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Dr.
Betty Mitchell (1896-1976)
“If the theatre is to endure, to endear
itself to all people, it must reach their hearts... It must touch
them to tears and laughter and illuminate for them the strange
mystery of their unfathomable destinies.”
-Dr. Betty Mitchell (from Betty
Mitchell by Ken Dyba)
In her full and varied life, she traded a childhood
of challenge into a teaching career, which eventually brought
her to the arts. After working for ten years in Calgary schools,
the University of Alberta graduate moved to Western Canada High
School in 1934. Drama was introduced into the curriculum in 1936
and the former biology teacher found herself Director of the Drama
Department. Betty had discovered the great love of her life.
She received the Rockefeller Fellowship in 1942,
an M.A. from the State University of Iowa in 1944, followed by
a National Research Fellowship from the Cleveland Playhouse. That
same year, Betty and her students founded their infamous Workshop
14 which would go on to win nine Dominion Drama Awards and become
a training ground for future theatre professionals.
Throughout the fifties and sixties, Betty was
a force behind MAC 14 (after a merger of Workshop 14 and the Musicians'
and Actors' Club), which eventually became Theatre Calgary. As
producer, director and teacher, Betty helped to build a vibrant
stage community in Calgary, and became sought after as an adjudicator
and speaker across Canada.
As
achievements mounted, so too did awards, including a City of Calgary
citation for her contribution to culture and art. She received
an Honourary Doctor of Laws Degree from the University of Alberta
in 1958 for her achievements in amateur theatre, the only such
doctorate awarded in Canada. Anyone for whom theatre is a passion
owes a huge debt of gratitude to Calgary’s first lady of
theatre.
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