Mary Vingoe

Mary Vingoe is a Canadian playwright, actor, and theatre director. Vingoe was one of the co-founders of Canadian feminist theatre company Nightwood Theatre and later co-founded Ship's Company Theatre in Parrsboro and Eastern Front Theatre in Halifax. From 2002 to 2007, Vingoe was artistic director of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival. Vingoe is an Officer of the Order of Canada and received the Portia White Prize. Her play Refuge was a shortlisted nominee for the Governor General's Award for English-language drama at the 2016 Governor General's Awards.[1]

Mary Vingoe
BornDartmouth, Nova Scotia
OccupationPlaywright, theatre director
NationalityCanadian
Alma mater
Period1970s-present
Notable worksRefuge
Notable awards
SpousePaul Cram

Early life

Originally from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia,[2] Vingoe studied theatre at Dalhousie University in Halifax. She graduated with a bachelor of arts (honours) from Dalhousie in 1976 and was awarded the University Medal in Theatre.[3][4] Vingoe later attended the University of Toronto's Graduate Centre for Study of Drama.[5]

Career

Vingoe co-founded Toronto's Nightwood Theatre in 1979 with Cynthia Grant, Kim Renders, and Maureen White.[6] Vingoe was the only founding member of Nightwood to be an Equity member at the time of founding. Vingoe served as Nightwood's first artistic coordinator from 1985, when Cynthia Grant left the collective, until 1987.[7] The position was created to fulfill the same responsibilities as an artistic director but with a title that better suited Nightwood's origins as a collective.[8]

Vingoe helped to collectively create works with other Nightwood collaborators, including 1979's The True Story of Ida Johnson and 1981's The Yellow Wallpaper.[9][10] She acted in shows such as The Yellow Wallpaper (1981) and Pope Joan (1984).Vingoe also directed several plays while working with Nightwood, including Love and Work Enough (1984), Sally Clark's St. Francis of Hollywood (1987), Margaret Hollingsworth's War Babies (1985 and 1987), and The Herring Gull's Egg (1987), which she also wrote.[11] Nightwood re-staged The Herring Gull's Egg in 1989 as directed by Maureen White.[12]

In 1984, Vingoe co-founded Ship's Company Theatre in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia with Michael Fuller. Their first production, You’ll be in Her Arms by Midnight and Other Parrsboro Stories, was performed on the M.V. Kipawo ferry.[13] With Ship's Company, Vingoe has directed several plays including Wendy Lill's The Glace Bay Miner's Museum. Vingoe directed The Glace Bay Miner's Museum again in 2012 for the National Arts Centre's English Theatre Company and served as an assistant director on the 1995 film adaptation of the play, Margaret's Museum.[14]

In 1993, Vingoe co-founded Eastern Front Theatre in Halifax with Wendi Lill and Gay Hauser.[5][3] In 2002, Vingoe directed a production of The Drawer Boy with EFT for which she was nominated for a Merritt Award for Outstanding Direction.[15]

In 2002, Vingoe was appointed the first artistic director of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival, a festival celebrating Canadian English-language theatre.[2] She stepped down from the position after the 2007 Magnetic North Festival.[16]

In 2010, Vingoe directed the world premiere of Colleen Wagner's play Home at the Bus Stop Theatre in Halifax.[17] The two founded HomeFirst Theatre that year with the intention of producing plays written by Atlantic Canadians.[18] HomeFirst Theatre has since put on such plays as Wendy Lill's Messenger in 2015 with Neptune Theatre and the premiere of Vingoe's play Refuge in 2013 with Eastern Front Theatre.[19][20][21]

Vingoe portrayed Wanda Greyson in the CBC radio drama Backbencher.[22] Vingoe directed Alden by Richard Merrill, a play about poet Alden Nowlan at the 2011 NotaBle Acts Theatre Festival in Fredericton, New Brunswick.[23] During Neptune Theatre's 2014/15 season as part of the Open Spaces program with Theatre Nova Scotia, Vingoe directed the Atlantic Canadian premiere of Catherine Banks' It Is Solved by Walking.[24]

