After escape out of Israel, Winnipeg Jewish Theatre boss decries theatre community’s silence

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This article was published 10/10/2023 (1116 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dan Petrenko went to Israel last week, planning to spend the bulk of his trip at the theatre. But when he awoke in a Tel Aviv apartment Saturday morning, the artistic director of the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre braced for a different kind of drama.

Petrenko, 25, who was born in nearby Givatayim, had returned to his home country with intentions to see several performances and meet with potential collaborators in the city’s bustling theatre scene.

The trip was cut short by a deadly incursion from Hamas militants carried out in several Israeli towns, leading the Israeli government to promptly declare war on Hamas, classified in Canada as a terrorist group. In the days since, the death toll has risen to nearly 2,000, with hundreds of Israeli and Palestinian civilians killed and thousands more injured.

“We woke up on Saturday morning at six to the sound of sirens outside our windows,” says Petrenko, who joined WJT last year. “A few minutes later, I was bombarded with phone calls from Canada, and that’s when we found out what was going on.”

Petrenko, whose family moved to Toronto following the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon, and his friend, actor Seth Zosky — set to appear in the upcoming WJT season — rushed to their building’s bomb shelter.

The pair took a taxi to Ben Gurion Airport and spent several hours trying to get out of the country, eventually getting a pair of tickets for an evening flight to Athens. As Petrenko and Zosky checked in for their flight, sirens began sounding.

“Hundreds, if not thousands, dropped their bags and ran for the (airport’s) bomb shelters,” Petrenko says, recounting moments he describes as chaotic and devastating.

“I don’t know about you, but I haven’t had to run for my life before,” says Petrenko, whose elementary-school classmate has been missing since the war began Saturday. A friend of Zosky’s, Petrenko says, is currently being held hostage by Hamas somewhere in the Gaza Strip.

Petrenko and Zosky were on the last flight out of the country before its airspace was closed, he says.

With a return flight to Winnipeg booked for Friday, Petrenko said Tuesday morning that he is anxiously watching the news as the situation unfolds.

“Hundreds, if not thousands, dropped their bags and ran for the (airport’s) bomb shelters.”–Dan Petrenko

“It’s nauseating,” he said.

Meanwhile, Petrenko issued an open letter to the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres Monday, urging the organization and its members to “stand in solidarity” and “speak up against terror and antisemitism” in the wake of “the largest massacre of Jews in a single day since the Holocaust.”

“This is not about taking political positions,” Petrenko wrote. “This is not a political matter with two sides. Civilian murders, rapes and kidnappings are not political tools. They are acts of terror and war crimes.”

“It has now been over 48 hours since the terror attacks on the Jewish people in Israel have begun, and PACT remains silent,” the letter reads. “Though our (a)ssociation is not a political organization, it has an impressive track record of rising up against injustices and standing alongside targeted communities. I have hope that when it comes to vicious attacks against JEWISH civilians — the Jewish community can expect that PACT will stand in solidarity.”

“I am shocked and disappointed that even after that call, which was shared over 500 times by theatre artists around the country, as well as the prime minister’s chief of staff, not a single theatre company in the country has made a post,” says Petrenko.

Shortly after Petrenko spoke with the Free Press, Montreal’s Segal Centre for Performing Arts published a statement on its Facebook page. “The weight of it all bears heavily on our hearts, especially as we think of the unimaginable loss of innocent lives and the great impact this has on our Jewish community and those affected in the region. Along with you, we are shocked, afraid, and we are grieving,” it reads.

“I am shocked and disappointed that even after that call, which was shared over 500 times by theatre artists around the country, as well as the prime minister’s chief of staff, not a single theatre company in the country has made a post.”–Dan Petrenko.

“I consider myself an advocate and activist and I am there for other communities, and I don’t think I’ve fully (processed) the level of disappointment I have with most of my colleagues in theatre in Winnipeg and around the country,” Petrenko added. “I don’t understand what’s holding them back other than internalized antisemitism.”

“It’s a telling time, and we’re really finding out who our allies are,” he says, adding that he’s praying for safety and peace “for us all.”

ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com

Ben Waldman
Reporter

Ben Waldman is a National Newspaper Award-nominated reporter on the Arts & Life desk at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Ben completed three internships with the Free Press while earning his degree at Ryerson University’s (now Toronto Metropolitan University’s) School of Journalism before joining the newsroom full-time in 2019. Read more about Ben.

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