Theatre Training Programmes for Children and Youth

A Special Place in the Heart of the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre since 1951

Theatre programmes for youth hold a special place in the heart of this Yiddish Theatre.

These programmes for children and teenagers have been running for more than a half-century, even predating the "adult" Yiddish Theatre. From a kernel of a project that began in 1951, have come generations of Yiddish theatre actors and audiences. The charisma and talent of founder Dora Wasserman and of current director, Bryna Wasserman, have attracted hundreds upon hundreds of young people to the performing arts and to Yiddish culture. This continuous chain of young actors has evolved to form the backbone of the current Yiddish Theatre troupe.

For 57 years and counting, children and youth have participated in training workshops and annual plays for school-age audiences and the community. These students have not only performed in over 41 of their own productions (link to list of YAYA productions), some were also invited to perform children's roles in the Yiddish Theatre's plays.

Although not all the trainees went on to seek a life on the stage, all gained a greater understanding of themselves, of life and an appreciation for creativity and the performing arts. Their feelings (bonds) towards Yiddish Theatre and Yiddish culture remain warm.

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The Name Changes But The Aim is the Same

The name of the youth wing of The Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre has changed over many years, from the Children's Programme to the Children and Youth Programme and for the past 20 years has been called YAYA, Young Actors for Young Audiences (link). However the goal of this project has remained constant:
youth learning about the Jewish experience through theatre and sharing their knowledge through public performances for their peers.

Dora Wasserman wanted to impart the high calibre of children's theatre and theatre training that witnessed in the former Soviet Union. She initiated weekly workshops for children. At these sessions, the youngsters enjoyed what they called "imagination games" where they had fun improvising and creating skits. Little did the children know that they were doing exercises based on the Stanislavski acting method, which analyzes the motivations and emotions of a character and uses sense memory in order to produce psychological realism and emotional authenticity. These large groups of youngsters learned the Yiddish language and songs and discussed life, literature, Jewish heritage and theatre.

Jewish Public Library was the initial venue

The first theatre training sessions were held at the Jewish Public Library with a contingent of Yiddish speaking children drawn from the Abraham Reisen School of the Workmen's Circle. Their first production was in the early 1950's. David Rome, then the director of the Jewish Public Library was so impressed with the success of this programme that he included a proper stage and auditorium in his plans for the building of the Jewish Public Library on Mount Royal Street. Each year new groups were formed with students from other schools, mostly Yiddish-speaking immigrant children from the Jewish People's School or the Jewish Peretz School . At one point, there were several simultaneous workshops for different age groups. When the Yiddish Theatre found a permanent home at the Saidye Bronfman Centre in the late 60's, the children's programme was also transferred there.

The YAYA participants developed many strengths including sensitivity, self -awareness, public speaking skills, creativity, a love of music, discipline, analytical skills, a sense of group responsibility, concentration and an affection for and appreciation of Yiddish.

The Friday Night Group

As the youngsters of the 1950's became teenagers and then young adults, Dora Wasserman managed to draw in some of the best and the brightest to form a "Friday Night Group". This was informal education at its best. They learned reams of Yiddish songs, held deep discussions on literature and ideas and were exposed to the best of Montreal's culture and performing arts, whether in English, French or Yiddish. David Rome, the director of the Jewish Public Library was also a mentor to the group and in conjunction with Dora Wasserman, they made sure that the great Jewish artists, poets, composers and writers from Canada and abroad met with the Friday Night Group. Dora's own daughters, Ella and Bryna, participated, with Ella's home later becoming the hub of the get-togethers (until she and her five children moved to Israel in 1977).

This group did some of their own productions, highlighted by the cutting-edge Andorra, in 1965, a play written only 4 years earlier by Swiss dramatist Max Frisch. The set designer was well-known Montreal artist, Seymour Segal, and the production was held in the beautiful auditorium of the Jewish Public Library on Mount Royal Street. It was such a success that the play was later performed by the "adult" Yiddish Theatre. Quite a few of the "Friday Night Group" returned to perform in the Yiddish Theatre's subsequent productions.

Many of the members of the "Friday Night Group" became successful in their own right as artists, researchers, school principals, professors and medical professionals. These formative experiences not only deeply enriched their own lives but as adults they also have continued to contribute to the development of Jewish heritage and culture in Montreal and in other cities to which they migrated. Wherever one finds authentic Jewish and Yiddish programming in Montreal, one sees members of this "Friday Night Group" at the helm. Bryna Wasserman, the current Artistic Director of Montreal's Yiddish Theatre and YAYA, is a prime example of the success of this group.

YAYA Formed

The name YAYA - Young Actors for Young Audiences was coined in the mid 1980's after the production of Aviva's Piano, based on a book by Miriam Chaikin about Dora's granddaughter's arrival on a kibbutz in Israel. "Ya -Ya" is a colloquialism for yes in Yiddish, similar to "yeah" in English. It also represents the youth and fun of the programme (The Beatles - "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah").

As many of the next generation of the Canadian-born young actors were not fluent in Yiddish, this play and later YAYA productions were performed with English dialogue and Yiddish songs.

In 1996, when Bryna Wasserman became the Artistic Director of the Yiddish Theatre she also devoted herself to the children's programme. Bryna Wasserman, trained in directing at NYU, still offers young people a forum for creative self-expression, introspection into personal choices, social issues and ideals as well as carving pathways to intercultural understanding.

"I truly believe that theatre, the meeting place of all the arts, can help young people make sense of the world, think more critically and clarify values. Live theatre also has the power to engage people emotionally through its immediacy."

A Highlight of Her Career

Bryna Wasserman considers her involvement with YAYA and particularly the highly successful productions of No More Raisins, No More Almonds.. . a highlight of her extensive artistic career. No More Raisins, No More Almonds by Batia Bettman is about youth in the ghettos during the Holocaust and incorporates Yiddish songs about children composed and sung in the ghettos of World War II Europe.

Bryna has directed two casts of between 36-50 students, through countless presentations of this play. It has been performed for thousands upon thousands (link to Touring under Youth Section) of student audiences both in Montreal and on tour in Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City and Virginia Beach, USA.

While Bryna's skill as a director has been proven many times over, she is a true master of how to work with large groups of children and youth through the arts. She also has surrounded these young actors with a skilled and dedicated professional team, all of which leads to a highly polished production. In addition, Bryna leads the post-performance talkbacks between the actors and the audiences to discuss the lessons of the Holocaust and the need for tolerance in today's world.

"Our novice actors learned that the stage not only demands talent but also hard work, focus, team spirit and discipline. I am also proud that we have empowered them to become ambassadors for tolerance. Even though the subject of this play is a painful one, working with these teenagers and the creative team has been both stimulating and exciting."

Bryna is now dealing with a generation of children and teenagers for whom the Yiddish language is even more remote. However, she has managed to instill in them a formidable pride in Yiddish language, heritage, Jewish history and culture.

On many occasions, her young actors have expressed in public that they felt more connected to their roots through the YAYA experience than their years of Jewish schooling.