laine zisman newman

Dovid Zisman (1914 – 1960), a Holocaust survivor, was a poet, playwright and performer in Poland. Known for his poetry in the Lodz ghetto, he was sent to a work camp in the German factory Hasag-Pelcery in Czestochowa in 1943 and later sent to the concentration camp Buchenwald. He wrote and performed his writing during his imprisonment and torture in labor and concentration camps. Following liberation, he married Helen Zisman and continued to write poetry and prose.

Laine Zisman Newman, Dovid’s youngest granddaughter, is a PhD student in Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Toronto. Her practical and academic work focuses on creating and promoting equitable theatre practices. Her creative and scholarly work has been published in Canadian Theatre Review; The Rusty Toque; Journal of Dance, Movement and Spiritualties (forthcoming, 2014); and Studies in Documentary Film.