Alumnae Theatre Company : Nonprofessionalizing Theatre in Canada / Robin C. Whittaker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Whittaker, Robin, 1976- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Alumnae Theatre Company--History.

Alumnae Theatre Company.

Amateur theater.

Women in the theater.

Theater--Ontario--Toronto--History.

Theater.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (534 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Toronto, Ontario : University of Toronto Press, [2024]

Summary:

Tracing the impact of North America's longest-running women-led theatre company, this book sheds light on the rise, impact, and redefinition of nonprofessionalizing theatre in Canada.

Contents:

Cover

Half-Title Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Contents

List of Illustrations

Preface

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction: Alumnae Theatre Company, Alterity, and the Idea of Nonprofessionalizing Theatre

Toronto's Femmes Savantes

The Politics of Nonprofessionalizing Theatre

A (Selective) History of Nonprofessionalizing Theatre before Alumnae

PART I: History and Programming

1 The University Years: Founding Daughters and Their Philanthropic Little Theatre (1918-1939)

Fundraising for Women's Space and the University Settlement

Intellectual Thespians, Jolly Groups, and Glorious Days

Conspicuous Private Performances at University College's Alternative Little Theatre

Staging Modern Comedies at Canada's Big Little Theatre

2 Producing on the Homefront and in the Post-War Theatre Boom (1939-1957)

Skits, One-Acts, and "Briskly or Painfully" Knitting

Membership Down, the Kamloops Corvette, and the Merry-Go-Round Revue

A New Name beyond University College

Programming Toronto's Post-War Theatre Boom

3 The Coach House Years and Intellectual Modernism (1957-1972)

Coach House Programming at the Original Alternative Theatre Company

Absurd Programming for a Modern City

Reading Plays to the City

Back to Period Fare

Forward to Radical Play Programming

Reflections on a Coach House Aesthetic

4 The Firehall Years in Toronto's Expanding Theatre Ecology (1972-present)

The Programming and the Critics

The Moderns Maintained

Contemporary and Period Plays

The Audiences and the Membership

PART II: Perspectives

5 A "Distinct Passage Way": Theatre Spaces

Lofty "Coach House" Plans in the City's Smallest Theatre

From "Vagrants" to a Synagogue Home

Rethinking the Coach House Theatre and an "Honourable Retreat".

Firehall Dreams and "Radical Chic"

6 "This Is the Competitive Democracy of Amateur Drama": Festivals and Nationhood

Performing the Local to the Nation from Nine Till Six to The Cradle Song

Years Ago, a Post-War Festival Success

King Charles's Days and The Family Reunion Expose Herbert Whittaker's Dual Role

Alumnae's Teach Me How to Cry, and How to Win

Waiting for Godot on the National Stage

The End of a Festival Era

7 "No Cause for Alarm": New Plays

New Comedies for the Interwar Years

The Tiger, The Killdeer, and Other New Plays from Known Writers

New Plays at the Synagogue

Sunday Evening New Play Readings

Improvisation and Collective Creation

The Firehall Gives Us Shelter, A Clash of Symbols, and Two Festivals of Firsts

8 "Pace-Setting and Ranging": A Nonprofessionalizing Theatre in the Professionalizing Era

Post-War Brushes with an Emerging Profession

A Fry Too Frequent

Funding a Few

Critical Discourses on Professionalization

Marigold Charlesworth and Her Three Sisters

Actors' Equity in the House

Conclusions

Programming Alterity

Nostalgia Houses: Making Theatre History

Appendix I: Selected Biographies of Alumnae's Early Women

Appendix II: Alumnae Production History Pre-Firehall

Appendix III: Alumnae Production History Firehall

Notes

Works Cited

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781487548292

148754829X

9781487548308

1487548303