Dominion drama festival archives

[Day, Moira]

Hi everyone,

In my own travels around the various archives in Edmonton I’ve been able to track down various programs and minutes - but very few original scripts. The text for  Minnie Bicknell’s *Relief* the 1937 winner of the best play award is in the U of A library. I also found Jack Thurrott's *La Tour* the 1938 co-winner in the UNB library/special collections and have a copy of it in my own files. A reworked version of Elsie Gowan’s *Homestead* called *God Made the Country* was done by a U of A group around 1934/35, though it won no awards that year. *Homestead* has been published in *The Hungry Spirit* and I think the other version is in Elsie’s fonts at the U of A Archives. Ringwood’s *Still Stand the House* the 1939 winner has, of course, been extensively anthologized. But all these may be too early for your search period.

Most groups tended to go with already published and performed scripts. To the best of my knowledge, very few of the Canadian scripts (beyond a few of the late ones by well-known writers) were published or went very far beyond the author’s own files. No-one, to my knowledge, ever decided to publish a “best hits off the DDF Festival” anthology. Maybe a project for the future?

Moira


On Oct 26, 2015, at 3:01 PM, Kathryn Harvey <kaharvey at UOGUELPH.CA<mailto:kaharvey at UOGUELPH.CA>> wrote:

Hi Tony, Robin, all,

Having worked at Dalhousie University several years ago, I know they have the DDF Nova Scotia region fonds; however, it does not contain scripts, but only administrative and publicity records for the 1950s to early 1970s.

Robin is right that the best (though not an easy way) to find scripts would be through tracking down the individual companies that mounted DDF productions. The national archival database (http://archivescanada.ca/) turns up a number of hits (search by keyword for "dominion drama festival," using the quotation marks), but I don't think many of the resulting hits contain scripts.

The U of Guelph archives has amongst its various collections some DDF materials, quite possibly even some scripts in its Charles Palmer and Lillian Graham Collection, though it's difficult to tell without actually doing a bit more sleuthing in the records themselves.

Who would have thought such an apparently simple and reasonable question could be so difficult to answer?!

Cheers,
Kathryn

Kathryn Harvey
Head, Archival and Special Collections
University of Guelph Library
50 Stone Road East
Guelph, ON N1G 2W1

519-824-4120, ext. 52089 (w)
on Twitter @HarveyKathryn
http://www.lib.uoguelph.ca/find/find-type-resource/archival-special-collections


Please note that from January 1 to August 31, 2016, I will be on research leave. During that time, no new archival donations for which there are no existing deeds of gift will be accepted. Accruals of materials covered under an existing deed of gift will be accepted during this period.

On 21/10/2015 8:35 PM, Robin Whittaker wrote:

The DDF turned into “Theatre Canada” in 1970. It continued to showcase plays for a couple of years (but not in a competition format) until it dissolved into an archive of itself, and then dissolved completely 45 years after it began.

There is a finding aid here: http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000001498.pdf

Depending on the scope of your project, your best bet may be to contact the specific theatre companies who entered plays in the DDF during the 60s and ask if you can access the scripts you’re looking for. I have some information on a few scripts if you want to contact me off-list.

I’d be interested to know if you, or anyone else, knows of any other, more thorough, collections.

Best,
Robin.

--
Dr. Robin C. Whittaker
Associate Professor
St. Thomas University, Fredericton NB E3B 5C3
Drama Advisor, Department of English <http://w3.stu.ca/stu/academics/departments/english_lit/> http://w3.stu.ca/stu/academics/departments/english_lit/
Artistic Producer, Theatre St. Thomas <http://wp.stu.ca/tst/> http://wp.stu.ca/tst/
Editor, STU Reviews stureviews.wordpress.com<http://stureviews.wordpress.com/>

On Oct 21, 2015, at 5:07 PM, T. Berto <<mailto:aberto at UOGUELPH.CA>aberto at UOGUELPH.CA<mailto:aberto at UOGUELPH.CA>> wrote:

Dear All:

Does anyone know where ephemera from the Dominion Drama Festival might be housed? I'm looking specifically for scripts from the 60s.

best

TB

Dr. T. Berto
School of English and Theatre Studies,
University of Guelph.
aberto at uoguelph.ca<mailto:aberto at uoguelph.ca>




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