ARTS... ETCETERA

Fall theatre season at the Segal and beyond
By Walter J. Lyng
The Suburban
With each fall comes the anticipation for
the new theatre season and the Segal
Centre for Performing Arts at the Saidye has
put together a promising list of exciting
new productions. ?Choosing a season is an
art in itself,? says the Segal?s artistic director
Bryna Wasserman.
This season, her challenge was to fulfill
what she says has become the Segal?s mission
? to produce classics which are still
socially relevant today.
The opening production will be Jerome
Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee?s Inherit
the Wind, running from Oct. 18 to Nov. 8.
Originally produced as a play in 1955 and
later adapted into film, Inherit the Wind
recounts a fictionalized version of the legendary
1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, which
questioned the principle of human evolution.
The case saw teacher John T. Scopes
challenge Tennessee state law by bringing
Darwin?s theories into the classroom.
?It?s been a favourite play of mine since I
was quite young,? says Wasserman. ?Of
course, the subject of Inherit the Wind is as
timely now as science moves forward.?
The play also remains timely because the
theory of evolution is still a contentious
issue in certain parts of the world ? including
parts of the U.S.
The teacher-student relationship in the
play is a recurring element in the upcoming
season?s productions. Influenced by the
myth of Pygmalion, Educating Rita (running
from Nov. 22 to Dec. 13) tells the story
of a university professor who takes a freespirited
working-class girl from Liverpool
under his wing. In the process, both learn a
great deal from each other.
The plays that follow, Geometry In Venice
and Old Wicked Songs, further this dynamic.
The former concerns the education of a
young British man at the end of the 19th
century while the latter deals with an
American piano prodigy?s further education
in 1980s Austria.
In a bit of a departure for the Segal, Old
Wicked Songs will be presented as a co-production
with the Théâtre du Rideau Vert,
which will first stage the play in French.
While the Segal has co-produced plays with
French theatres in the past, it is going even
further this year by putting on three French
plays of its own in its studio space. The new
venture is part of the Segal?s attempt to
embrace a broader audience. ?We?re a centre
for all of Montreal,? says Wasserman.
A standout in the roster is a new production
of the classic American comedy
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Harvey.
?Why Harvey? Well, it?s a classic that
again goes back to the question of who?s
sane, who?s insane and who makes the judgment
calls,? says Wasserman.
Rounding off the Segal?s season will be a
Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre production
of The Jazz Singer, directed by her
daughter Bryna. The play is about a cantor?s
son who goes against the traditions of his
devout Jewish family to become a nightclub
singer.
In addition to the regular season, the
Segal will also offer the public a number of
See THEATRE PREVIEW, next page
The new Rob McIintosh store
is now open in Galeries des
Sources. You will be surprised
at what they now carry, from
kids toys to kitchen gadgets,
and still the best selection of
china and crystal in town.
Come by and see all that is
new!
THE WEST ISLAND SUBURBAN, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 ? 23

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