The Archives of Dramatists' Co-op of Nova Scotia: A Guide
Collection Number: MS-3-29Collection processed and finding aid written by Jordan Pike, April 2003
Finding aid edited and electronic version prepared by Kathryn Harvey, June 2004
Collection Level Description
Title: Dramatists' Co-op of Nova Scotia fonds
Dates: 1975-1988
Extent: 26 cm of textual records. - 80 printed scripts. - 34 manuscripts. - 54 newsletters. - 2 posters
The Dramatists' Co-op of Nova Scotia, an offshoot of the Nova Scotia's Writers' Federation, was founded in Halifax in 1976. Conceived by Christopher Heide, Andrew Wetmore, and John Culjak, the co-op's aim was to raise the profile of playwrights from Nova Scotia, and more broadly, the Atlantic Provinces and provide them with a publishing support network for their plays. Specifically, the co-op established a small publishing house intended to publish and thereby improve the circulation of regional writers' manuscripts. Additionally, the co-op promoted and served to legitimize regional writing which was often overlooked by major theatres when planning their annual schedules and engaged in political activism, representing members to such bodies as the Nova Scotia government, the Playwrights' Co-op of Canada, the Guild of Canadian Playwrights, and the Playwrights Union of Canada.
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See Bruce Barton, "Redefining ‘Community': The Elusive Legacy of the Dramatists' Co-Op of Nova Scotia" in Theatre Research in Canada 21:2 [2000]. http://www.lib.unb.ca/Texts/TRIC/bin/get.cgi?directory=vol21_2/&filename=barton.htm
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The fonds was donated to the Dalhousie Archives by James MacSwain of the Dramatists' Co-op of Nova Scotia in July 1989.
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The fonds includes minutes of meetings, correspondence, financial records, printed scripts, manuscripts of plays, materials pertaining to workshops, newsletters, and publicity records.
Minutes / 1977-1987
Business Correspondence / 1983-1988
Financial Records / 1977-1987, bulk 1985-1987
Printed Scripts / 1975-1980
Manuscripts of Plays / 1970s?
Workshops / n.d., 1981-ca. 1986
Newsletters / 1981-ca. 1987
Publicity / 1977-1980s
All records are open.
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[Identification of item], Dramatists' Co-op of Nova Scotia fonds, MS-3-29, Box [box number], Folder [folder number], Dalhousie University Archives and Special Collections, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
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Combined Series and File Level Descriptions
Date:1977-1987
Extent: 4 cm of textual records
Scope and Content:
This series contains the minutes of a Dramatists Co-op meeting, Board meeting minutes from the co-op's early days to 1987, and the Annual General Meeting minutes from 1987. In some cases the files also contain related correspondence, agendas, reports, and other accompanying documentation.
File Level Descriptions
Folder 7.13
Dramatists Co-op Meeting Minutes
n.d.
Folder 1.4
Board Meeting Minutes
1977-1980
Folder 1.3
Board Meeting Minutes
1981-1984
Folder 1.2
Board Meeting Minutes
1984-1985
Folder 2.1
Board Meeting Minutes
1986-1987
Folder 1.1
Annual General Meeting and Board Meeting Minutes
1986
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Date:1983-1988
Extent: 8 cm of textual records
Scope and Content:
This series contains general business correspondence covering a six-year period.
Arrangement:
Correspondence is arranged chronologically
File Level Descriptions
Folder 1.7
Department of Culture, Recreation and Fitness Correspondence -
1983-1988
Folder 5.14
General
1984
Folder 1.5-1.6
General
1985
Folder 2.2
General
1986
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Date:1977-1987, bulk 1985-1987
Extent: 8 cm of textual records
Scope and Content:
This series contains finance-related correspondence, budgets, and miscellaneous financial information.
File Level Descriptions
Folder 1.8
Financial Records
1980-1981
Folder 1.9
Financial Records
1981-1982
Folder 1.10
Financial Records
1982-1983
Folder 1.11
Financial Records
1983-1984
Folder 2.3
Financial Records
1977-1978, 1981-1982, 1985-1987
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Date:1975-1980
Extent: 80 printed scripts
Scope and Content:
This series contains scripts by Atlantic Canadian playwrights-mostly Nova Scotian-printed by the co-op.
Arrangement:
Scripts are arranged alphabetically by author's last name.
