Herman Voaden

{{Short description|Canadian playwright (1903–1991)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}} {{Infobox writer  | name = Herman Arthur Voaden | image = | imagesize = | alt = | caption = | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1903|01|19}} | birth_place = London, Ontario, Canada | death_date = {{Death date and age|1991|06|27|1903|01|19}} | death_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada | resting_place = | occupation = | language = | nationality = | ethnicity = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | period = | genre = Playwright | subject = | movement = | notableworks = | spouse = | partner = | children = | relatives = | influences = | influenced = | awards = Order of Canada | signature = | signature_alt = | website = | portaldisp = }} '''Herman Arthur Voaden''', {{post-nominals|country=CAN|CM}} {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRSA}} (19 January 1903 – 27 June 1991){{sfn|Wagner|2013}} was a Canadian playwright.{{sfn|Wagner|2004}}

==Life and work==

Born in London, Ontario,{{sfn|Wagner|2013}} he received a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in 1923 and a Master of Arts degree in 1926 from Queen's University.{{sfn|Wagner|2021}} He also studied at the University of Chicago and at Yale University.

His father, Dr. Arthur Voaden, pioneered vocational teaching in Ontario. His mother, Luisa Bale Voaden, was also a teacher. Voaden studied modern drama at Queen's University, 1920–1923, and wrote his 1926 Queen’s M.A. thesis on Eugene O’Neill.{{sfn|York University|2011}}

In 1928 Voaden became head of the English department at the Central High School of Commerce (now the Central Toronto Academy),{{sfn|Wagner|2021}} where he worked for decades. In 1960 his work there was described as "pioneer[ing] in progressive education methods, including the 'play approach' to drama.'"{{sfn|Voaden|1960|p=ix}}

A member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation,{{sfn|York University|2011}} he ran for the House of Commons of Canada in the western Toronto riding of Trinity in the 1945 elections, 1949 elections, 1953 elections, and a 1954 by-election. He lost each time.

Voaden was a member of Toronto's Arts and Letters Club, the Dominion Drama Festival, and a founding member and first president of the Canadian Arts Council (which became the Canadian Conference of the Arts in 1958).{{sfn|Wagner|2013}} As president of the CAC, he was one of several Canadian representatives to the first UNESCO conference, held in Paris in 1946.

==Honours== In 1974, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honor, "in recognition of his contribution to the performing arts as a playwright, producer and teacher, and his services in fostering support for all the arts and crafts".<ref>{{OCC|1726}}</ref> He was made a Fellow in the Royal Society of Arts in 1970.

Following his death, Queen's University created the Herman Voaden Playwriting Competition to honour new works by emerging playwrights.{{sfn|Burliuk|1997}}

==Works==

* ''The White Kingdom'' (1928) * ''Northern Storm'' (1929) * ''Northern Song'' (1930) * ''Western Wolf'' (1930) * ''Fragment'' (1931) * ''Wilderness'' (1931) * ''Earth Song'' (1932) * ''Rocks'' (1932) * ''Hill-Land'' (1934) * ''Murder Pattern'' (1936) * ''Ascend As the Sun'' (1942) * Libretto for the opera ''The Prodigal Son'' (music by Frederick Jacobi) (debuted 1945) * ''Emily Carr: A Stage Biography with Pictures'' (first performed 1960){{sfn|Wagner|2020}}

==Notes==

==References==

* {{cite news |last=Burliuk |first=Greg |title=Workshops focus on two winning plays |work=Kingston Whig-Standard |date=1997-08-16 |page=30 |id={{ProQuest|353109238}} }}

* {{cite book |editor-last=Voaden |editor-first=Herman |title=Four Plays of Our Time |publisher=Macmillan of Canada |year=1960 |location=Toronto}}

* {{cite encyclopedia |title=Herman Arthur Voaden |first=Anton |last=Wagner |date=2013-12-16 |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |publisher=Historica Canada |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/herman-arthur-voaden |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206025243/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/herman-arthur-voaden |archive-date=2024-02-06}}

* {{cite encyclopedia |title=Herman Voaden |first=Anton |last=Wagner |date=2004-02-04 |encyclopedia=The Literary Encyclopedia |url=https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4559 }}

* {{cite encyclopedia |title=Emily Carr: A Stage Biography with Pictures |last=Wagner |first=Anton |url=https://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Emily%20Carr%3A%20A%20Stage%20Biography%20With%20Pictures |date=2020-08-24 |access-date=2024-04-12 |encyclopedia=Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia}}

* {{cite encyclopedia |title=Voaden, Herman |last=Wagner |first=Anton |url=https://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Herman%20Voaden |date=2021-06-11 |access-date=2024-04-12 |encyclopedia=Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia}}

* {{cite web |author=York University |url=https://www.library.yorku.ca/binaries/ArchivesSpecialCollections/Voaden/website/hvindex.html |title=Herman Arthur Voaden fonds |work=York University |access-date=2024-04-13 |date=16 December 2011}}

==External links==

{{DEFAULTSORT:Voaden, Herman}} Category:1903 births Category:1991 deaths Category:20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Category:Writers from London, Ontario Category:Members of the Order of Canada Category:Queen's University at Kingston alumni Category:Canadian male dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century Canadian male writers Category:Co-operative Commonwealth Federation candidates for the Canadian House of Commons