Mary Vingoe is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

playwright, actor, and theatre director. Vingoe was one of the co-founders of Canadian feminist theatre company

Nightwood Theatre Nightwood Theatre is Canada's oldest professional women's theatre and is based in Toronto. It was founded in 1979 by Cynthia Grant, Kim Renders, Mary Vingoe, and Maureen White and was originally a collective. Though it was not the founders' ori ...

and later co-founded

Ship's Company Theatre The Ship's Company Theatre is a professional theatre company based in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. Founded in 1984 by Michael Fuller and Mary Vingoe, the Ship's Company Theatre features productions of Canadian works, with an emphasis on new works fro ...

Parrsboro Parrsboro is a community located in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Canada. A regional service centre for southern Cumberland County, the community is also known for its port on the Minas Basin, the Ship's Company Theatre productions, and the ...

and Eastern Front Theatre in Halifax. From 2002 to 2007, Vingoe was artistic director of the

Magnetic North Theatre Festival The Magnetic North Theatre Festival is an annual festival celebrating theatre and related performing arts in Canada operated by the Canadian Theatre Festival Society in partnership with the National Arts Centre. The festival is held Ottawa every ...

. Vingoe is an

Officer of the Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

and received the

Portia White Prize The Portia White Prize is the largest prize of its type awarded by the Province of Nova Scotia and is named for Portia White, a Nova Scotian artist who rose through adversity to achieve international acclaim as a classical singer on the stages of Eu ...

. Her play ''Refuge'' was a shortlisted nominee for the

Governor General's Award for English-language drama The Governor General's Award for English-language drama honours excellence in Canadian English-language playwriting. The award was created in 1981 when the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry or drama was divided. Because the awar ...

at the

2016 Governor General's Awards The shortlisted nominees for the 2016 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were announced on October 4, 2016,"Governor-General’s Literary Award short list a serious case of déjà vu"
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', October 4, 2016.

Early life

Originally from

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Dartmouth ( ) is an urban community and former city located in the Halifax Regional Municipality of Nova Scotia, Canada. Dartmouth is located on the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour. Dartmouth has been nicknamed the City of Lakes, after the larg ...

,"Vingoe, Mary"
''Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia'', April 25, 2016. Vingoe studied theatre at

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...

in Halifax. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (honours) from Dalhousie in 1976 and was awarded the University Medal in Theatre. Vingoe later attended the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

's Graduate Centre for Study of Drama.

Career

Vingoe co-founded Toronto's

in 1979 with Cynthia Grant,

Kim Renders Kim Renders (January 14, 1955 – July 17, 2018) was a Canadian writer, director, actor and designer and a founding member of Nightwood Theatre, the oldest professional feminist theatre company in Canada. Early life Renders was born in Toronto ...

, and

Maureen White Patricia Maureen White, more commonly known as Maureen White, is a specialist in international humanitarian affairs and a fundraiser for the American Democratic Party. She is a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins School ...

. Vingoe was the only founding member of Nightwood to be an Equity member at the time of founding. Vingoe served as Nightwood's first artistic coordinator from 1985, when Cynthia Grant left the collective, until 1987. The position was created to fulfill the same responsibilities as an

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

but with a title that better suited Nightwood's origins as a collective. Vingoe helped to collectively create works with other Nightwood collaborators, including 1979's ''The True Story of Ida Johnson'' and 1981's ''The Yellow Wallpaper.'' She acted in shows such as ''The Yellow Wallpaper'' (1981) and ''Pope Joan'' (1984).Vingoe also directed several plays while working with Nightwood, including ''Love and Work Enough'' (1984),

Sally Clark Sally Clark (August 1964 – 15 March 2007) was an English solicitor who, in November 1999, became the victim of a miscarriage of justice when she was found guilty of the murder of her two infant sons. Clark's first son died in December 1996 wit ...

's ''St. Francis of Hollywood'' (1987),

Margaret Hollingsworth Margaret Hollingsworth (born 1942) is a Canadian writer."Margaret Hollingswo ...

's ''War Babies'' (1985 and 1987), and ''The Herring Gull's Egg'' (1987), which she also wrote. Nightwood re-staged ''The Herring Gull's Egg'' in 1989 as directed by Maureen White. In 1984, Vingoe co-founded

Parrsboro, Nova Scotia Parrsboro is a community located in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Canada. A regional service centre for southern Cumberland County, the community is also known for its port on the Minas Basin, the Ship's Company Theatre productions, and the ...

with Michael Fuller. Their first production, ''You’ll be in Her Arms by Midnight and Other Parrsboro Stories'', was performed on the M.V. Kipawo ferry. With Ship's Company, Vingoe has directed several plays including

Wendy Lill Wendy Lill (born November 2, 1950) is a Canadian playwright, screenwriter and radio dramatist who served as an NDP Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2004. Her stage plays have been performed extensively in theatres across Canada as well as inter ...

