Introduction: Diversity on the Stage English-Canadian Drama in the New Millennium

Introduction: Diversity on the Stage English-Canadian Drama in the New MillenniumEnglish-Canadian Drama has a long history and its beginnings go back to the 18 th century.However, what is called "professional Canadian theatre," only noticeably developed in the second half of the 20 th century.Before that, Canadian theatre had plays produced by amateur companies and theatres, but was mainly dominated by plays from English, American and French authors that toured Canada.A milestone for the emergence of an indigenous Canadian drama scene and the establishing of a professional Canadian theatre was the founding of the Canada Council in 1957, which promoted and subsidized Canadian playwrights, festivals and competitions.Yet, 1967, the year of the Centennial of Confederation, the World Fair in Montréal and the first and, unfortunately, also the last All-Canadian Dominion Drama Festival, is still considered the key date in the development of modern theatre in Canada.After that, Canadian drama went through various stages to become what it is today, an independent, dynamic and diverse genre recognized in Canada as well as internationally, with Canadian plays translated into other languages and produced around the world. 1 The centennial instilled in many Canadians a national self-consciousness and a hitherto unknown strong feeling of national pride.They became interested in Canadian topics and matters and the decade that followed was dominated by a search for identity and a view towards what it means to be Canadian.Thus, in the 1970s many plays dealt with Canadian issues trying to contribute their share to a definition of a Canadian identity and authors confronted their audiences, for example, with historical themes, immigration or the conflict between English and French Canada, but they also thematized regional aspects, as, for example, life in the North or in the prairies and the influence nature and the vastness of the country have had on people's lives and thinking.However, from the 1980s on, Canadian authors started to turn more and more to universal themes, but, above all, reflected in their plays the growing ethnic and social diversity of Canadian society.In 1972, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Prime Minister at the time, proclaimed the policy of multiculturalism, which was officially incorporated into the Canadian constitution in the 1980s.With the influx of the so-called "new Canadians," particularly from Southeast Asia, China, and the Caribbean, a multiplicity of races, languages and cultures became a prominent characteristic of Canadian society.1 For more or less comprehensive surveys of contemporary Canadian Drama and further relevant articles and publications, see Antor (2005); Glaap (2003; 2005a; 2005b); Knowles and Riley (2017); Nothof (2008);Wasserman (2008;2012;2013).See also Ric Knowles's book series Critical Perspectives on Canadian Theatre in English (CPCTE), whose twenty-one volumes dealing with diverse topics were published from 2005-2011 by Playwrights Canada Press, and New Essays in Canadian Theatre (NECT), the series that replaced it in 2011, with already eight volumes so far.

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