Herman Voaden
Herman Voaden (1903-1991) was a prominent Canadian playwright and art advocate known for his innovative contributions to theater. Born in London, Ontario, he pursued his education at Queen's College and Yale University, ultimately becoming a full-time writer after a lengthy career in education, where he taught at various institutions, including the Central High School Commission in Toronto. Voaden is celebrated for pioneering a unique avant-garde production style called "symphonic expressionism," characterized by the integration of rhythmic music, abstract sets, and symbolic storytelling, which reflected Canadian themes.
Throughout his career, he directed the Toronto Play Workshop and held significant positions within various cultural organizations, including the Canadian Arts Council. Notable works include "Rocks," "Murder Pattern," and "Emily Carr: A Stage Biography with Pictures," the latter embodying his symphonic expressionism approach. While many of his early plays were challenging to reproduce in print, Voaden's influence on Canadian theater is profound, inspiring future generations of artists. He received multiple accolades, including the Canadian Drama Award and membership in the Order of Canada, solidifying his legacy in the arts community before his passing in Toronto.
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Herman Voaden
Playwright
- Born: January 19, 1903
- Birthplace: London, Ontario, Canada
- Died: June 27, 1991
- Place of death: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Biography
Herman Voaden was born January 19, 1903, in London, Ontario, Canada, the son of pioneer vocational teacher Dr. Arthur Voaden and teacher Louisa (Bale) Voaden. He attended Queen’s College in Kingston, receiving a B.A. (1923). He later earned an M.A. (1926) at the same institution, and received further education at Yale University (1930-1931). He was married to Violet Kilpatrick from 1935 until her death in 1984.
Voaden taught at a collegiate school in Ottawa from 1924 to 1926, and at technical schools in Sarnia for two years, before becoming director of the department of English at the Central High School Commission in Toronto, where he remained from 1928 to 1964. Considered one of Canada’s most influential artists and art advocates, Voaden served as director of the Toronto Play Workshop from 1932 to 1955, as director of the summer course in drama and play production and director of the university theater at Queen’s University (1934-1936), as president of the Canadian Arts Council (1945-1948), and of the Canadian Guild of Crafts (1968-1970).
A full-time writer after 1964, Voaden had already left his mark on Canadian theater beginning in the early 1930’s, when he developed a unique avant-garde production style known as symphonic expressionism. Voaden’s plays employed rhythmic, percussive music; minimal or abstract sets; and dramatic, unconventional lighting as accompaniments to ritualized movements, ad-libbed speech, choral dancing, symbolism, and out- of-sequence plots. The total effect was intended to present the impressions of the stories, all with distinctive Canadian themes.
Since all of Voaden’s early plays—notably Rocks: A Play of Northern Ontario, Hill-Land: A Play of the Canadian North, Murder Pattern: An Experiment Toward a Symphonic Theatre, and Maria Chapdelaine: An Adaptation for a Symphonic Theatre—combined visual and verbal elements in live productions, they are difficult to reproduce in print. None of his plays were published until 1975, when Murder Pattern—based on a true-crime story of feuding farmers in which the killer of a local bully was sentenced to life in prison—appeared.
Later Voaden works (Ascend as the Sun, The Masque of the Red Death, Esther: A Dramatic Symphony, and The Prodigal Son: An Opera in Three Acts Based on Four Early American Prints) featured extensive use of music, for which the author wrote the libretti. Voaden’s best-known work, Emily Carr: A Stage Biography with Pictures, a drama about the life of a Canadian landscape painter in words, music and images, represents the culmination of his effort to capture the concept of symphonic expressionism.
Recognized equally for his skills as an editor as well as a playwright, Voaden received numerous honors during his lifetime. He won the Canadian Drama Award (1937), was a member of the Order of Canada and the Royal Society of Arts, received the Medal of Courage in 1974, and was named Queen’s University Alumnus of the Year in 1989.
Voaden, a significant and original playwright who is credited with inspiring thousands of young Canadians to become aware of and participate in their native theater, died in Toronto on June 27, 1991.