In 2018, Vingoe directed the musical Urinetown as part of Chester Playhouse's summer festival in Chester, Nova Scotia.[25] Vingoe wrote the play Some Blow Flutes and directed its 2018 premiere at the Bus Stop Theatre.[26]

Politics

In 2013, Vingoe ran for public office.[27] She ran as the NDP candidate for Dartmouth South in the Nova Scotia provincial election but lost with 33.3% of the vote.[28][29]

2013 Nova Scotia general election - Dartmouth South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
LiberalAllan Rowe 4,049 46.24 +18.34
  New Democratic Party Mary Vingoe 2,918 33.32 -22.24
  Progressive Conservative Gord Gamble 1,612 18.41 +5.16
IndependentJim Murray 178 2.03

Personal life

Vingoe was married to jazz musician Paul Cram who, before his death in 2018, worked as a sound designer on some of Vingoe's productions.[30] The two have two children, Laura and Kyle Vingoe-Cram.[31]

Plays

Ten Seconds After Closing

Ten Seconds After Closing premiered with Nightwood Theatre in 1980 under the direction of Cynthia Grant.[32]

Holy Ghosters

Holy Ghosters is a historical drama set in the eighteenth century and features a non-linear structure.[33] The play premiered 1983 at the Mulgrave Road Co-Op Theatre as directed by Jan Kudelka. A revised version of Holy Ghosters was performed Mount Allison University's Windsor Theatre in 1986.[34]

Hooligans

Hooligans was co-written by Vingoe and Jan Kudelka with contributions from Ian A. Black, Jay Bowen, Cynthia Grant, Irene Pauzer, Kim Renders, Linda Stephen, Bruce Vavrina, and inspired by an idea from Pauzer. The play uses text from the diaries of Isadora Duncan, Edward Gordon Craig, Sergei Esenin, Kathleen Bruce, and Robert Falcon Scott. Hooligans premiered with Nightwood Theatre in March 1982.[32]

The Herring Gull's Egg

In November 1987, Vingoe directed the premiere of her play The Herring Gull's Egg with Nightwood Theatre as part of the 3rd Groundswell Festival. The play received dramaturgy from Maureen Labonte. Nightwood re-staged The Herring Gull's Egg in 1989 under the direction of Maureen White.[32]

The Company Store

Vingoe based her play The Company Store on the Sheldon Currie novel of the same name.[35] The play premiered in 1996 at the Mulgrave Road Theatre Co-Op in Guysborough, Nova Scotia.[36]

Living Curiosities: Or What You Will

Living Curiosities was inspired by the 'giantess' Anna Swan. The play is set in 1963 and follows Anna and other 'curiosities' in P. T. Barnum's show as they put on a production of Twelfth Night.[37] Living Curiosities was workshopped at Word Festival! in Toronto in 1991 and then premiered in January 1992 with Anne-Marie MacDonald as Anna Swan.[38][39] A revised version of Living Curiosities premiered in 2015 with Theatre Erindale in Mississauga, Ontario.[40]

Refuge

Refuge uses actual text from a CBC radio documentary in addition to fictive additions to tell the story of an Eritrean man seeking refugee status in Canada.[20] The play premiered with Eastern Front Theatre and HomeFirst Theatre in 2013 and was subsequently staged by Nightwood Theatre in 2016.[41] In 2014, Refuge was nominated for Outstanding Play by a Nova Scotian Playwright the Merritt Awards.[42] Refuge was a finalist for the 2014 Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Astounding Art Awards.[43] Refuge was also nominated for the Governor General's Award for English-language drama in 2016.[44]

Some Blow Flutes

Some Blow Flutes premiered with HomeFirst Theatre at the Bus Stop Theatre in Halifax in 2018. The play follows a teenage girl caring for her grandmother who has dementia.[45] Some Blow Flutes was nominated for Outstanding New Play by a Nova Scotian at the 2019 Merritt Awards.[46]

