Discovering the richness of Canadian theatre over the past two centuries or so should be the product of cultural histories. In Canada, such detailed studies are still scattered in a bewildering array of scholarly articles and original texts. Why should students of Canadian theatre have to search through rare book rooms to find, read, and act their own drama? This anthology offers a modest answer. It is a collection of 25 representative playwrights and their work, divided over six historical periods from 1606 to 2001. A brief, cultural overview of the era, notes on each playwright, and suggestions for staging are followed by four or five scenes from each period.

Brian Kennedy is Montreal-born and raised, and now teaches British and postcolonial literature as well as writing courses at Pasadena City College, California. He has PhD in contemporary British literature, and his previous publications include essays on Virginia Woolf, Henry James and Graham Greene, an edited book on California issues and books and academic articles on hockey and Canadian culture. He has held a research fellowship at Saint Mary’s University, Halifax; given presentations at the Bakhtin Centre at the University of Sheffield, England; and lectured on literature at colleges in Mumbai, India. His work has been translated into Russian, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch.

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