Nationality Canadian Children Mavor Moore Name Dora Moore | Known for theatre career Other names Dora Mavor | |
 | ||
Occupation actor, teacher, director Spouse(s) Francis Moore (1915 - 1928) Grandchildren Charlotte Moore, Tedde Moore | ||
Dora Mavor Moore Awards to adopt gender-neutral performance categories | CBC News
Dora Mavor Moore, (April 8, 1888 – May 15, 1979) was a Canadian actor, teacher and director who was a pioneer of Canadian theatre.
Contents
- Dora Mavor Moore Awards to adopt gender neutral performance categories CBC News
- William Needles on Dora Mavor Moore and the New Play Society Part 4 of 25
- Life
- Legacy
- References
William Needles on Dora Mavor Moore and the New Play Society (Part 4 of 25)
Life
Born Dora Mavor in Glasgow, Scotland, she moved with her family to Toronto in 1894, when her father, James Mavor (1854-1925), became a professor of political economy at the University of Toronto. She was the first Canadian student ever to be accepted at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and graduated in 1912.
In 1915, she married Francis Moore, an Army chaplain. The couple separated in 1928. They had three sons: Francis Wilfrid Mavor, James Mavor Moore), and Peter Mavor.
In 1938, she helped found an amateur theater group called the Village Players which performed Shakespeare plays in high schools of Ontario. After World War II, in 1946, she help found the New Play Society which was the first professional theatre company in Toronto founded after the war. In 1947, the company presented its first Canadian play, Lister Sinclair's The Man in the Blue Moon. The Society also assisted in creating the Stratford Shakespearean Festival of Canada. As well she helped to bring Tyrone Guthrie, the Tony Award-winning British theatrical director, to Canada.
In 1970, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "for her contributions to theatre in Canada". As a recipient of the Order of Canada she received the Canadian version of the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977.