Herman Arthur Voaden
Born(1903-01-19)January 19, 1903
London, Ontario, Canada
DiedJune 27, 1991(1991-06-27) (aged 88)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Genreplaywright
Notable awardsOrder of Canada

Herman Arthur Voaden, CM FRSA (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 House of Commons of Canada 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. 1 2 3 Wagner, Anton (16 December 2013). "Herman Arthur Voaden". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on 2006-05-12.
  2. Herman Voaden at The Literary Encyclopedia.
  3. Herman Voaden at the Encyclopedia of Canadian Theatre.
  4. 1 2 "Herman Arthur Voaden fonds". York University. Retrieved June 1, 2006.
  5. Order of Canada citation
  6. "Workshops focus on two winning plays". Kingston Whig-Standard, August 16, 1997.
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