DORA WASSERMAN, C.M., C.Q.

1919-2003
Grande Dame of Montreal Theatre

Dora Wasserman made a major contribution to the quality of life of her community, her city, her country and her people.

Dora was born in the Ukraine in 1919. As a teenager, she was invited to study voice at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in Moscow. She soon transferred to the Moscow Yiddish Art Theatre (GOSET), where she studied drama under the legendary Russian actor and director, Solomon Michoels. At the onset of WW II, Dora was acting in the Ukraine State Theatre. She fled to Kazakhstan and earned her way by performing with the State Theatre in the Kazakh language. Post-war, she ended in the Displaced Persons Camps of Austria, where she entertained to lift the morale of the Holocaust survivors.

Dora arrived in Canada in 1950, with her husband Sam and their two young daughters, Ella and Bryna. She began teaching drama to children at the Jewish Public Library, the Abraham Reisen School and the Jewish People's School. With her charisma and imagination, Dora gathered around her a group of gifted youngsters, who would eventually become the backbone of her theatre. In 1956, she founded the Yiddish Drama Group, an adult ensemble whose members came primarily from the Jewish People's School Graduate Society. She turned to Gratien Gélinas of the Comédie-Canadienne for help with her early adult productions. Eleven years later, in 1967, this troupe was established as The Yiddish Theatre, the resident company of the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts. It is now the only resident Yiddish theatre in North America.

The Yiddish Theatre has performed Yiddish classics as well as plays from the international and Quebec repertoire in translation. Dora selected, produced and directed over 70 plays. Her theatre was the only one permitted to stage the works of Nobel Laureate, Isaac Bashevis Singer. Dora's production of Michel Tremblay's Les Belles Soeurs, was hailed by him as the best interpretation of this play in translation. The Yiddish Theatre productions have received the kind of critical acclaim usually reserved for major professional companies. This company has toured across Canada, the United States, Europe, the USSR and Israel.

For nearly 50 years, this Grande Dame of Montreal Theatre continued to work with children and teenagers, training them in improvisation, acting and Jewish heritage. She recognized and encouraged emerging artists, many of whom have gone on to major theatre careers. Dora's "Young Actors for Young Audiences" (YAYA) program is still a part of the Segal Centre for Performing Arts today.

In 1992, Dora received the Order of Canada and in October 2003, she was awarded the Order of Quebec. In 1997, her peers in L'Académie québécoise du théâtre conferred the Prix Hommage, a Masque award for lifetime achievement.

Dora Wasserman died on Dec. 15, 2003 at the age of 84, just three weeks after her husband, Shura. She was eulogized by public figures and the media everywhere where Yiddish is remembered or spoken.

It was Dora Wasserman's vision, talent and determination that helped Yiddish theatre rise from the ashes of the Holocaust and thrive again as a vibrant cultural force.

Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre
Productions directed by Dora Wasserman, C.M., C.Q.

Partial Theatrography

• 1956 - Rich Man, Poor Man by Samuel J. Citron
• 1959 - Hannah Senesh by Aaron Megged
• 1961 - Kiddush Hashem by Sholem Asch
• 1962 - Uncle Moses by Sholem Asch
• 1963 - The King and the Cobbler by S. Groneman
• 1964 - La vie continuel by Moishe Shamir
• 1965 - It Is Hard to Be a Jew by Sholom Aleichem
• - A Special Evening with the Yiddish Theatre
• - The Lottery by Sholom Aleichem
• 1966 - The Lottery
• 1967 - Tevye the Milkman by Sholom Aleichem
• 1968 - Uncle Moses
• - An Evening of Sholom Aleichem
• - If You Wll It, It Is Not A Dream by S. Dunsky
• 1969 - A Shtetl Wedding by S. Okun
• 1970 - A Shtetl Wedding toured Toronto
• - An Afternoon of Yiddish Theatre
• - The Sages of Chelm by Abraham Shulman
• 1971 - If You Will It, It Is Not a Dream by S. Dunsky
• - The Sages of Chelm
• - Benjamin III by Mendele Micher Sforim
• - Once There Was a Chassid by Dan Almagor
• 1972 - Once There Was a Chassid
• - The King and the Cobbler
• 1973 - If You Will It, It Is Not a Dream
• 1974 - The Lottery by Sholom Aleichem
• - A Shtetl Wedding
• - The Duke by Alter Katzizne
• - A Bintel Brief by Abraham Shulman
• - In My Father's Court by Issac Bashevis Singer
• 1975 - Once There Was a Chassid
• - A Bintel Brief
• - Hershele Ostropolier by A Gershonzon
• 1976 - A Bintel Brief
• - The Little Shoemakers by Issac Bashevis Singer
• 1977 - Hard to Be a Jew
• - Reflections of Life by I Serlin
• - A Bintel Brief
• - Papineau by Abraham Shulman
• 1978 - An Evening of Israeli Entertainment
• - An Evening of Yiddish Folk Songs by Mordechai Gebirtig
• - The Sages of Chelm
• - A Bintel Brief
• - Simcha Plachte
• 1979 - Excerpts of Yiddish Theatre hits
• - An Evening with Dora Wasserman
• 1979 - cont'd
• - A Shtetl Wedding
• - Yentl by Issac Bashevis Singer
• 1980 - Uncle Moses
• - Hotzmach by Itzik Manger
• 1981 - Green Fields by Peretz Hirshbein
• - Once There Was a Chassid
• - Tevye the Milkman
• 1982 - Gimpel the Fool by Isaac Bashevis Singer
• - Andorra by Max Frisch
• 1983 - A Bintel Brief
• - Wandering Stars by Sholom Aleichem
• - The Unseen by Isaac Bashevis Singer
• 1984 - A Bintel Brief
• - Lies My Father Told Me by Ted Allan
• - Shlemiel I by Isaac Bashevis Singer
• 1985 - The Jazz Singer by Samson Raphaelson
• 1986 - The Megillah by Itzik Manger
• - In My Father's Court
• - A Bintel Brief toured New Jersey
• - The Agunah by Chaim Grade
• 1987 - The Rothschilds by J.Bock, S.Harnick & S. Yellen
• - If You Will It, It Is Not A Dream
• 1988 - The Lottery by Sholem Aleichem
• - The Ball alternating with The Jazz Singer by Isaac Bashevis Singer/Samson Raphaelson
• 1989 - The Sages of Chelm
• - Just Dora by Dora Wasserman
• 1990 - The Sages of Chelm
• - Bon Voyage ! Eli Rubinstein's Greatest Hits
• - Ellis Island by Abraham Shulman
• 1991 - Fiddler on the Roof by J. Stein
• - Theatrical Encounter
• Michel Tremblay & Dora Wasserman
• - Memories of Isaac Bashevis Singer
• - Fiddler on the Roof by J. Stein
• Ellis Island by A. Shulman
• 1992 - Les Belles-Sœurs by Michel Tremblay
• - SBC 25th Anniversary
• - The Innkeeper by Y.L. Peretz
• 1993 - Menachen Mendl by Sholom Aleichem
• - Conversations With My Father by Herb Gardner
• 1994 - Sender Blank by Sholom Aleichem
• - 100 Years of Yiddish Theatre in Montreal
• 1995 - Sheindele by Rami Dannon and Amnon Levy
• -100 Years of Yiddish Theatre in Montreal - Broken Glass by Arthur Miller

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• Gazette Editorial A Loss to Us All, 2003
• Globe and Mail Guardian of Yiddish culture dies, 2003