- Library Home /
- Search Collections /
- Open Collections /
- Browse Collections /
- UBC Theses and Dissertations /
- A short history of the Canadian Players, 1954-1966
Open Collections
UBC Theses and Dissertations
UBC Theses and Dissertations
A short history of the Canadian Players, 1954-1966 Penistan, Violet Mary
Abstract
A brief history of the Canadian Players, a theatre company which toured across Canada and the United States from 1954 -1966. The company played in cities and university centres and in small towns and communities from Moosonee and Flin Ron in the North to the southern United States and from Newfoundland and the New England States to Vancouver Island and southern California. The nucleus of the Canadian Players came from the Stratford Shakespearean Festival. Robin Patterson and Laurel Crosby crossed the continent as agents of the company, interesting influential citizens in sponsoring a theatrical company performing the plays of Shaw and Shakespeare. From a small company of eight actors performing Saint Joan on a bare stage the company grew to two casts and crews of up to twenty members, who spent eight months annually travelling by bus to perform across the length and breadth of the continent. The information about the Canadian Players was obtained from letters, chiefly those from Robin Patterson to Tom Pattterson, from newspaper reviews and reports in the press,which are gathered together in several scrap books, vertical files and micro-fiche in the Theatre Department of the Toronto reference Libr ary and from conversations with some of the surviving members of the company. Most of these conversations have been recorded on tape. Other information was gathered from transcripts from taped interviews which were supplied by Robin Patterson. I was also privileged to be permitted the use of manuscript material of Florence Pelton Patterson, the first secretary, and that of Tony Van Bridge, an actor and director for several years. The contribution made to Canadian theatre by the Canadian Players in their taking drama to every part of the country and their involvement of local communities in developing an audience for the regional and other theatres which followed them is discussed.
Item Metadata
Title |
A short history of the Canadian Players, 1954-1966
|
Creator | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
|
Date Issued |
1994
|
Description |
A brief history of the Canadian Players, a theatre company which toured
across Canada and the United States from 1954 -1966. The company played in
cities and university centres and in small towns and communities from
Moosonee and Flin Ron in the North to the southern United States and from
Newfoundland and the New England States to Vancouver Island and southern
California.
The nucleus of the Canadian Players came from the Stratford
Shakespearean Festival. Robin Patterson and Laurel Crosby crossed the
continent as agents of the company, interesting influential citizens in sponsoring
a theatrical company performing the plays of Shaw and Shakespeare. From a
small company of eight actors performing Saint Joan on a bare stage the
company grew to two casts and crews of up to twenty members, who spent eight
months annually travelling by bus to perform across the length and breadth of
the continent.
The information about the Canadian Players was obtained from letters, chiefly
those from Robin Patterson to Tom Pattterson, from newspaper reviews and
reports in the press,which are gathered together in several scrap books, vertical
files and micro-fiche in the Theatre Department of the Toronto reference Libr ary
and from conversations with some of the surviving members of the company.
Most of these conversations have been recorded on tape. Other information
was gathered from transcripts from taped interviews which were supplied by
Robin Patterson. I was also privileged to be permitted the use of manuscript material of Florence Pelton Patterson, the first secretary, and that of Tony Van
Bridge, an actor and director for several years.
The contribution made to Canadian theatre by the Canadian Players in their
taking drama to every part of the country and their involvement of local
communities in developing an audience for the regional and other theatres which
followed them is discussed.
|
Extent |
6436591 bytes
|
Genre | |
Type | |
File Format |
application/pdf
|
Language |
eng
|
Date Available |
2009-02-25
|
Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
|
Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
|
DOI |
10.14288/1.0099129
|
URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
|
Graduation Date |
1994-05
|
Campus | |
Scholarly Level |
Graduate
|
Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
|
Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.