Jewish theatre has long history in city

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This article was published 18/04/2015 (4193 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

More than a half-century has passed since the Queen’s Theatre on Selkirk Avenue staged its last production, yet Jewish theatre has remained an integral part of the Winnipeg Jewish community’s cultural life ever since.

The Queen’s Theatre began as a Presbyterian church, but was purchased by the Hebrew Sick Benefit Association in 1907 and converted into a theatre. Located in the heart of Winnipeg’s North End Jewish community, it operated for almost five decades as a neighbourhood playhouse, staging Yiddish and Jewish-themed productions, comedies and concerts.

During this time, many local and international performers, including famed New York-based actress Molly Picon, delighted and entertained audience members while connecting them through song, dance and drama to their faith, language and traditions.

Jewish theatre became a mainstay of Jewish cultural life across North America in the late 19th century, bridging the past to the future. It simultaneously provided an immigrant population with nostalgia for places and people left behind, and a medium through which to express the hopes, dreams and possibilities of the modern world.

When the Queen’s Theatre closed in Winnipeg in 1952, a variety of amateur and community-based companies filled the gap it left behind. Then, in 1987, Jewish theatre in Winnipeg enjoyed a significant revival when music teacher Bev Aronovitch rallied friends together to form a professional Jewish theatre company. She served as the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre’s artistic director for five years.

“Jewish theatre is an important ingredient in the fabric of Jewish cultural life,” Aronovitch says. “It affirms us, strengthens our Jewish identity and stimulates discussion, and makes us look at who we are, where we have been and where we are going.”

In the years that followed its founding, the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre staged many Canadian productions and tackled timely social issues related to Jewish history, religion and politics, as well as the overall human condition. It attracted diverse audiences, garnered strong reviews and enjoyed many moments of triumph.

The theatre also intermittently faced challenges, and in the winter of 2014, it closed abruptly. Within a few months, however, it was up and running again with a determination to be even more Jewish than it had been in the past.

Kayla Gordon, who served as WJT artistic director from 1994 to 2005 and is now interim artistic director, explains the reasons for this subtle shift in approach.

“A study of American Jewry showed that 22 per cent of Jews believe that they have no religion and that 58 per cent of Jewish marriages since 2005 were intermarriages,” she says.

“For these reasons alone, we need to ensure that Jewish theatre and Jewish stories and characters continue to ask questions about who we are and what makes us Jewish.”

The rise of anti-Semitism around the world, she adds, has also made it more important than ever to tell Jewish stories.

With this in mind, WJT brought the one-man show A Jew Grows in Brooklyn to Winnipeg last fall, and on May 6 is hosting the Canadian première of the comedy Bad Jews.

These productions, as their titles suggest, explore questions of Jewish identity and what it means to be Jewish.

Of course, not every WJT production from now on will have the word Jew in the title. But, adhering to a tradition begun at the Queen’s Theatre more than a century ago, expect every WJT production from now on will aspire to engage, educate and entertain audiences in some uniquely Jewish way.

swchisvin@gmail.com

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