New Honorary Member / Nouvelle membre honoraire
Aviva Ravel:
This year’s honory membership was awarded to Aviva Ravel during the annual
ACTR/ARTC banquet on May 25, 2001 in Quebec City. Gregory Reid had
the pleasure of introducing Aviva. He cited her long-time participation
in Montreal theatre as teacher, playwright, and director. Aviva taught
English and Drama at the university level and was Artistic Director of
Cameo Productions, and founder-director of Staged Performance Playreadings
at the Cote St. Luc Library for many years. She has over twenty-five play
titles to her credit and has edited the Canadian Mosaic series of drama
anthologies.
And Aviva Ravel’s response...
No dramatic dialogue can adequately express the delight and joy I
am experiencing upon receiving this great honour. Those of us who spent
our lives first at the manual then electric typewriter, followed by the
word processor, and finally lap top computer, and expend an enormous amount
of creative and physical energy producing and directing plays, often wonder
if it is all worthwhile. Your support and recognition prompts me to answer
in a resounding affirmative. This labour of love is, of course, its own
reward, we are satisfied in knowing we have reached audiences and enriched
their lives: how much more so to be recognized by one's peers!
I am often asked why I chose to be a playwright; the truth is
I really wanted to be an actor, but circumstances did not permit me to
pursue studies in this direction, so the next best thing was writing which
could be accomplished between the laundry, cooking, raising four children,
and teaching at an elementary school. Through this period, and throughout
my career, the whole-hearted support of my late husband, Nahum Ravel, was
indispensable.
Miraculously, my first two one-act plays were produced by a non-professional
company, received good reviews in the press, were applauded by the audience,
and the late Norma Springford became my mentor. Within ten years theatres
such as the Saidye Bronfman Centre, Centre d'art Canadien, Hart House Theatre,
Revue Theatre, and CBC produced works such as SOFT VOICES, A TWISTED LOAF,
DISPOSSESSED, SHOULDER PADS, MENDEL FISH (PEDDLER OF FORTUAIE), and NO
MORE KETCHUP. The plays, set primarily in the Jewish community of Montreal,
were informed by social issues such as feminism, the plight of the factory
worker, family relationships, and social values.
In the mid-seventies, never having had the privilege of attending
a university, I enrolled at Loyal College, and within eight years, thanks
to the encouragement of professors such as the late Gil Drolet, who was
instrumental in introducing me to the ACTH, the late Louis Dudek, John
Ripley, and McConnell and SSHRC fellowships, I earned the degrees that
led to a PhD in Canadian theatre. While teaching and studying at McGill,
I wrote my dissertation on the radio and stage works of Canadian playwright,
Patricia Joudry. At the time, writing for the theatre took a back seat
to teaching and course work, although I did write short stories, adapted
a few of my stage plays for radio, and produced a biography of the life
of an underground leader of the Warsaw ghetto. *
In 1984 a group of actors who were familiar with my work suggested
we form a touring company, and also participate in festivals such as the
Quebec Drama Festival and the Montreal Fringe. This would be a cooperative
enterprise. Thus Cameo Productions was launched: I was permanent writer-in-residence,
producer, and occasional director. We often hired outside directors such
a Rena Cohen as well. Our audiences were insatiable, often booking our
plays before I had completed writing and rehearsing them. Thanks to assistance
from the Canada Council and The Jewish Community Foundation of Montreal,
we presented plays such as Vengeance, Moon People, Dance Like a Butterfly,
Separate Pieces, Gently Down the Stream, we played My Rumanian Cousin and
The Courting of Sally Schwartz at a dinner theatre for a year, while Butterfly
toured across Canada, from Newfoundland to Vancouver for over three years.
The plays dealt with adoption, care for the elderly, the effects of the
holocaust on victim and victimizer, the single woman in our society. Subsequently,
the plays were published by Simon & Pierre (Dundurn Press) and Playwrights
Union of Canada. Interested as I was in works that were derived from multi-cultural
communities, I edited two volumes of Canadian plays, Canadian Mosaic I
and Canadian Mosaic II for Dundurn Press in which eleven playwrights were
represented.
My more recent project was writing plays for young people. We
toured Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto elementary schools and schools in
surrounding areas with: Legends of King Solomon, Miriam’s Well; One Potato,
Two Potato, The Sholom Aleichem Show .. while Be My Friend was performed
in Italy. By this time we were able to hire a stage manager/technical director,
a costume and set designer, and rent a van for touring.
I would like to mention another project which I directed for
1 7 years and which I will describe in more detail for the ACTR journal,
Theatre Research in Canada: that is, the Performance Playreading Ensemble
of the Cote St. Luc Library that presented some 1 50 plays, both classical
and modern, once a month in the theatre auditorium for enthusiastic audiences.
The finest Montreal actors performed, with script in hand, after only three
rehearsals, plays by Moliere, Tennessee Williams, Eugene O'Neill, Michel
Tremblay, Sharon Pollock, David French .... and filled the 250 seat theatre
with audiences that came from all over the city.
My life has truly been a life in the theatre. It has been my
passion and joy. I lived for the laughter and tears the plays evoked in
our audiences; the thrill of a fine performance; the words which magically
came to life in the mouths of fine actors. I sought neither fame nor fortune
in the theatre, only to do the best I am capable of for the sake of the
play and the audience. My recent ventures were directing the final play
for the Performance Playreading Ensemble, Neil Simon's London Suite, and
my own Miriam's Well which ended a five month tour at Centaur theatre this
April.
Your recognition comes at a time when my life has taken an amazing
and unexpected turn. I fell in love and haven't written anything but e-mail
for three months. So in the meantime, I am resting on my laurels, but rest
assured my lap top is waiting for my next play - probably a love story.
Thank you again for this honour.
Notes:
* Faithful Unto death. The Story of Arthur Zygielbaum (out of print
but available at libraries)
All my plays are available at Playwrights Union of Canada and Dundurn
Press.
Newsletter / Bulletin 25.2