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Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario … The
Shaw Festival is thrilled to acknowledge that on Monday, October
6 Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell will be awarded the
2008 Herbert Whittaker/Drama Bench Award for Outstanding
Contribution to Canadian Theatre.
The recipient of this prestigious award is chosen annually by
the members of the Canadian Theatre Critics Association. Since
1982 the Award has been given to some of Canada’s most respected
theatre practitioners. Recent recipients include Joy Coghill,
Monique Mercure, Brent Carver and Robert LePage.
On hearing that she was to receive the award, Ms. Maxwell said,
"How wonderful to receive this award which takes us away from
the wear and tear of opening nights and reviews and focuses us
on the long-term work we are all striving to do - making and
celebrating theatre which will linger in our audience's minds
and hearts long after the curtain falls. I am touched and
honoured."
Under Ms. Maxwell’s creative leadership, the work produced on
the Shaw Festival’s stages has been characterized by a spirit of
discovery, with classics from the period of Bernard Shaw’s
lifetime reexamined with thoughtfulness and vitality and
juxtaposed with contemporary explorations of the mandate.
Born and educated in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Jackie Maxwell
studied Drama at the University of Manchester. She acted in both
Ireland and England before coming to Canada in 1978. Throughout
her long and varied career in Canada, Ms. Maxwell has worked
extensively as a freelance director and been instrumental in
programme creation at many theatre companies, including the
National Arts Centre as Associate Director, Factory Theatre as
Artistic Director (1986 to 1994), and the Charlottetown Festival
as Head of New Play Development.
Ms. Maxwell has been dramaturge and teacher for several Canadian
theatre schools, most notably the National Theatre School in
Montreal. For eight years she was Guest Artist/Lecturer at the
Graduate Centre for Study of Drama at the University of Toronto.
In October 2005 Ms. Maxwell was the recipient of the National
Theatre School’s prestigious Gascon-Thomas Award, recognizing
her exceptional achievements in Canadian theatre, and last year
she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humanities from the
University of Windsor.
The Herbert Whittaker Award is named for the late Critic
Emeritus of The Globe and Mail, who was also the Founding
Chairman of the Canadian Theatre Critics Association. Mr.
Whittaker had a long and distinguished career in Canada as a
theatre critic and author.
The 2008 season is proudly presented by HSBC Bank Canada/HSBC
Bank USA, N.A.
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