Bill Adkins

Adkins was born in Winslow, Buckinghamshire,{{cite news |last1=Ketchum |first1=W.Q. |title=Faces of Ottawa: William Adkins |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/42956340/?terms=%22William%2BAdkins%22 |accessdate=12 February 2019 |work=The Ottawa Journal |date=24 August 1963 |page=16}}{{cite news |last1=Ashley |first1=Audrey M. |title=Former OLT manager dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/463038420/?terms=%22William%2BAdkins%22 |accessdate=12 February 2019 |work=The Ottawa Citizen |date=29 March 1982 |page=46}} circa 1889. He left England for Canada circa 1911, farming near Edmonton and working for the Hudson's Bay Company. During World War I, he served with the Canadian Field Artillery in Europe. After the war, he returned to Canada, settled in Ottawa, and married Gertrude Helen Green, with whom he had two children. He joined the Department of Indian Affairs, where he met Duncan Campbell Scott through whom he became involved in the theatre.

Adkins worked backstage on every production of the Ottawa Drama League (later the Ottawa Little Theatre) after 1920.{{cite news |title=Bill Adkins at L. Theater for 39 Years |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/457008453/?terms=%22Bill%2BAdkins%22 |accessdate=12 February 2019 |work=The Ottawa Citizen |date=15 October 1960 |page=20}} Over many years, he worked as electrician, carpenter, scene shifter,{{cite news |last1=Alford |first1=Walter |title=Back Stage Staff Work Hard For Drama's Success |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/46473235/?terms=%22Bill%2BAdkins%22 |accessdate=12 February 2019 |work=The Ottawa Journal |date=30 November 1935 |page=25}} scene painter, lighting operator, set designer,{{cite news |last1=Frankham |first1=Roger |title=Look For Man Behind Scenes When Play Is Great Success |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/456497061/?terms=%22Bill%2BAdkins%22 |accessdate=12 February 2019 |work=The Ottawa Citizen |date=3 January 1942 |page=26}}{{cite news |last1=Thistle |first1=Lauretta |title=Does Agatha Christie Despise Her Audience? |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/457077363/?terms=%22William%2BAdkins%22 |accessdate=12 February 2019 |work=The Ottawa Citizen |date=26 April 1960 |page=13}}{{cite news |last1=Daley |first1=Frank |title=Ottawa Little Theatre |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/46463914/?terms=%22Bill%2BAdkins%22 |accessdate=12 February 2019 |work=The Ottawa Journal |date=7 January 1967 |page=34}} set builder,{{cite book |last1=Devlin |first1=Edward "Ted" |editor1-last=Finnigan |editor1-first=Joan |title=Tallying the Tales of the Old-timers |date=1998 |publisher=GeneralStore PublishingHouse |isbn=9781896182957 |page=33 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BnBbjOKJ98gC&dq=%22Tallying+the+tales+of+the+old-timers%22+Adkins&pg=PA33 |accessdate=13 February 2019 |chapter=3. "The Stanley Cup was a Centrepiece on our Dining-Room Table" |quote=Above all there was Bill Adkins, the English-born stage manager and set-builder, who put it all together and made it happen on stage.}} and, from 1927, stage manager.{{cite journal |last1=Meiklejohn |first1=J.M.C. |editor-last=Johnston |editor-first=Denis W. |title=THEATRE IN OTTAWA IN THE 1930s: A MEMOIR |journal=Tric/Rtac |date=Fall 1989 |volume=10 |issue=2 |url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/TRIC/article/view/7312/8371 |accessdate=13 February 2019}} During World War II, Adkins arranged and stage managed shows for troops.{{cite news |title=Teen Corn Festival May Not Be So Corny |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/456563189/?terms=%22Bill%2BAdkins%22 |accessdate=12 February 2019 |work=The Ottawa Citizen |date=12 May 1949 |page=11}} Adkins continued as stage manager of the Ottawa Little Theatre after the war, travelling with it to the Dominion Drama Festival and other regional performances.{{cite news |last1=Coates |first1=Richard |title=Set Delivery Delay Sweats ODL Director |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/48800245/?terms=%22Bill%2BAdkins%22 |accessdate=12 February 2019 |work=The Ottawa Journal |date=21 March 1951}}{{cite news |title=Pinocchio Packs His Bag And Marks It 'DDF, Rush' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/456706015/?terms=%22Bill%2BAdkins%22 |accessdate=12 February 2019 |work=The Ottawa Citizen |date=12 May 1951 |page=24 (S3)}} He also supervised visiting stage managers when Ottawa hosted drama festivals, and managed the stage and lighting for the outdoor theatre at a summer drama school for children.{{cite news |last1=Cooper |first1=Philip |title=Manotick Farm Is Now School For Thespians |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/456914992/?terms=%22Bill%2BAdkins%22 |accessdate=12 February 2019 |work=The Ottawa Citizen |date=12 July 1958 |page=21}} Adkins was still stage manager at the time that the Ottawa Little Theatre burnt down in 1970,{{cite news |last1=McIndoe |first1=Jane |title=The History of the Ottawa Little Theatre - A Tradition to Rebuild On |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/41478827/?terms=%22Bill%2BAdkins%22 |accessdate=12 February 2019 |work=The Ottawa Journal |date=4 July 1970 |page=6}} and when it reopened after rebuilding in 1972, with improved stage facilities.{{cite news |title=Curtain goes up on Ottawa Little Theatre |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/460181690/?terms=%22Bill%2BAdkins%22 |accessdate=12 February 2019 |work=The Ottawa Citizen |date=29 January 1972 |page=25}} He retired from the theatre in 1979, and died in Ottawa on 28 March 1982.

