Who was Judith Evelyn?

Theatre historian Paula Sperdakos wants you to know.

In an environment that almost demands that theatre actors and directors leave Canada to develop their careers, U of T at Scarborough drama professor Paula Sperdakos has actualy made a pretty good living by working in the Canadian theatre scene.

Her c.v. proves it. Sperdakos’s 33-year career has been built through hundreds of gigs as a stage director, acting instructor, professor, scholarly and professional writer, reviewer, lecturer, seminar leader, acting coach, script reader and journal referee.

It is this experience that is the basis for Sperdakos’s research – telling the stories of women like her, Canadian theatre practitioners, and how they have shaped their careers to fulfill their passion for the stage.

Sperdakos’s first book was a version of her PhD thesis, published as Dora Mavor Moore: Pioneer of the Canadian Theatre in 1995. It won the Ann Saddlemyer Book Prize from the Association for Canadian Theatre Research.

Now Sperdakos is preparing to write a collection of stories about a variety of Canadian women theatre practitioners who she feels haven’t received the attention they deserve.

“When I was growing up, Canadian theatre was undervalued around the world and here at home. That still goes on to a certain extent. You look at Brockett’s History of Theatre and there are maybe four or five mentions of Canada. It’s deplorable. There always has been a dynamic theatre scene in this country and it’s time to celebrate it.”

Sperdakos got her start on this path while pursuing her PhD. “I had been writing my thesis on [American stage and film director] Elia Kazan. Eventually I gave up, but years later, I told my thesis advisor, Ron Bryden, that I was sorry I had not tried a Canadian theatre practitioner. Then I learned that the Dora Mavor Moore papers were at U of T and that no major work had been written on her.”

Sperdakos has her research and writing schedule set for the next few years. “The actresses I want to write about fall into two time periods. The people before World War II were interesting in that they were working before the Canadian theatre was professional. The book I’m working on now will be about them.” Her next book will be about theatre legend Kate Reid, who Sperdakos says falls into the post-war period, as the Stratford Festival was starting up and theatre in Canada was becoming more organized.

One of the chapters in the current project will be on Judith Evelyn, little-known today but who Sperdakos sees as “extraordinary.” Evelyn received her training in Canada, including work at U of T’s Hart House Theatre. “But she is typical of many actresses of her generation in that she had to leave to become a success.” Evelyn received great acclaim on Broadway and in Hollywood before her death at age 54. “We don’t know her in Canada and I want to amend this by tracing her work and the careers of her colleagues in the Canadian theatre of the 19th and early 20th century.

“I want this to be a sourcebook of the history of acting in this country. I want to say to the world, ‘You’ve got it wrong. There’s so much going on this country. It’s good and it has always been good.'”