Conceiving Dramaturgical Practice in English Canada: Histories, Methods, and Models, Post-WWI to the 1990s

The thesis provides both a historical exploration and a theoretical model of the practice of developmental dramaturgy in the 20th century in English-speaking Canada. From the end of WWI to the 1990s, the notion of the importance of a uniquely Canadian drama took hold, and institutions and practices arose to achieve that end. However, much of what has been documented and analyzed has focused on the period roughly following Canada’s centennial, when the formalization and funding of those institutions and practices took place. As a result, the purpose of this work is two-fold: first, to reclaim the voices of early practitioners and the historical record of dramaturgical practice, and second, to bring these voices into the contemporary discourse of developmental dramaturgy to create a working model of dramaturgical practice. Through an examination of a series of case studies, including the Art and Little Theatres, educational theatre, radio, and professional theatres, a consistency of practice across time and contexts is evident: the impetus to create an original body of Canadian drama (the meta-dramaturgical project), as well as the institutions and practices (macro- and micro-dramaturgy respectively) that arose to carry it out. What emerges through this examination is the recurrence of meta-dramaturgical questions—and macro-dramaturgical models and micro-dramaturgical strategies to address them—which serve as a starting point for a discussion of dramaturgical practice in Canada. That discussion includes, first, an examination of the influences, especially from the United States, in shaping dramaturgical practices—and the reciprocal emphasis Canadian practices had south of the border; second, the common elements—including the importance of encouraging playwrights and the need to educate audiences in the intricacies of new play development—and the varying contexts that led to the prioritization of the playwright or the production; and third, the cycles of articulation, negotiation, and concretization through which a play or theatrical event emerges, as well as notions of (shared) authority made possible by the creation of group language and governing structure of the piece. What is remarkable is that, despite instances where there is no connection between persons or resources, or, indeed, a knowledge of historical practice, the same strategies, the ways of doing the work, exist. This repetition serves to highlight the recurrence of micro-dramaturgical practices in the creation of individual works, macro-dramaturgical institutional models within which those works emerge, and the meta-dramaturgical frameworks that create the environment for them to exist and thrive.Ph.D.2020-07-11 00:00:0