Women Dramatists: Sharon Pollock and Judith Thompson

In Canada the fortunes of women playwrights, like those of their male counterparts, are reflected in the struggle for an indigenous Canadian drama on the Canadian stage. Only in the past fifteen years or so can it be truly said that Canadian plays have found an equitable place on that stage. However, in each phrase of that struggle, women playwrights have made a strong contribution toward the acceptance of Canadian dramatic writing. In the era of little theatre, Gwen Pharis Ringwood began her long career as a playwright for community and university groups with plays ranging from her popular prairie tragedy of 1939, Still Stands the House, to her poetic Indian trilogy, Drum Song, completed in 1982. Patricia Joudry was one of the first CBC playwrights to extend her scope to the professional stage, with Teach Me How to Cry opening on off-Broadway in 1955.