Zelda Dean has been in the arts for over 45 years and has directed and produced over 140 theatre productions. She was founder and Artistic Director of Calgary’s first Jewish Theatre Company, providing a platform for artists both within and outside of the Jewish community, breaking down many barriers of the day. In 2014 she founded BEMA Productions in Victoria with a mission of producing thought-provoking, passionate, and entertaining plays that speak to the universal human condition, embrace the society at large and celebrate the distinctive voice and social vision that are part of the Jewish experience and cultural legacy. The playwright Wendy Kout, has given Ms Dean the Western Canada rights to mount the cutting-edge Holocaust educational play SURVIVORS. She directed and presented a nine- performance pilot tour to middle and secondary schools resulting in reaching more than 1,100 students and 500 adults in the Victoria, BC area.
Frances Grunberg has extensive experience working on child, youth, and family issues in British Columbia as a practitioner, educator, curriculum developer, consultant and advocate since 1974. She is Faculty Emerita at Langara College where she taught social work for 18 years. She is an expert in program development, direct service delivery, clinical intervention and treatment with children, youth and families. Ms. Grunberg represented the Victoria Shoah Project at the Ministry of Education’s Anti-Racism Roundtable.
Peter J. Nadler is a retired Victoria BC lawyer, mediator and arbitrator. He has extensive experience in the entertainment industry, and is professional actor with film and T.V. and stand-up comedy credits. He was Vice President of The Green Thumb theatre for young People, Member of the Virtual Stage Theatre Society, is a member of Victoria Shoah Project (memorializing the Holocaust) and on the production team of the Survivors Play
Micha Menczer is a lawyer who practiced Indigenous law for First Nations and their organizations since 1975 in Ontario and BC. He has also worked internationally with Indigenous groups in Central America and Viet Nam. He is a child of survivors. His parents were from Bukovina and lived through harsh conditions in Bershad camp before emigrating to Canada in 1949. Micha has been active in Holocaust education and commemorations in Ottawa, Vancouver and Victoria for over 40 years and is one of founding members of the Victoria Shoah Project. He was on the Steering Committee of Survivors from its outset and was one of the historical guides in the Survivor Play pilot project presented in Victoria schools in the fall of 2022.
Dr. Helga Thorson is an Associate Professor of Germanic Studies at the University of Victoria. Her primary focus is in Holocaust and memory studies, and she is the co-creator of the I-witness Field School, a summer course on Holocaust memorialization that takes place in three to four European countries. In addition, she helped design the Holocaust Studies MA stream in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies at the University of Victoria, the only program of its kind in Canada. Dr. Thorson and her students have also been active in creating digital memorials to the Holocaust, including Servitengasse 1938–1945
Dr. Cyril Kesten is a Professor Emeritus of Business Education at the University of Regina. He has been a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Regina since 1978. Dr. Kesten taught a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate courses including courses focused on Research and Program Evaluation. Dr. Kesten consults widely in the areas of Program Development and Program Evaluation.
Kayla Aspelund – Kayla graduated from the University of Victoria in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in History. Her focus was on Eastern European and Slavic history during the 20th century, as well as Soviet involvement in the Holocaust. She returned to UVic in 2019 to pursue a second bachelor’s degree, this time in Slavic Studies. In 2021, she helped create a digital exhibition that shared the testimonies of local Holocaust survivors and their families. Kayla’s involvement with Survivors began during the pilot tour of the show, when she was a historical guide. Her role was to offer historical context, clarification and support during the question period after the performances. She is excited to be a member of the advisory team and continue working on this important project.