File Level Descriptions
Folder 1.12
Armstrong, Margaret - Undercover
Folder 1.13
Armstrong, Peggy - Where There’s a Will - There’s a Way
Folder 6.11
Armstrong, Peggy - The Haskill House; The Legend of the Light; Victoria 412
Folder 6.1
Bonvie, Tom L. - Martha's Looking Glass
Folder 1.14
Bruce, Harry - Word from an Ambassador of Dreams
Folder 6.12
Bruce, Harry - Word from an Ambassador of Dreams
Folder 1.15
Charlton, Dick - Miss Pebble’s Retreat
Folder 3.6
Cook, Greg - Bonfire on the Beach
Folder 1.15
Culjak, John - The Rain Falls Harder; The Resurrection of Philip Jerome Michaels
Folder 6.13
Culjak, John - The Resurrection of Philip Jerome Michaels; The Rain Falls Harder; Plus One Minus One Equals
Folder 1.17
Dempster, Marianna - A Song for Sara
Folder 6.2
Dempster, Marianna - The Box of Music
Folder 6.14
Dempster, Marianna - A Song for Sara
Folder 6.15
Fowke, H. Shirley - The Unreluctant Hostage
Folder 6.16
Gargoyle Troupe: Puppet Plays - A Celebration Indeed (Alexander Moore); The Prime Minister's Golden Wig (James MacSwain); The Big Catch (James MacSwain); The Philosopher's Stone (Karen Schlick); The Pearl Without Price (Karen Schlick)
Folder 1.18
Hawkins, Albro - To Get off the Street
Folder 1.22
Heide, Christopher - Two Sisters/The Scream
Folder 6.17
Heide, Christopher - The Stamp Lady's Mirade; Two Sisters/The Scream; On the Lee Shore
Folder 6.7
Ledoux, Paul - Rag Doll
Folder 6.8
Ledoux, Paul - Kill Them
Folder 6.9
Ledoux, Paul, and Terry Last - The Night they Raided Trux
Folder 3.5
Loomer, L.S. - Ye Gunn Pouder Plutt/Festival of the Arts
Folder 1.20
Mackenzie, Brenda - Tiny’s Story
Folder 1.21
McMillan, Arvo - Billy Max in Progress; Concerning a Temporary Permit; Pope John VIII
Folder 6.18
McMillan, Arvo - Pope John VIII; Concerning a Temporary Permit; A Toronto Hotel Room; New Maurry's Lunch; The Sad Story of Billy Max
Folder 7.1
Morton, Ralph Kelly - My Father was a Doctor
Folder 6.3
Mulgrave Road Co-op - Let's Play Fish
Folder 6.10
Mulgrave Road Co-op - The Mulgrave Road Show
Folder 1.22
Murphy, Arthur L. - Three Bluenose plays; Thy Sons Command; What to Do after You’re Done What You Did
Folder 6.4
Murphy, Arthur L. - The First Falls on Monday
Folder 7.2
Murphy, Arthur L. - A Virus Called Clarence; Three Bluenose Plays
Folder 7.3
Murphy, Arthur L. - What to Do After You've Done Doing What You Did; Thy Son's Command
Folder 3.1
Phillips, Dorrie - Killorney’s Return; Three Sheets in the Wind
Folder 6.5
Phillips, Dorrie - Killorney's Return
Folder 7.4
Phillips, Dorrie - Three Sheets in the Wind; Salt in the Blood; Night of Betrothal; The Apple
Folder 3.2
Poirier, Leonie - La Nuit Blanche
Folder 7.5
Poirier, Leonie - The White Night; A Night with a Stranger
Folder 3.4
Smyth, Donna E. - A.D.’s Dead; The True Believer
Folder 7.11
Smyth, Donna E - Jerome
Folder 6.6
Thompson, Hilary - Madame Fou-Fou and the Apricot Mousse
Folder 7.6
Thompson, Hilary - Puppet Plays: Anansi the Spider; Anancy and Lizard; The Quarelling Quails
Folder 3.3
Trillo, Flo - Among his Peers; A Change Is as Good as; Little Boy Blue, Wake up!
Folder 7.10
Trillo, Flo - A Change is as Good as; Among his Peers; Little Boy Blue, Wake up!
Folder 2.4
Valgardson, W.D. - Granite Point
Folder 3.7
Wetmore, Andrew - Andante and Variations; Burwash Site 3; Man in the Basement; Three short plays
Folder 7.7
Wetmore, Andrew - Short Plays; The Haunted House; Andante and Variations; The Great Religious Star
Folder 7.8
Wetmore, Don - The Highland Heart in Nova Scotia
Folder 3.8
Zann, Paul - Strike!
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Date:1970s?
