Segal Centre for Performing Arts
The Segal Centre for Performing Arts, formerly the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts, is a theatre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 5170 chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, in the borough of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.
The building houses the Segal Theatre, the Academy of Performing Arts, CinemaSpace, Studio, and the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre.
History
The Saidye Bronfman Centre
In 1967, the children of Saidye Bronfman give the theatre to the local community in recognition of their mother's long association with and patronage of the arts. The building that houses the theatre was designed in 1967 by Montreal architect Phyllis Lambert, a daughter of Saidye Bronfman.The Segal Centre for Performing Arts
Following the winding-down of the Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Foundation, in 2007 the Saidye Bronfman Centre was renamed the Segal Centre for Performing Arts in acknowledgement of the financial support of Leanor and Alvin Segal in partnership with the Bronfman family. Uniting theatre, music, dance, cinema and arts education under one roof, its mission is to promote the creation, production and presentation of professional artistic work, support emerging artists and foster intercultural understanding through the arts.The Segal Theatre is now an English-language theatre. It has expanded to become a nationally recognized venue for the performing arts with a focus on creation, innovation, diversity, and cross-cultural collaborations. Driven by a belief in the power of the arts to strengthen and connect communities, the Segal's programming emphasizes original interpretations of popular classics and contemporary works, new Canadian musicals, and engaging productions with universal appeal.
In 2008, the Segal Theatre co-produced the original musical Houdini with the Montreal Highlights Festival. It was remounted later that year by the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the first play ever to be featured at the Festival. It was wildly successful with both French and English audiences as well as critics.
Other highlights include Sam Shepard’s Buried Child which was co-produced with theNational Arts Centre and directed byPeter Hinton, Artistic Director of English Theatre at the NAC. Old Wicked Songs by Jon Marans was co-produced with Théâtre du Rideau Vert and played in French as Une musique inquiétante before the original cast and crew moved to the Segal to perform the production in English.
The Segal Centre has become a major player in the development and production of new Canadian musicals. In June 2015, the Centre premiered Belles Soeurs: The Musical based on the play by Michel Tremblay with book and lyrics by René Richard Cyr, music by Daniel Bélanger, English adaptation of book and lyrics by Neil Bartram and Brian Hill, and directed by René Richard Cyr. A co-production with Copa de Oro, Belles Soeurs went on a national tour and won the Capital Critics Circle Award for Best Production after its stop at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.
In June, 2015, the Segal Centre launched a world premiere of a musical adaptation of Mordecai Richler's novel, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, starring Alberta-born Kenneth James Stewart as the infamous Duddy, who follows his grandfather's advice to own some land, regardless of the personal consequences.
In October 2016, the Segal Centre premiered Prom Queen: The Musical based on the true story of Marc Hall, the Ontario teenager who took his Catholic School Board to court when it refused to let him attend prom with his boyfriend. Produced by Marcia Kash with book by Kent Staines, lyrics by Akiva Romer-Segal, music by Colleen Dauncey, musical direction by Mark Camilleri, choreography by Sean Cheesman, Prom Queen: The Musical won the Playwrights Guild of Canada’s Stage West Pechet Family Musical Award at the Tom Hendry Awards in 2016.
The Segal Centre is also an artistic resource and hub for Montreal’s diverse theatre community of independent and emerging artists to create explore and grow. Its second stage, The Studio, has been a venue for SideMart Theatrical Grocery; the Power Jazz series; and the Segal’s popular Broadway Café events, as well as guest programming.
In addition, the Segal Centre for Performing Arts houses the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre, celebrating almost sixty years of dramatizing the Jewish experience.
The current Artistic Director is Lisa Rubin, who took up the position in 2014.
Mandate
The Segal Centre for Performing Arts is a not-for-profit theatre company dedicated to nurturing, producing and presenting world-class English-language theatre, and to showcasing professional artists from Montreal and around the world.Founded in 1967, the Segal Centre has expanded to become a nationally recognized venue for the performing arts, a training ground for emerging artists and a one-of-a-kind destination for the best of jazz concerts, dance, cinema and Jewish arts and culture.
Awards
META AwardsOutstanding Set Design - Eo Sharp, RED
Outstanding Production - Sherlock Holmes
Outstanding Direction - Andrew Shaver, Sherlock Holmes
Outstanding Costume Design - James Lavoie, Sherlock Holmes
Outstanding Lighting Design - Luc Prairie, Sherlock Holmes
Outstanding Sound Design - Jesse Ash, Sherlock Holmes
Outstanding Supporting Performance - Julie Tamiko Manning, Othello
Outstanding Supporting Performance - Daniel Brochu, Othello
Outstanding Direction - Micheline Chevrier, Top Girls
Outstanding Lead Performance - Leni Parker, Top Girls
Outstanding Set Design - Max-Otto Fauteux, Top Girls
Outstanding Costume Design - Mylène Chabrol, Top Girls
Outstanding Lighting Design - Martin Sirois, Top Girls
Outstanding Emerging Artist - Aiza Ntibarikure, Ain’t Misbehavin’
Outstanding Set Design - Michael Gianfrancesco, Funny Girl
Outstanding Costume Design - Michael Gianfrancesco, Funny Girl
Outstanding PACT Production, Travesties
Outstanding Set Design - Pierre-Étienne Locas, Travesties
Outstanding Costume Design - Louise Bourret, Travesties
Outstanding Lighting Design - Kimberly Purtell, We Are Not Alone
Outstanding Original Composition - Matthew Barber and Justin Rutledge, The Graduate
Outstanding Community Production, The Producers
Capital Critics Circle Award
Best Professional Play, Belles Soeurs: The Musical
Masques Awards
Best English Language Production - I Am My Own Wife
Best English Production - The Glass Menagerie
Best English Production - Salt Water Moon
Best English Production - Betrayal
Best Actress - Viola Léger and Linda Sorgini in Grace and Glorie
Lifetime Achievement Award to Dora Wasserman
AQCT French Critics
Best English Language Production - Amadeus
MECCA Awards
Outstanding Costume Design - James Lavoie, Lies My Father Told Me
Outstanding Direction - Greg Kramer, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Best Sound Design, Rob Denton, The Satchmo’ Suite
Set Design, Yannik Larivée, I Am My Own Wife/Amadeus
Best Actor, Brett Christopher, I Am My Own Wife
Best Director, Alexandre Marine, Amadeus
Best Professional Production, The Importance of Being Earnest
Best Director, Perter Hinton, A Doll House
Best Lighting, Spike Lyne, My Old Lady
Best Set Design, Peter Hartwell, The Importance of Being Earnest
Best Actor - Martha Henry in Rose
Best Professional Production - Hedda Gabler
Best Actor - Don Anderson in De Profundis
Best Semi Pro\Amateur - Kali Yuga
Best Actor - Gareth Armstrong in Shylock
Best Actress - Michelle Monteith in The Glass Menagerie
Best Director - Madd Harold for Shakespeare's Coriolanus
Best Semi Pro\Amateur - Shakespeare's Coriolanus
Best Ensemble - Theatre Smith-Gilmour for Chekhov's Shorts
Best Actor - Pierre Brault in Blood on the Moon
Best Professional Production - Salt Water Moon
Best Actress - Uta Hagen in Collected Stories
Best Semi-professional Production - The Threepenny Opera
Best Production - After the Dance
Award of Distinction to Bryna Wasserman
Best New Ensemble to Montreal Young Company
Best Semi-Professional Production - The Great Houdini
Best English Production - Betrayal
The MECCAs are awarded by the Montreal English Critics Circle
The Masques are awarded by l’Académie Québecoise du Théâtre