Herman Voaden

Born in London, Ontario,{{sfn|Wagner|2013}} he received a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in 1923 and a Master of Arts degree in 1926 from Queen's University.{{sfn|Wagner|2021}} He also studied at the University of Chicago and at Yale University.

His father, Dr. Arthur Voaden, pioneered vocational teaching in Ontario. His mother, Luisa Bale Voaden, was also a teacher. Voaden studied modern drama at Queen's University, 1920–1923, and wrote his 1926 Queen’s M.A. thesis on Eugene O’Neill.{{sfn|York University|2011}}

In 1928 Voaden became head of the English department at the Central High School of Commerce (now the Central Toronto Academy),{{sfn|Wagner|2021}} where he worked for decades. In 1960 his work there was described as "pioneer[ing] in progressive education methods, including the 'play approach' to drama.'"{{sfn|Voaden|1960|p=ix}}

A member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation,{{sfn|York University|2011}} he ran for the House of Commons of Canada in the western Toronto riding of Trinity in the 1945 elections, 1949 elections, 1953 elections, and a 1954 by-election. He lost each time.

Voaden was a member of Toronto's Arts and Letters Club, the Dominion Drama Festival, and a founding member and first president of the Canadian Arts Council (which became the Canadian Conference of the Arts in 1958).{{sfn|Wagner|2013}} As president of the CAC, he was one of several Canadian representatives to the first UNESCO conference, held in Paris in 1946.

In 1974, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honor, "in recognition of his contribution to the performing arts as a playwright, producer and teacher, and his services in fostering support for all the arts and crafts".{{OCC|1726}} He was made a Fellow in the Royal Society of Arts in 1970.

Following his death, Queen's University created the Herman Voaden Playwriting Competition to honour new works by emerging playwrights.{{sfn|Burliuk|1997}}

• The White Kingdom (1928)
• Northern Storm (1929)
• Northern Song (1930)
• Western Wolf (1930)
• Fragment (1931)
• Wilderness (1931)
• Earth Song (1932)
• Rocks (1932)
• Hill-Land (1934)
• Murder Pattern (1936)
• Ascend As the Sun (1942)
• Libretto for the opera The Prodigal Son (music by Frederick Jacobi) (debuted 1945)
• Emily Carr: A Stage Biography with Pictures (first performed 1960){{sfn|Wagner|2020}}

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• {{cite news |last=Burliuk |first=Greg |title=Workshops focus on two winning plays |work=Kingston Whig-Standard |date=1997-08-16 |page=30 |id={{ProQuest|353109238}} }}

• {{cite book |editor-last=Voaden |editor-first=Herman |title=Four Plays of Our Time |publisher=Macmillan of Canada |year=1960 |location=Toronto}}

• {{cite encyclopedia |title=Herman Arthur Voaden |first=Anton |last=Wagner |date=2013-12-16 |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |publisher=Historica Canada |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/herman-arthur-voaden |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206025243/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/herman-arthur-voaden |archive-date=2024-02-06}}

• {{cite encyclopedia |title=Herman Voaden |first=Anton |last=Wagner |date=2004-02-04 |encyclopedia=The Literary Encyclopedia |url=https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4559 }}

• {{cite encyclopedia |title=Emily Carr: A Stage Biography with Pictures |last=Wagner |first=Anton |url=https://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Emily%20Carr%3A%20A%20Stage%20Biography%20With%20Pictures |date=2020-08-24 |access-date=2024-04-12 |encyclopedia=Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia}}

• {{cite encyclopedia |title=Voaden, Herman |last=Wagner |first=Anton |url=https://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Herman%20Voaden |date=2021-06-11 |access-date=2024-04-12 |encyclopedia=Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia}}

• {{cite web |author=York University |url=https://www.library.yorku.ca/binaries/ArchivesSpecialCollections/Voaden/website/hvindex.html |title=Herman Arthur Voaden fonds |work=York University |access-date=2024-04-13 |date=16 December 2011}}

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Category:1903 births

Category:1991 deaths

Category:20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights

Category:Writers from London, Ontario

Category:Members of the Order of Canada

Category:Queen's University at Kingston alumni

Category:Canadian male dramatists and playwrights

Category:20th-century Canadian male writers

Category:Co-operative Commonwealth Federation candidates for the Canadian House of Commons