Joy Coghill on US and Canada, New York, and the 1967 Centennial (Part 2 of 9)
Channel: Canada's Theatre Museum
Date: 2011-06-10

Joy Coghill on the US and Canada, New York, and the 1967 Centennial celebrations.


Joy Coghill reminisces on her time in Chicago during the McCarthy era. When she was a student, the trend was to reject New York and LA in favor of reaching the rest of the country through regional theatre. This changed in 1952 when Geraldine Page launched into stardom after performing in Tennessee Williams’ Summer and Smoke at the Circle in the Square Theater. Everyone returned to New York, which never appealed to Joy. She had the feeling that there was a lack of community and no one really saw each other. One was either lonely at the top or poor and miserable at the bottom. In Canada you could create theatre for yourself. Thomson marvels that he had the same feelings about New York in the 1970s.

Thomson and Coghill discuss when Canadian theatre came into its own. Coghill posits that between 1948 -1967 is when it all happened; we decided to be professionals. In 1967 the Trudeau government needed Canadian content for the opening of the National Arts Centre. They gave out $1000 subsidies for the creation of Canadian works. It was the chance Malcom Black, then Artistic Director of the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company, needed to commission and produce new Canadian plays.

 
Interviewed by R.H. Thomson on December 14, 2010 in Vancouver, B.C. Filming location courtesy of Performing Arts Lodges (PAL) Vancouver.