Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1950-1999 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
88 boxes and items (48 metres)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
David Gardner was born in 1928 in Toronto. He attended Lawrence Park Collegiate and made his professional debut on CBC Radio at just 18 years of age. From high school, Gardner entered the University of Toronto, which was then a magnet for actors thanks to the Hart House Theatre, often considered the cradle of Canadian theatre. It was into this world that Gardner began to learn his craft. Under the direction of the legendary Robert Gill, he played Othello, Macbeth and Marc Anthony. He was also active in the adminstrative side of theatre: in 1960, he chaired the committee that founded the National Theatre School in Montreal. Gardner went back to school in his mid-life, obtaining a Masters degree and then a Ph.D. in Canadian Theatre History from the University of Toronto. He has also written extensively about theatre in Canada for the Oxford Companion, the Canadian Encyclopedia, The Dictionary of Canadian Biography, and Theatre Research in Canada, all the while continuing to both act and direct.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Gift of David Gardner, 1999.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The collection consists of material relating to Canadian theatre history and to Gardner's acting and directing career. It includes theatre programmes, articles and press clippings concerning the history of theatre in Canada, especially for the Toronto area (1974 to 1999); audio tapes of Association for Canadian Theatre Research conferences; videotapes of ten television productions directed by him, and more than fifty production photographs; tapes of his television and film performances; scrapbooks (1935-1955), that document his career on stage (Hart House Theatre, Straw Hat Players, Crest Theatre, New Play Society, Jupiter Theatre, Stratford Festival) and in radio and television; other papers and photographs; other directors' prompt books; diaries; correspondence; playbills and broadsides. John Holden's collection of 19th and 20th century playscripts as well as Holden's production scripts for Canadian theatres, mainly in the 1950s and early 1960s, are also in the collection.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Material may be requested in person at the Fisher Library Reference Desk, or in advance using our online stack retrieval request form: https://aeon.library.utoronto.ca. Please note that this material requires 2 business days to retrieve.
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
- French