Written over the course of the twentieth century, the selections in Canadian Theatre History address the development of theatre in Canada: the influences of foreign touring syndicates, the Dominion Drama Festival, regional theatres, as well as the impacts of the Massey Commission, the Stratford Festival, and the alternative theatre movement..
close this panelTheatre historian, writer, and critic, Professor Don Rubin is the executive editor of the six-volume World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre, the largest international cooperative project in the history of cultural publishing (Routledge 1995â??2000). He was the founding editor of Canadaâ??s national theatre journal, Canadian Theatre Review (CTR), which he edited from 1974 to 1982. Under his aegis, an active theatre book publishing program grew from CTR. Major titles have included the archival series Canada on Stage and the historical series Canadaâ??s Lost Plays. Professor Rubinâ??s other publications include Canadian Theatre History: Selected Readings (Copp Clark, Toronto, 1996; 2nd ed. Playwrights Canada Press, 2004), the first sourcebook ever in Canadian theatre history. As a theatre critic, he has written for major journals, magazines, and newspapers worldwide. For several years he was a regular critic for the Toronto Star, CBC Radio, and the New Haven Register (Connecticut). Widely travelled, he has lectured on Canadian theatre in France, Russia, Bulgaria, India, Poland, Hungary, and China. He is a former president of the Canadian Centre of the UNESCO-affiliated International Theatre Institute and served for six years as chair of the ITIâ??s publications committee. He currently teaches at York University.
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â??Extraordinaryâ?¦ Don Rubinâ??s digging has produced both the orthodox and the radical, and his efforts to sow the roots of Canadian theatre today will allow students to understand theatreâ??s past and present in ways hitherto impossible.??
â??J.L. Granatstein, Historian, Professor Emeritus, York University
â??Essentialâ?¦ this kind of discourse and dialectic suggests the importance of these documents in our cultural historyâ?¦ Canadian Theatre History is a kind of living historyâ?¦ our cultural elders explaining how our theatres and drama have developed, and suggesting possible future directions.??
â??Anton Wagner, Theatre Research in Canada
