Herman Voaden

Herman Arthur Voaden
Born	(1903-01-19)January 19, 1903 London, Ontario, Canada
Died	June 27, 1991(1991-06-27) (aged 88) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Genre	Playwright
Notable awards	Order of Canada

Herman Arthur Voaden, CM FRSA (19 January 1903 – 27 June 1991) was a Canadian playwright.

Life and work

Born in London, Ontario, he received a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in 1923 and a Master of Arts degree in 1926 from Queen's University. 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.

In 1928 Voaden became head of the English department at the Central High School of Commerce (now the Central Toronto Academy), where he worked for decades. In 1960 his work there was described as "pioneer[ing] in progressive education methods, including the 'play approach' to drama.'"

A member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, 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.

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). 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". 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.

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)
• Emily Carr: A Stage Biography with Pictures (first performed 1960)

References

• Burliuk, Greg (16 August 1997). "Workshops focus on two winning plays". Kingston Whig-Standard. p. 30. ProQuest 353109238.

• Voaden, Herman, ed. (1960). Four Plays of Our Time. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada.

• Wagner, Anton (16 December 2013). "Herman Arthur Voaden". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on 6 February 2024.

• Wagner, Anton (4 February 2004). "Herman Voaden". The Literary Encyclopedia.

• Wagner, Anton (24 August 2020). "Emily Carr: A Stage Biography with Pictures". Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia. Retrieved 12 April 2024.

• Wagner, Anton (11 June 2021). "Voaden, Herman". Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia. Retrieved 12 April 2024.

• York University (16 December 2011). "Herman Arthur Voaden fonds". York University. Retrieved 13 April 2024.