Awards and recognitions
Year Award Category Work Result Notes Ref.
1984 Dora Mavor Moore Awards Outstanding Production of a Play - Children's Category Love and Work Enough Won Vingoe directed [47]
2002 Merritt Awards Legacy Award Won [48]
Outstanding Direction The Drawer Boy Nominated with Eastern Front Theatre [15]
2007 Mayor’s Award for Achievement in Theatre Won [49]
2009 Portia White Prize Won [50]
2010 Merritt Awards Outstanding Supporting Actress Ivor Johnson's Neighbours Nominated As Minnie, with Ship's Company [51]
2011 Outstanding Director To Capture Light Nominated with Mulgrave Road Theatre [52]
2014 Outstanding Play by a Nova Scotian Playwright Refuge Nominated [42]
2016 Governor General's Awards Governor General's Award for English-language drama Refuge Nominated [1]
2019 Merritt Awards Outstanding Play by a Nova Scotian Playwright Some Blow Flutes Nominated [46]

Vingoe was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2010.[53]

References
  1. "Governor-General’s Literary Award short list a serious case of déjà vu". The Globe and Mail, October 4, 2016.
  2. "Vingoe, Mary". Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia, April 25, 2016.
  3. Logan, Nick (May 27, 2011). "Women's theatre pioneer, Halifax native Mary Vingoe, receives Order of Canada". Global News. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  4. "Mary Vingoe". Playwrights Canada Press. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
  5. Vingoe, Mary (1996). "This is not my curriculum vitae (Eastern Front Theatre and the On The Waterfront Festival of new work)". Canadian Theatre Review. University of Toronto Press (87). ISSN 0315-0836.
  6. MacArthur, Michelle (2016). "Historiographing a Feminist Utopia: Collective Creation, History, and Feminist Theatre in Canada". In Syssoyeva, Kathryn Mederos; Proudfit, Scott (eds.). Women, Collective Creation, and Devised Performance: The Rise of Women Theatre Artists in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries. Palgrave MacMillan. p. 163. ISBN 978-1-137-55013-2.
  7. Scott, Shelley (2014). Nightwood Theatre: A Woman's Work Is Always Done. Athabasca University Press. pp. 87–88. ISBN 978-1-897425-56-5. OCLC 982451929 – via Google Books.
  8. Scott, Shelley (2014). Nightwood Theatre: A Woman's Work Is Always Done. Athabasca University Press. p. 225. ISBN 978-1-897425-56-5. OCLC 982451929 – via Google Books.
  9. MacArthur, Laura Michelle (2014). "Re-viewing Reception: Criticism of Feminist Theatre in Montreal and Toronto, 1976 to Present" (PDF). Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Toronto. p. 97. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  10. Scott, Shelley (2014). Nightwood Theatre: a Woman's Work Is Always Done. Athabasca University Press. p. 227. ISBN 978-1-897425-56-5. OCLC 982451929.
  11. Scott, Shelley (2014). Nightwood Theatre: a Woman's Work Is Always Done. Athabasca University Press. pp. 234–241. ISBN 978-1-897425-56-5. OCLC 982451929.
  12. Scott, Shelley (2014). Nightwood Theatre: a Woman's Work Is Always Done. Athabasca University Press. p. 244. ISBN 978-1-897425-56-5. OCLC 982451929.
  13. "History of the Ship". Ship's Company Theatre. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  14. Langston, Patrick (October 17, 2012). "Bravery, Defiance, and Death". The Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  15. "Robert Merritt Award Nominations 2002" (PDF). Theatre Nova Scotia. 2002. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  16. Al-Solaylee, Kamal (January 1, 2007). "Theatre: Hit the Road". The Globe and Mail – via Factiva.
  17. Flinn, Sean (February 18, 2010). "Home and Away". The Coast Halifax. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  18. "About". Home First Theatre. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  19. "Messenger". Chronicle Herald. October 30, 2015. pp. D4. ISSN 0828-1807.
  20. Watson, Kate (October 3, 2013). "Refuge". The Coast. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  21. "HomeFirst Theatre Society". Theatre Nova Scotia. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  22. "About the Cast". CBC. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  23. "Fredericton theatre festival debuts play about Maritime poet Alden Nowlan: Festival debuts play about poet Alden Nowlan". The Canadian Press. Canadian Press Enterprises Inc. July 19, 2011 – via Proquest.
