Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia

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Moore, Dora Mavor

Actor, director, teacher, born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1888; died in Toronto, Ontario in 1979. Mother of Mavor Moore.

Dora Mavor Moore graduated from Havergal College for girls, and was the first Canadian to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. While a student in London, she saw productions of W.B. Yeats's The Land of Heart's Desire and Lady Augusta Gregory's Spreading the News, and became aware of the Abbey Theatre's role in establishing an Irish National Theatre, influencing her own later ideas for a Canadian National Theatre.

She made her professional début in 1912 with Ottawa's Colonial Stock Company, and then joined a Chautauqua tour in the United States. In 1916, she married an Anglican curate/army chaplain, and spent World War I in London, where she became the first Canadian to perform at London's Old Vic -- as Viola in Twelfth Night. After the collapse of her marriage 1928, she raised her three sons in Toronto, while teaching acting and diction for the University of Toronto Extension Department, then under the direction of Herman Voaden. She also directed plays for the Extension Department, including As You Like It, designed by Arthur Lismer, with music by Healey Willan.

In 1930 she was employed by the CNR to direct a series on Canadian history for radio, written by Merrill Denison.

In 1938, with the help of her three sons, she bought an historic log home and barn for her family, which also became the home for a new theatre -- the Barn Theatre, and a new theatre company -- The Village Players, producing new Canadian plays such as John Coulter's The House in the Quiet Glen, with actors such as Don Harron and Vernon Chapman.

With her son, Mavor Moore, she founded the New Play Society in 1946 as a training ground for young writers, performers, and technicians. It initially presented a series of six plays in the Royal Ontario Museum's small theatre from October to December, including: J.M. Synge's Playboy of the Western World, Strindberg's The Father, Somerset Maugham's The Circle, and the Coventry Nativity Play. In 1947, the NPS produced its first Canadian play, The Man in the Blue Moon by Lister Sinclair. It also hosted a production by Compagnons de Saint-Laurent from Montreal. In 1948, the NPS launched the infamous Spring Thaw revue. In the 1949-50 season, it launched a season of five new Canadian plays, including Who's Who by Mavor Moore and Riel by John Coulter.

Dora Mavor Moore was key in recruiting Tyrone Guthrie to the Stratford Festival.

She was awarded the Centennial Medal and Canadian Drama Award in 1967, Honorary Doctorates from Ohio University (1969) and the University of Toronto (1970), the Order of Canada (1970), and the First Drama Bench Award (1978). Toronto's annual theatre awards are named in her honour.

Source: Paula Sperdakos. Dora Mavor Moore: Pioneer of the Canadian Theatre. Toronto: ECW Press, 1995.

Last updated 2020-09-13

Moore, Frank

Ontario-based actor/singer born in 1946 in Bay de Verde, Newfoundland and Labrador. Frank Moore has played a wide variety of roles in film and television, and on stage, particularly in musical theatre, including Toronto productions of Hair, 18 Wheels, Les Misérables,Tommy, The Drowsy Chaperone, and Urinetown.

Among other important Canadian theatre productions in which he has participated are the premieres of David Freeman's Creeps and David French's Leaving Home (both at Tarragon Theatre); and the Centaur Theatre production of Judith Thompson's The Crackwalker.

Of his performance in the premiere of Leaving Home, Urjo Kareda, then critic for the Toronto Star wrote: "The four main performances are incomparable. Frank Moore's Ben has an agonizingly unspoken awareness of his own pain..."

Last updated 2021-06-11

Moore, Linda

Nova Scotia-based director, Linda Moore has helmed productions for major theatres across Canada. At Alberta Theatre Projects, she has directed Daniel MacIvor's Communion (2010) and Janet Munsil's that elusive spark (2008). Other MacIvor works include Marion Bridge (Great Canadian Theatre Company); and His Greatness (Arts Club Theatre 2007). For the National Arts Centre, she directed Vimy in 2010, and for the Shaw Festival she directed Waiting for the Parade in 2004. She has directed Portia White – First You Dream for Eastern Front Theatre (Halifax); and He’d Be Your Mother’s Father’s Cousin for Mulgrave Road Theatre.

In the summer of 2001, she directed a revival of Gratien Gélinas' The Passion of Narcisse Mondoux at the Blyth Festival.

Linda Moore has also directed Road to Mecca and La Sagoiune at Centaur Theatre; Filthy Rich, Talking Dirty, Fool For Love, and Night Mother at Manitoba Theatre Centre; and productions with the Belfry Theatre, the Grand Theatre, and Theatre New Brunswick.