Extent: 34 manuscripts
Scope and Content:
This series contains the manuscripts of plays, some of which were published by the co-op.
Arrangement:
Scripts are arranged alphabetically by author's last name.
File Level Descriptions
Folder 4.12
Anon. - Destructo
Folder 5.12
Anon. - One in a Million
Folder 4.11
Armstrong, Peggy - Where There’s a Will - There’s a Way
Folder 4.6
Campbell, Lucky and Rosie Maclellan - Twas the Dream before Christmas
Folder 5.4
Corbett, Sean P. - Andrew; Hey Dad, Listen a is, will ya?
Folder 5.1
Cowan, Cindy - Spooks: The Mystery of Caledonia Mills
Folder 3.11
Dempster, Marianna - The Legend of the First Indians in Nova Scotia; The Legend of Why the Porcupine Is Always Alone; How the Loon Got His Call
Folder 4.10
Doran, Jeff - The Shore
Folder 5.3
Garbary, Evelyn - The Long Chase
Folder 4.13
Gersovitz, Sarah Valerie - The Picasso Affair
Folder 4.9
Kaufmann, Uwe-K - The Nova Scotia Fishermen
Folder 4.8
Kaufmann, Uwe-K - Old Man Mister Hill
Folder 4.7
Keirstead, R.C. - The Eagle’s Mate
Folder 3.13
Keough, Ron - Extra! Extra!; Murder at the Mall
Folder 3.9
Ledoux, Paul - The Clipped Clock Caper; The Dada Show; North Mountain Breakdown
Folder 4.2
Ledoux, Paul and David Young - I Love You Anne Murray
Folder 5.5
Leger, Beverly - An Evening with the Smiths
Folder 3.15
MacLeod, Paul - “E.N.G.” or “Make the Network”; Insurance against Death
Folder 4.1
MacSwain, James - Gossip; The Prime Minister’s Golden Wig
Folder 4.3
Mariner, Robert - The Ground He Walked On
Folder 4.5
Murphy, Arthur L. - What To Do after You’re Done What You Did
Folder 5.2
Murphy, Eileen E. - Let Me Die Where I Like
Folder 3.10
Phillips, Doris Baillie - Cousin Archeleus Returns; The Privateers
Folder 3.12
Smith, Beatrice - Charlie’s Unexpected Christmas
Folder 7.9
Strong, Ken, Lutia Lauzon, and Paul Lauzon - The Budworm Show… A Real Can of Worms….
Folder 3.14
Sutherland, Fraser - Aristophanes’ Lysistrata or, a Peace for Everyone
Folder 5.13
Wetmore, Don - Baddeck and That Sort of Thing
Folder 4.4
Zann, Paul - Dispossessed
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Date:n.d., 1981-ca. 1986
Extent: 5.5 cm of textual records
Scope and Content:
This series contains correspondence, financial reports, clippings, notes, curriculum vitae, and other materials pertaining to a variety of workshops in which the Dramatists' Co-op of Nova Scotia participated.
Arrangement:
Files are arranged chronologically.
File Level Descriptions
Folder 5.7
CBC Radio Drama Workshop
n.d.
Folder 5.11
New Play Workshop
1982
Folder 5.10
Script Development Workshop
1984
Folder 5.8
Playwrights’ Round Table
1981-1982
Folder 5.9
Playwrights’ Round Table
1982-1983
Folder 5.6
Playwrights’ Round Table
1984-1985
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Date:1981-ca. 1987
Extent: 54 newsletters
Scope and Content:
This series contains Dramatists' Co-op newsletters published during the 1980s.
File Level Descriptions
Folder 2.5
Volume 1, Numbers 1-7
April 1981-March 1982
Folder 2.6
Volume 2, Numbers 1-8
May 1982-March 1983
Folder 2.7
Volume 3, Numbers 1-8
May 1983-March 1984
Folder 2.8
Volume 4, Numbers 1-12
April 1984-March 1985
Folder 2.9
Volume 5, Numbers 1-12
April 1985-March 1986
Folder 2.10
Volume 6, Numbers 1-7
April 1986-1987
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Date:1977-1980s
Extent: .5 cm of textual records
Scope and Content:
This series contains a catalogue of plays, posters, and miscellaneous records pertaining to publicity carried out by the co-op.
File Level Descriptions
Folder 7.12
More Plays '77 - A Catalogue of Nova Scotian Plays
1977
Folder 5.15
Miscellaneous publicity
1983, 1987, 1989
Folder 2.11
D. Street & Broadway; An Evening with the Smiths
198?
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