's ''The Glace Bay Miner's Museum.'' Vingoe directed ''The Glace Bay Miner's Museum'' again in 2012 for the

National Arts Centre The National Arts Centre (NAC) (french: Centre national des Arts) is a Arts centre, performing arts organisation in Ottawa, Ontario, along the Rideau Canal. It is based in the eponymous National Arts Centre (building), National Arts Centre build ...

's English Theatre Company and served as an assistant director on the 1995 film adaptation of the play, ''

Margaret's Museum ''Margaret's Museum'' is a 1995 British-Canadian drama film, directed by Mort Ransen and based on Sheldon Currie's novel '' The Glace Bay Miners' Museum''. Plot Set in the 1940s in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, the film tells the story of ...

''. In 1993, Vingoe co-founded Eastern Front Theatre in Halifax with Wendi Lill and Gay Hauser. In 2002, Vingoe directed a production of ''

The Drawer Boy ''The Drawer Boy'' is a play by Michael Healey. It is a two-act play set in 1972 on a farm near Clinton, Ontario. There are only three characters: the farm's two owners, Morgan and Angus, and Miles Potter, a young actor from Toronto doing resea ...

'' with EFT for which she was nominated for a Merritt Award for Outstanding Direction. In 2002, Vingoe was appointed the first artistic director of the

, a festival celebrating Canadian English-language theatre. She stepped down from the position after the 2007 Magnetic North Festival. In 2010, Vingoe directed the world premiere of Colleen Wagner's play ''Home'' at the Bus Stop Theatre in Halifax. The two founded HomeFirst Theatre that year with the intention of producing plays written by Atlantic Canadians. HomeFirst Theatre has since put on such plays as Wendy Lill's ''Messenger'' in 2015 with Neptune Theatre and the premiere of Vingoe's play ''Refuge'' in 2013 with Eastern Front Theatre. Vingoe portrayed Wanda Greyson in the CBC

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

Backbencher In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

''. Vingoe directed ''Alden'' by Richard Merrill, a play about poet

Alden Nowlan Alden Albert Nowlan (; January 25, 1933 – June 27, 1983) was a Canadian poet, novelist, and playwright. History Alden Nowlan was born into rural poverty in Stanley, Nova Scotia, adjacent to Mosherville, and close to the small town of Windsor ...

at the 2011 NotaBle Acts Theatre Festival in Fredericton, New Brunswick. During Neptune Theatre's 2014/15 season as part of the Open Spaces program with Theatre Nova Scotia, Vingoe directed the Atlantic Canadian premiere of

Catherine Banks Catherine Banks is a Canadian playwright. She is a two-time winner of the Governor General's Award for English-language drama, in 2008 for ''Bone Cage'' and in 2012 for ''It Is Solved By Walking''. She resides in Sambro, Nova Scotia, a rural com ...

' ''It Is Solved by Walking.'' In 2018, Vingoe directed the musical ''

Urinetown ''Urinetown: The Musical'' is a satirical comedy musical that premiered in 2001, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis. It satirizes the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, burea ...

'' as part of Chester Playhouse's summer festival in

Chester, Nova Scotia Chester is a village on the Chester Peninsula, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada. The nearby waters of Mahone Bay and its numerous islands are well known for yachting and have made the Chester Yacht Club into a cruising destination. A provi ...

. Vingoe wrote the play ''Some Blow Flutes'' and directed its 2018 premiere at the Bus Stop Theatre.

Politics

In 2013, Vingoe ran for public office. She ran as the

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National Deve ...

candidate for

Dartmouth South Dartmouth South is a provincial electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that elects one member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. The riding is currently represented by Claudia Chender of the NDP. The district was created in 1966, under the ...

in the

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

provincial election but lost with 33.3% of the vote. , - , align="right", 4,049 , align="right", 46.24 , align="right", +18.34 , - ,

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

, Mary Vingoe , align="right", 2,918 , align="right", 33.32 , align="right", -22.24 , - , Progressive Conservative , Gord Gamble , align="right", 1,612 , align="right", 18.41 , align="right", +5.16 , - , align="right", 178 , align="right", 2.03 , align="right",

Personal life

Vingoe was married to jazz musician Paul Cram who, before his death in 2018, worked as a sound designer on some of Vingoe's productions. The two have two children, Laura and Kyle Vingoe-Cram.

Plays

''Ten Seconds After Closing''

''Ten Seconds After Closing'' premiered with Nightwood Theatre in 1980 under the direction of Cynthia Grant.