From 1990 to 2000 she was Artistic Director of Neptune Theatre, where she directed thirty-five productions, including Memoir by John Murrell, Angels in America, The Real Thing, Dancing at Lughnasa, The Winslow Boy, Safe Haven, Money and Friends, Romeo and Juliet and Les Misérables among others.

She was Artistic Associate at Manitoba Theatre Centre (1984-86) and has taught at the National Theatre School of Canada. From 2008-10 she was the Crake Fellow in Drama at Mt. Allison University, where she directed Sharon Pollock's Blood Relations, and Brian Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa.

She has been awarded Theatre Nova Scotia Robert Merritt Awards for artistic direction (2001) and best director (2002); and an Honorary Doctor of Letters by Saint Mary’s University.

Linda Moore has also written three mystery novels, published by Nimbus.

Profile by Anne Nothof, Athabasca University.

Last updated 2021-06-11

Moore, Mavor

Playwright, actor, producer, director, broadcaster, who contributed significantly to the beginnings of Canadian theatre. He was born in Toronto, Ontario, March 8, 1919, the son of Francis John and Dora Mavor Moore. He died December 21, 2006.

Mavor Moore produced his first play at 10, began playwriting at 11 and made his acting debut on radio at 14.

He was educated at the University of Toronto and worked for CBC radio as a producer before serving in WWII in London in the psychological warfare section. After returning to Toronto, he helped his mother with the formation of the New Play Society, which encouraged the production of new Canadian plays, and in 1948 began the infamous satirical revue, Spring Thaw, which ran annually until 1971, and became the longest running annual topical revue in the world.

Mavor Moore acted on stages across the country as well as on radio, in television and film.

He was a governor of the first Stratford Festival, founder of the Charlottetown Festival, founding general director of the St. Lawrence Centre, first chairman of the Guild of Canadian Playwrights, first chief producer for CBC television (training and hiring, before the network began; adapting many plays for television including Gratien Gelinas' Hier, les enfants dansaient(Yesterday The Children were Dancing) and writing many others), a founding governor of the National Theatre School of Canada, advisor to the National Arts Centre, Theatre Calgary, Vancouver Playhouse and the Neptune Theatre (among many other houses), served as chairman of the Canada Council during a recession (1979-83). From 1970 to 1984 he was a drama professor at York University in Toronto, and until his death Professor Emeritus at the University of Victoria.

He was the author of over 100 plays, and he wrote the libretti for Harry Somers' opera Louis Riel and for Louis Applebaum's Erehwon (performed at Victoria Opera, March, 2000). His play, A Christmas Carol, The Musical is a Christmas tradition in theatres across the country.

He was named to the Order of Canada in 1973. In 1984, he received the Toronto Drama Bench Award for Distinguished Contribution to Canadian Theatre. He was awarded a Molson Prize in 1986, and a Governor General’s Award in 1999. He has honorary degrees from five universities.

His memoir, Reinventing Myself, was published by Stoddart in 1994. He believed that the first rule of art is to get it done. Who pays for it hardly matters as long as somebody does. The most exciting challenge in life is to break new ground.

Readings: Allan Boss. Identifying Mavor Moore. Toronto: Playwrights Canada P, 2011. (a critical biography)

Allan Boss. Discovering Mavor Moore. Toronto: Playwrights Canada P, 2013 (anthology of eight plays)

Mary Jane Miller. Rewind and Search: Conversations with makers and decision makers at the CBC. Toronto: McGill Queens, 1996

Profile by Gaetan Charlebois. Additional information provided by Colin Plant, Mary Jane Miller, and Anne Nothof.

Last updated 2020-07-17

Moore, Sheila

Actor born in Wilkie, Saskatchewan in 1938, very active in film, on stage, and on television. Sheila Moore has received four ACTRA Award nominations.

She has played in theatres across the country, including Centaur Theatre (Aurélie, ma soeur), Vancouver Playhouse (Love and Anger, Three Tall Women, Homeward Bound), Citadel Theatre (Amigo's Blue Guitar), Alberta Theatre Projects (Jitters, Absurd Person Singular), Bastion Theatre (Waiting for the Parade), and Canadian Stage (Later Life).

Her performances are marked by a vivid intelligence and an elegant presence.

Profile by Gaetan Charlebois.

Last updated 2021-06-11