Phyllis Kasdin

Phyllis Kasdin has been employed at the Jewish Community Center for the past 33 years in a multitude of capacities, particularly in the areas of Jewish programming, fundraising, and the arts. She inaugurated the JCC annual gala in 1984 and staffed it until 2005. Phyllis taught senior adult drama for more than 20 years. What began as class plays for seniors, soon developed into large scale multigenerational productions. In the 1980’s Phyllis wrote and directed ten of these intergenerational shows featuring actors from ages eight to eighty.

In addition to being a playwright and artistic director, Phyllis established the ON STAGE Performing arts camp for children ages 8-15. Summer 2009 will be the 19th season for ON STAGE. Hundreds and hundreds of children have participated in Phyllis Kasdin’s productions and in the ON STAGE program. Each every child who has been in one of Phyllis’ productions has become one of “Phyllis’ Kids”, a group of which she is especially fond.

Phyllis Kasdin is also the archivist at the JCC. In November of 2004 she spearheaded an archives exhibit about early Jewish Rochester. The exhibit was so widely acclaimed that it led to the publication of a book authored by Phyllis,
“The Future Begins With The Past.”

Phyllis established the Yiddish Center at the JCC and is now the Director of the JCC’s Yiddish Culture Center. Under her leadership Yiddish is alive and well at the JCC. Phyllis teaches Yiddish to four and five year olds and says that the children enrich her life.

During the celebration of its 100 years serving the Jewish Community, Phyllis once again oversaw an exhibit of the Past, Present and Future of the JCC. She wrote and directed a musical revue entitled “Thanks For The Memories.”

Before becoming a professional at the JCC Phyllis served on the board of directors of the JY eventually serving as Vice President. As Vice President she was instrumental in the development of the JCC building and the programming.

Phyllis and her late husband, Albert have been active members of Temple Beth El, where Phyllis served on the board of directors for 25 years and as president of Sisterhood for two years. She is credited with the establishment of the Havurah groups still active at the Temple.

As a volunteer Phyllis served on the Board of Directors of the Jewish Community Federation, Hillel Foundation at the University of Rochester, and was vice president of the Rochester Chapter of Hadassah and President of the former Hans Beyth group of Hadassah.

A lover of theater, Phyllis and her husband Al were among the founders of Brighton Theater Guild and served on the Board of Directors for 15 years. She also directed a number of shows for the guild.

Phyllis is a native Rochesterian having attended Ben Franklin high school. After high school she attended Northwestern University and is a graduate, Phi Beta Kappa, of the University of Rochester.

Phyllis has three children Karin, an author, Lisa, a counselor at The School Of The Arts, and Jeremy a professor of Aerospace engineering at Princeton University. Phyllis is thankful to her children for giving her seven wonderful grandchildren, Daniel and his wife Kristen, Andrew and Zack Weinstein, Julia and Samantha Hyman and Alexandra and Isabel Kasdin.