Martha Allan
| Martha Allan | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Marguerite Martha Allan 1895 Montreal, Canada |
| Died | April 4, 1942 (aged 46–47) Victoria, British Columbia, Canada |
| Residence | Ravenscrag, Montreal |
| Known for | Pioneer of the modern Canadian theatre scene |
(Marguerite) Martha Allan (1895 – April 4, 1942) was the founder of the Montreal Repertory Theatre and co-founder of the Dominion Drama Festival. She loathed amateur theatre, but her energies spearheaded the Canadian Little Theatre Movement at a time when live theatre in Montreal and across Canada was being threatened by the rapid expansion of the American-influenced movie theater. She almost single-handedly laid the groundwork for the development of the professional modern Canadian theatre scene. In 1935, she received the Canadian Drama Award for outstanding service in the development of the Canadian theatre. At the annual Dominion Drama Festival the Martha Allan Trophy is awarded in her memory for the best visual performance. She also wrote three plays: What Fools We Mortals Be; Summer Solstice; and All Of A Summer's Day, that won the Sir Barry Jackson Trophy for the best Canadian play at the Dominion Drama Festival in the early 1930s.
Martha Allan was born in Montreal's Golden Square Mile. She was the eldest child of Sir Montague Allan of Ravenscrag, Montreal, and his wife Marguerite Ethel Mackenzie (1873–1957), daughter of Hector Mackenzie (1843–1901), of Montreal. Both her parents enjoyed theatre. Her father, his cousin, and at least one of her aunts had been members of the Castanet Club of Montreal when they staged a production of the The Mikado in 1886; and her maternal grandfather, Hector Mackenzie, had been President of Montreal Philharmonic Society.
Martha enjoyed an upbringing of unbridled wealth and privilege. She grew up between Ravenscrag, the Allan family mansion in Montreal's Golden Square Mile, and Montrose, the Allans' summer house at Cacouna. Tragically, her parents would out-live all their children, including Martha herself, who never married. Martha lost both her teenaged sisters in the sinking of the RMS Lusitania. Two years later, her only brother Hugh, a Flight sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Air Service, was shot down on his first service flight over the English Channel. In the same conflict, having trained as a nurse she herself was injured while driving an ambulance she had purchased at her own expense in France. After recovering in England, she remained there until the end of the war, serving on the staff of a hospital that was being administered by her mother in London. Later, she lived in the Ravenscrag coach-house and held many lively meetings there with theatre types, sinking her energy, money, connections and passion into the task of building a vital theatre industry in Montreal. Edgar Allen Collard of the Montreal Gazette described Martha Allan as,
...
Wikipedia