''Holy Ghosters''

''Holy Ghosters'' is a historical drama set in the eighteenth century and features a non-linear structure. The play premiered 1983 at the Mulgrave Road Co-Op Theatre as directed by Jan Kudelka. A revised version of ''Holy Ghosters'' was performed

Mount Allison University Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839. Like other liberal arts colleges in North America, Mount Allison does not parti ...

's Windsor Theatre in 1986.

''Hooligans''

''Hooligans'' was co-written by Vingoe and Jan Kudelka with contributions from Ian A. Black, Jay Bowen, Cynthia Grant, Irene Pauzer, Kim Renders, Linda Stephen, Bruce Vavrina, and inspired by an idea from Pauzer. The play uses text from the diaries of

Isadora Duncan Angela Isadora Duncan (May 26, 1877 or May 27, 1878 – September 14, 1927) was an American dancer and choreographer, who was a pioneer of modern contemporary dance, who performed to great acclaim throughout Europe and the US. Born and raised in ...

Edward Gordon Craig Edward Henry Gordon CraigSome sources give "Henry Edward Gordon Craig". (born Edward Godwin; 16 January 1872 – 29 July 1966), sometimes known as Gordon Craig, was an English modernist theatre practitioner; he worked as an actor, director and ...

, Sergei Esenin, Kathleen Bruce, and

Robert Falcon Scott Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated ''Terra Nov ...

. ''Hooligans'' premiered with Nightwood Theatre in March 1982.

''The Herring Gull's Egg''

In November 1987, Vingoe directed the premiere of her play ''The Herring Gull's Egg'' with Nightwood Theatre as part of the 3rd

Groundswell Festival Nightwood Theatre is Canada's oldest professional women's theatre and is based in Toronto. It was founded in 1979 by Cynthia Grant, Kim Renders, Mary Vingoe, and Maureen White and was originally a collective. Though it was not the founders' ori ...

. The play received

dramaturgy Dramaturgy is the study of dramatic composition and the Representation (arts), representation of the main elements of drama on the stage. The term first appears in the eponymous work ''Hamburg Dramaturgy'' (1767–69) by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing ...

from Maureen Labonte. Nightwood re-staged ''The Herring Gull's Egg'' in 1989 under the direction of Maureen White.

''The Company Store''

Vingoe based her play ''The Company Store'' on the Sheldon Currie novel of the same name. The play premiered in 1996 at the Mulgrave Road Theatre Co-Op in

Guysborough, Nova Scotia Guysborough, officially named the Municipality of the District of Guysborough, is a district municipality in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Statistics Canada classifies the district municipality as a municipal district. It is home to ...

''Living Curiosities: Or What You Will''

''Living Curiosities'' was inspired by the 'giantess'

Anna Swan Anna Haining Bates (née Swan; August 6, 1846 – August 5, 1888), was a Canadian woman famed for her great stature of . She was one of the tallest women ever. Her parents were of average height and were Scottish immigrants. Early life Anna ...

. The play is set in 1963 and follows Anna and other 'curiosities' in

P. T. Barnum Phineas Taylor Barnum (; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He was ...

's show as they put on a production of ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vio ...

''. ''Living Curiosities'' was workshopped at Word Festival! in Toronto in 1991 and then premiered in January 1992 with Anne-Marie MacDonald as Anna Swan. A revised version of ''Living Curiosities'' premiered in 2015 with Theatre Erindale in

Mississauga, Ontario Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popul ...

''Refuge''

''Refuge'' uses actual text from a

CBC radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

documentary in addition to fictive additions to tell the story of an

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

n man seeking refugee status in Canada. The play premiered with Eastern Front Theatre and HomeFirst Theatre in 2013 and was subsequently staged by Nightwood Theatre in 2016. In 2014, ''Refuge'' was nominated for Outstanding Play by a Nova Scotian Playwright the Merritt Awards. ''Refuge'' was a finalist for the 2014 Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Astounding Art Awards. ''Refuge'' was also nominated for the

in 2016.

''Some Blow Flutes''

''Some Blow Flutes'' premiered with HomeFirst Theatre at the Bus Stop Theatre in Halifax in 2018. The play follows a teenage girl caring for her grandmother who has dementia. ''Some Blow Flutes'' was nominated for Outstanding New Play by a Nova Scotian at the 2019 Merritt Awards.

Awards and recognitions

Vingoe was named an

in 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vingoe, Mary 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Canadian women dramatists and playwrights Canadian theatre directors Canadian women theatre directors Canadian radio writers Women radio writers People from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Writers from Halifax, Nova Scotia Dalhousie University alumni University of Toronto alumni Officers of the Order of Canada Living people 21st-century Canadian women writers Canadian Film Centre alumni Candidates in Nova Scotia provincial elections Women in Nova Scotia politics Canadian artistic directors Year of birth missing (living people)