Discovering Mavor Moore: An Exploration and Eight Works for the Stage

A collection of plays by Mavor Moore, one of the unsung heroes of Canada's homegrown theatre movement.

A cultural giant, Mavor Moore was active in one of the most important periods for the growth of Canadian identity. The years following WWII saw the creation of the CBC, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the centennial celebrations. Moore was a leader in all of these influential events: the first chief producer at CBC Television, the first artist to chair the Canada Council, the first artistic director of the Charlottetown Festival, as well as being an actor, musician, director, producer, composer, librettist, and professor. But, before all of these diverse vocations, Mavor Moore was a writer. In this collection, editor Allan Boss examines eight of Moore’s plays and musicals alongside the works themselves, some published here for the first time. From Moore’s first play to his most celebrated opera, Boss unearths texts that helped define a national theatre and shape Canadian identity, and by doing so provides an important addition to Canadian studies. Includes the plays Humpty Dumpty, Who’s Who, The Ottawa Man, Inside Out, and Customs, and the musicals Sunshine Town, The Optimist, and Louis Riel.