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MURIEL GOLD, C.M., Ph.D., theatre educator, producer/director, is former Artistic Director

of The Saidye Bronfman Centre Theatre for which, during her eight-year tenure, she won acclaim

from theatre critics, academics and the public at large. With a view that drama can serve as a bridge

between cultures, she was a pioneer in introducing French-Canadian plays to Anglophone

audiences. A Montrealer from birth, she was particularly sensitive to the need for rapprochement

between the two cultures and saw a way of involving the Jewish community in this rapprochement

through theatre. It was early in her tenure that Dora Wasserman’s Yiddish theatre became a

resident company of the Centre.

 

Her multicultural policies and her commitment to staging Canadian plays remained a focus

throughout her post. Under her exceptional leadership the Saidye Bronfman Centre Theatre

became known and respected across the country. When she left the Saidye, she joined academia,

teaching at McGill, Concordia and Dawson College in theatre arts. During those years she wrote

books on actor training which are a solid contribution to Drama in Education. Her book, Tell

Me Why Nights are Lonesome, is an important and very readable contribution to Canadian Jewish

History, while A Gift to their Mother: the Saidye Bronfman Centre Theatre. A History is an equally lively history of an important cultural institution.

 

As a volunteer, Dr. Muriel Gold is committed to the advancement of women. In honour of her

leadership and initiative the McGill Centre for Research and Teaching on Women has inaugurated

the Muriel Gold Senior Visiting Scholar Award. In recognition of her lifetime achievement in

theatre and drama, she was recently appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.

 

Other books by Muriel Gold include:

The Fictional Family in Drama, Education and Groupwork. Springfield, Illinois, C C Thomas, 1991.

Therapy Through Drama: The Fictional Family. Springfield, Illinois, C C Thomas, 2000.