Lina Chartrand
Born1948 (1948)
Timmins, Ontario
DiedApril 2, 1994(1994-04-02) (aged 45–46)
Alma materQueen's University (B.A.)

Lina Chartrand (1948-1994)[1] was a Canadian writer and theatre creator. She was a co-founder of the feminist theatre company, Company of Sirens. Her most famous work was the bilingual and partly autobiographical play, La P'tite Miss Easter Seals.

Early life

Chartrand was born in 1948 in Timmins, Ontario, one of four children of Leo and Leocadie Chartland. At sixteen months old, she contracted polio which resulted in her requiring spinal surgery at age 10, following which Chartrand spent time in a full body cast. In 1960, Chartrand was selected as Little Miss Easter Seals.[2]

Chartrand attended Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, where she received a B.A. in drama.[2]

Career

In 1986, Chartrand formed the feminist theatre collective Company of Sirens, with Aida Jordão, Catherine Glen, Lib Spry, Shawna Dempsey, and Cynthia Grant.[3] With Company of Sirens, Chartrand co-created the play, The Working People's Picture Show.[4][5]

Chartrand's first play, La P'tite Miss Easter Seals, premiered in 1988 with Theatre Francais at the Harbourfront Centre's du Maurier Theatre.[6] She worked on the play for three years with consultation from John Van Burek.[7] La P'tite Miss Easer Seals, partly inspired by Chartrand's childhood, is set on a train from Timmins to Toronto and centres on fifteen-year-old Little Miss Easter Seals, Monique Latremouille, who is travelling with her mother and cousin. Monique has spent six months in a full body cast after a spinal surgery to correct effects of childhood polio. The play's characters switch frequently between speaking French and English.[8] La P'tite Miss Easter Seals was re-staged in 1993 by Company of Sirens at Tarragon Theatre's Extra Space.[9]

Chartrand directed Helen Porter's My Father Taught Me To Swim in 1991 at the Annex Theatre.[10] In 1993, Chartrand was named a screenwriter in residence at the Canadian Film Centre.[11] The half-hour film she worked on during this residency, "In Limbo", was in post-production when she died.[1]

Chartrand's collected poetry was published posthumously in the 1998 book, We Make the Air: the Poetry of Lina Chartrand.[12]

Death and legacy

Chartrand died on April 2, 1994, due to complications with liver disease, pre-deceasing partner Kye Marshall.[13] The Lina Chartrand Poetry Award was established in her memory.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 "In memoriam: Lina Chartrand, 1948-1994". Resources for Feminist Research. 3 (22): 3. 1994. ProQuest 194882255 – via ProQuest.
  2. 1 2 3 "Lina Chartrand: siren song". Canadian Theatre Review: 152–153. 1994. ISSN 0315-0836.
  3. ↑ Scott, Shelley (2010). Nightwood Theatre: A Woman's Work is Always Done. Athabasca University Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-897425-55-8 – via Google Books.
  4. ↑ di Cenzo, Maria; Bennett, Susan (1992). "Women, Popular Theatre, and Social Action: Interviews with Cynthia Grant and the Sistren Theatre Collective". ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature. 23 (1): 74.
  5. ↑ Bell, Laurie (1987). "Working People's Popular Appeal" (PDF). Broadside: A Feminist Review. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  6. ↑ Crew, Robert (1988-03-11). "Little Miss Easter Seals a promising work". Toronto Star. p. E21.
  7. ↑ Wagner, Vit (1988-03-04). "Bilingual drama plays off childhood polio". Toronto Star. p. D10.
  8. ↑ Moss, Jane (Spring 2000). "Le theatre Franco-Ontarien: Dramatic spectacles of linguistic otherness". University of Toronto Quarterly. 69 (2): 587–614. doi:10.3138/utq.69.2.587. S2CID 153709348.
  9. ↑ Wagner, Vit (1993-10-28). "'I laugh, I cry, I sing - all lying down'". Toronto Star. p. WO10.
  10. ↑ Wagner, Vit (1991-10-11). "Storyteller spins bit too much yarn into engaging tale". Toronto Star. p. D14 – via ProQuest.
  11. ↑ "New residents named at Canadian Film Centre". Toronto Star. 1993-06-11. p. C8 – via ProQuest.
  12. ↑ "An Interview with Maureen Hynes, Liz Ukrainetz, and Kye Marshall – Contemporary Verse 2". Contemporary Verse 2. 2020-04-09. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  13. ↑ "Lina Chartrand: obituary". Canadian Woman Studies. 14 (3): 100. Summer 1994 – via ProQuest.
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