About the Book:

HARD TO FIND BOOK, only a very limited number of copies are still available.

A collection of original documents and publications by Canadian theatre professionals and cultural commentators.

Canadian Theatre History is an essential sourcebook documenting the development of English-Canadian theatre and drama from the early 1800s to the 1990s. Written over the course of the twentieth century, the book is a collection of 59 articles, essays, reviews, biographical sketches, manifestos and other cultural documents written by four dozen critics, historians, playwrights, actors, directors and cultural commentators. Canadian Theatre History addresses the development of theatre in Canada: the influences of foreign touring syndicates, the Dominion Drama Festival (1932-39, 1947-78), regional theatres, as well as the impacts of the Massey Commission, the Stratford Festival, and the alternative theatre movement.

What people say:

"Essential... this kind of discourse and dialectic suggests the importance of these documents in our cultural history... Canadian Theatre History is a kind of living history... our cultural elders explained how our theatres and drama have developed, and suggested possible future directions." — Theatre Research in Canada

About the Editor:

Don Rubin is a Canadian theatre critic, editor, scholar, and Professor based at York University in Toronto. He began his career at the famous High School of Performing Arts in New York City where he trained as an actor. He later moved to Canada where he became a founding member of the Department of Theatre and of York's Faculty of Fine Arts. Chair of the Department for three years, and later Founding Director of the Graduate Program in Theatre Studies. He was the founding editor of Canada's national theatre journal, Canadian Theatre Review for eight years and a working daily critic in print, radio and television for the Toronto Star and CBC Radio among others. He was the editor of the standard scholarly volume Canadian Theatre History: Selected Readings and the executive editor of the six-volume World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre, the largest international cooperative project in the history of cultural publishing.