  24. Barnard, Elissa (March 21, 2014). "Neptune floats no-holds-barred season". Chronicle Herald. ISSN 0828-1807. Through Neptune's Open Spaces program with Theatre Nova Scotia, Mary Vingoe is directing the first Atlantic Canadian production of It Is Solved by Walking, inspired by American poet Wallace Stevens's 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, and written by Sambro playwright Catherine Banks, who won her second Governor General's Award for the play.
  25. "Festival in Chester opens with Urinetown, the Musical". The Chronicle Herald. July 4, 2018. p. E3. ISSN 0828-1807.
  26. Arsenault, Tim (October 24, 2018). "Vingoe directs own play at Bus Stop | The Chronicle Herald". www.thechronicleherald.ca. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  27. Arsenault, Tim (October 25, 2018). "Vingoe makes directorial debut at Bus Stop". Chronicle Herald. p. D2. ISSN 0828-1807.
  28. "District 19: Dartmouth South". CBC News. April 23, 2013. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  29. Logan, Nick (October 8, 2013). "Liberals win majority government in Nova Scotia". Global News. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  30. Winston, Iris (October 22, 2012). "The Glace Bay Miners' Museum. Neptune Theatre Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary With a Canadian Classic". Capital Critics' Circle / Le cercle des critiques de la capitale. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  31. Thorne, Tara (March 21, 2018). "Halifax loses jazz legend". The Coast Halifax. Retrieved May 2, 2020.
  32. Smith, Mary Elizabeth (June 1, 1997). ""ONE MUST PLEASE TO LIVE": THE SURVIVAL OF HARRY LINDLEY IN ATLANTIC CANADA". Theatre Research in Canada / Recherches Théâtrales Au Canada. 18 (2). eISSN 1913-9101. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  33. "Online Catalogue | Holy Ghosters". Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  34. Barton, Bruce (June 1, 2000). "Redefining 'Community': The Elusive Legacy of the Dramatists' Co-Op of Nova Scotia". Theatre Research in Canada / Recherches Théâtrales Au Canada. 21 (2). Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  35. Grant, Laura Jean (November 22, 2012). "A Cape Breton Story". Cape Breton Post. Retrieved May 4, 2020 – via PressReader.
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  37. Lynde, Denyse (2013). "The Past Revised". Canadian Literature (216): 178–179 – via ProQuest.
  38. Adilman, Sid (January 9, 1992). "Sunday a couch potato night". The Toronto Star – via ProQuest.
  39. Wagner, Vit (May 3, 1991). "Crow's crew going night and day". The Toronto Star. p. D6 – via ProQuest.
  40. Gaisin, Danny (March 14, 2015). ""Living Curiosities", Theatre Erindale's ver. 2.0". Ontario Arts Review. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  41. Nestruck, J. Kelly (April 25, 2016). "Refuge: Looking at the issue of refugees from the outside". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  42. "Theatre Nova Scotia's Robert Merritt Award Nominations 2014" (PDF). TAG Theatre. 2014. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  43. "Winner and Finalists". The Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award. 2014. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  44. Kaplan, Jon (October 7, 2016). "Theatre kudos". NOW Magazine. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  45. Lewis, Lara (October 26, 2018). "Theatre review: Some Blow Flutes at the Bus Stop". The Coast Halifax. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  46. Thorne, Tara (March 6, 2019). "Nominations for the 2019 Merritt Awards for theatre are out now". The Coast Halifax. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  47. Scott, Shelley (June 1, 1997). "COLLECTIVE CREATION AND THE CHANGING MANDATE OF NIGHTWOOD THEATRE". Theatre Research in Canada / Recherches Théâtrales Au Canada. 18 (2).
  48. "Legacy Award Winners". www.theatrens.ca. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  49. "Something cliche about merit". The Coast. March 20, 2007. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  50. "Culture Awards Make Big Splash in Tusket". novascotia.ca. October 24, 2009. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  51. Flinn, Sue Carter (March 17, 2010). "Merritt Award nominees reflect great year of theatre". The Coast. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
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  53. Ogilvie, Megan (December 30, 2010). "Order of Canada recipients announced". thestar.com. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
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