Manuscript Collection MS COLL 00228 (Downsview Offsite) - New Play Society Records

Identity area

Reference code

CA OTUTF MS COLL 00228 (Downsview Offsite)

Title

New Play Society Records

Date(s)

  • 1946-1971 (Creation)

Level of description

Manuscript Collection

Extent and medium

250 boxes and items

Context area

Name of creator

(1946-1971)

Biographical history

The New Play Society was founded by Dora Mavor Moore in Toronto in 1946. The company's first season was staged at the Royal Ontario Museum and included Synge's Playboy of the Western World, Strindberg's The Father, Maugham's The Circle and O'Neill's Ah! Wilderness. By the 1949-50 season, however, five of the company's nine productions were Canadian. In 1956, the company extended to include a school. But by 1960, the company was relying on virtually one production to assure its survival: Spring Thaw , an annual comedy revue that always did well. In 1971, a quarter-century after its foundation, the company's charter was laid to rest.

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

The collection consists primarily of business records of the New Play Society, including those for its theatre school, as well as production files, correspondence, photographs and clippings. Material on Dora Mavor Moore can be found in the collection of her papers (MS Coll 00207).

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://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/stack-retrieval-request. Please note that this material requires 2 business days to retrieve.

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Uploaded finding aid

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

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Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

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Subject access points

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Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto

Rules and/or conventions used

Dates of creation revision deletion

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Script(s)

Sources

Accession area

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