Adkins received a 1960 Canadian Drama Award, in recognition of outstanding contributions to Canadian theatre.{{cite news |title=Bill Adkins Honored |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/41532055/?terms=%22Bill%2BAdkins%22 |accessdate=12 February 2019 |work=The Ottawa Journal |date=3 December 1960 |page=52}}{{cite news |title=Here and There: Award For Stage Manager |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/457008940/?terms=%22William%2BAdkins%22 |accessdate=12 February 2019 |work=The Ottawa Citizen |date=3 December 1960 |page=26}}{{cite news |title=Conversation Piece |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/420590185/?terms=%22William%2BAdkins%22 |accessdate=12 February 2019 |work=The Gazette |date=7 December 1960 |location=Montreal, Quebec |page=25}}{{cite news |title=Little Theatre Play Tops Drama Festival |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/41536692/?terms=%22William%2BAdkins%22 |accessdate=12 February 2019 |work=The Ottawa Journal |date=20 March 1961 |page=9}} In 1973, the first year it was awarded, he was invested with the Member of the Order of Canada,{{cite news |last1=Grantham |first1=Ronald |title=Canadian honors system enters fourth stage |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/462931956/?terms=%22William%2BAdkins%22 |accessdate=12 February 2019 |work=The Ottawa Citizen |date=9 April 1973 |page=16}}{{cite news |title=Appointments made to Order of Canada |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/495511930/?terms=%22William%2BAdkins%22 |accessdate=12 February 2019 |work=The Leader-Post |date=23 December 1972 |location=Regina, Saskatchewan |page=35}} "for his 50 years' service to the amateur theatre movement in Ottawa and to the Dominion Drama Festival".{{cite web |title=Honours - Recipients - Mr. William Adkins, C.M. |url=http://www.gg.ca/en/honours/recipients/146-14255 |website=The Governor General of Canada |accessdate=12 February 2019}} In 2013, during their 100th season celebrations, the Ottawa Little Theatre named him as a Cornerstone Inductee, an honor instituted for volunteers who made an extraordinary contribution to the development of the theatre.{{cite web |title=Cornerstone Inductees |url=http://www.ottawalittletheatre.com/cornerstone-inductees/ |website=Ottawa Little Theatre |accessdate=12 February 2019}}

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Category:Members of the Order of Canada

Category:Stage managers

Category:Canadian scenic designers

Category:Politicians from Ottawa

Category:1982 deaths

Category:People from Winslow, Buckinghamshire

Category:Canadian military personnel of World War I

Category:Canadian theatre designers

Category:Canadian Expeditionary Force officers

Category:Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery personnel

Category:Military personnel from Buckinghamshire

Category:Hudson's Bay Company people