Herman Voaden
| Herman Arthur Voaden | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 19, 1903 London, Ontario |
| Died |
June 27, 1991 (aged 88) Toronto, Ontario |
| Genre | playwright |
| Notable awards | Order of Canada |
Herman Arthur Voaden, CM (19 January 1903 – 27 June 1991)[1] was a Canadian playwright.[2]
Early life
Born in London, Ontario,[1] he received a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in 1923 and a Master of Arts degree in 1926 from Queen's University.[3] He also studied at the University of Chicago and at Yale University.
His father, Dr. Arthur Voaden, pioneered vocational teaching in Ontario. His mother, Luisa Bale Voaden, was also a teacher. Voaden studied modern drama at Queen’s University, 1920–1923, and wrote his 1926 Queen’s M.A. thesis on Eugene O’Neill.[4]
Political activity
A member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation,[4] he ran for the Canadian House of Commons in the western Toronto riding of Trinity in the 1945 elections, 1949 elections, 1953 elections, and a 1954 by-election. He lost each time.
Associations
Voaden was a member of Toronto's Arts and Letters Club, the Dominion Drama Festival, and a founding member and first president of the Canadian Arts Council (which became the Canadian Conference of the Arts in 1958).[1] As president of the CAC, he was one of several Canadian representatives to the first UNESCO conference, held in Paris in 1946.
Honours
In 1974, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honor, "in recognition of his contribution to the performing arts as a playwright, producer and teacher, and his services in fostering support for all the arts and crafts".[5] He was made a Fellow in the Royal Society of Arts in 1970.
Following his death, Queen's University created the Herman Voaden Playwriting Competition to honour new works by emerging playwrights.[6]
Works
- The White Kingdom - 1928
- Northern Storm - 1929
- Northern Song - 1930
- Western Wolf - 1930
- Fragment - 1931
- Wilderness - 1931
- Earth Song - 1932
- Rocks - 1932
- Hill-Land - 1934
- Murder Pattern - 1936
- Ascend As the Sun - 1942
- Libretto for the opera, The Prodigal Son (music by Frederick Jacobi) - debuted 1945
References
- 1 2 3 Herman Arthur Voaden at The Canadian Encyclopedia.
- ↑ Herman Voaden at The Literary Encyclopedia.
- ↑ Herman Voaden at the Encyclopedia of Canadian Theatre.
- 1 2 "Herman Arthur Voaden fonds". York University. Retrieved June 1, 2006.
- ↑ Order of Canada citation
- ↑ "Workshops focus on two winning plays". Kingston Whig-Standard, August 16, 1997.