PREVIEW
What: From Door to Door
Where: Congregation Emanu-El’s Black Box Theatre, 1461 Blanshard St.
When: Opens Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Continues Jan 15, 17, 19, 22
Tickets: $20 at Ticket Rocket (250-590-6291 or ticketrocket.co)
It was memories of her (sometimes) grouchy grandmother that attracted Zelda Dean to the play she’s directing at Congregation Emanu-El.
“She was not an easy woman,” said Dean, who is helming the comedy-drama From Door to Door.
The James Sherman play opens Saturday night at 154-year-old Congregation Emanu-El, the oldest continuously active synagogue in Canada.
Dean, 75, happens to be the synagogue’s office manager. She’s also a theatre veteran, having acted professionally and directed more than 120 plays. Dean ran two dinner theatres in Calgary and founded that city’s Beth Israel Players, the first Jewish theatre company in Western Canada.
From Door to Door is staged by Bema Productions (the name comes from the Hebrew word “bima,” an altar for the Torah). Founded by Dean and now in its third season, the team includes Annie Weeks, a professional lighting designer. The cast for From Door to Door features Christine Upright (an equity actor) as well as Pam Miller and Katya Delancey.
“People have been pleasantly surprised at the calibre of work we’re doing. We’re not just a little amateur company,” Dean said.
From Door to Door is the story of three generations of women — a grandmother haunted by her immigrant past, her daughter and a granddaughter. The timeline runs from 1936 to 1999. Over this period, the audience learns of the compromises and joys these women have experienced over their lives.
Dean said her own grandmother was a survivor who had lived in “terrible fear” while escaping Cossack raids on Jewish communities in Russia.
“That’s why [From Door to Door] spoke to me. My grandmother was a tough woman who I don’t remember smiling very much. It wasn’t until I was grown up that I understood what she had experienced.”
Bema Productions was formed after Dean and others staged an arts festival marking the 150th anniversary of Congregation Emanu-El. Its first play was 17 Stories, a drama about personal loss that Dean commissioned from Caroline Russell-King.
This 2014 production was significant for Dean in more ways than one. She had returned to theatre after a 15-year absence. During that time, she and her husband raised their grandchildren after the death of their daughter.
Bema Productions’ shows include The Old Lady’s Guide to Survival, which was named best drama last year at the Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival. Last March, the non-profit company mounted a staged reading of Fiddler on the Roof that raised $4,000 for a Syrian refugee family Congregation Emanu-El is sponsoring.
“I want to use theatre in a good way,” Dean said. “What we’re doing is using theatre so that people can help people.”
No one gets paid; the participants are volunteers. Profits from the latest show will go toward buying stage lighting for future productions.
Bema Productions aims to stage theatre that makes audiences think as well as being entertained. Dean stressed you don’t have to be Jewish to take part in a Bema Productions show. Part of its mandate is to embrace the community as a whole.
“We’re a theatre group,” she said. “We just happen to be based out of the synagogue.”
