A founding figure of 20th century Canadian theatre and drama, Herman Voaden (1903-1991) was the most significant and original playwright in English-Canada until Robertson Davies' more literary dramatic writing emerged in the late 1940s.
Voaden's work in the theatre as playwright, experimental director, producer, educator, editor and cultural nationalist from 1928 to 1980 constitutes a unique phenomenon in the history of Canadian theatre and drama. For a decade, from Rocks in 1932 to Ascend As the Sun in 1942, his multi-media “symphonic expressionist” dramas proclaimed his belief in the “spiritual clarity” of the Canadian North and in the transcendence of human mortality found in love and oneness with nature. His dramas expressed his idealistic, utopian and nationalistic faith in
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Citation: Wagner, Anton. "Herman Voaden". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 February 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4559, accessed 21 November 2024.]
