • Vienna Tour for 10th Anniversary of Jewish Theatre Week: Fiddler on the Roof (Anatevka) & On Second Avenue
  • 2005 Lies My Father Told Me by Ted Allan, Music and Lyrics by Elan Kunin Toronto Tour: Fiddler on the Roof
  • 2006 God of Vengeance by Sholem Asch
  • New YAYA Production of No More Raisins, No More Almonds, Children's Ghetto Songs
  • European Tour ( Dresden, Prague and Vienna): God of Vengeance by Sholem Asch & Those Were The Days by Zalmen Mlotek and Moishe Rosenfeld
  • 2007 Those Were the Days by Zalmen Mlotek and Moishe Rosenfeld
  • Tours to Toronto, Ottawa and Virginia Beach of YAYA's No More Raisins, No More Almonds, Children's Ghetto Songs by Batia Bettman
  • 2008 The Wise Men of Chelm by Abraham Shulman, music by Eli Rubinstein
  • YAYA Production of No More Raisins, No More Almonds, Children's Ghetto Songs
  • 2009 The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert & Sullivan