Lina Chartrand
{{Short description|Canadian writer and theatre creator (1948–1994)}}
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| alma_mater = Queen's University (B.A.)
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| death_date = {{Death date and age|1994|04|02|1948|06|10}}
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| birth_date = {{Birth-date|June 10, 1948}}
| birth_place = Timmins, Ontario
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| name = Lina Chartrand
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Lina Chartrand (June 10, 1948 – April 2, 1994){{Cite journal|date=1994|title=In memoriam: Lina Chartrand, 1948–1994|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/194882255|journal=Resources for Feminist Research|volume=3|issue=22|pages=3|id={{ProQuest|194882255}}}} was a Canadian writer and theatre creator. She was a co-founder of the feminist theatre company, Company of Sirens. Her most famous work was the bilingual and partly autobiographical play, La P'tite Miss Easter Seals.
Early life
Chartrand was born in 1948 in Timmins, Ontario, Canada, one of four children of Leo and Leocadie Chartland. At sixteen months old, she contracted polio which resulted in her requiring spinal surgery at age 10, following which Chartrand spent time in a full body cast. In 1960, Chartrand was selected as Little Miss Easter Seals.{{Cite journal|date=1994|title=Lina Chartrand: siren song|journal=Canadian Theatre Review|pages=152–153|issn=0315-0836}}
Chartrand attended Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, where she received a B.A. in drama.
Career
In 1986, Chartrand formed the feminist theatre collective Company of Sirens, with Aida Jordão, Catherine Glen, Lib Spry, Shawna Dempsey, and Cynthia Grant.{{Cite book|last=Scott|first=Shelley|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gqCoOSsnOeEC|title=Nightwood Theatre: A Woman's Work is Always Done|date=2010|publisher=Athabasca University Press|isbn=978-1-897425-55-8|pages=100|language=en|via=Google Books}} With Company of Sirens, Chartrand co-created the play, The Working People's Picture Show.{{Cite journal|last1=di Cenzo|first1=Maria|last2=Bennett|first2=Susan|date=1992|title=Women, Popular Theatre, and Social Action: Interviews with Cynthia Grant and the Sistren Theatre Collective|journal=ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature|volume=23|issue=1|pages=74}}{{cite magazine|last=Bell|first=Laurie|date=1987|title=Working People's Popular Appeal|url=https://www.broadsidefeminist.com/wpsite/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Broadside0806.pdf|magazine=Broadside: A Feminist Review|access-date=2020-07-29}}
Chartrand's first play, La P'tite Miss Easter Seals, premiered in 1988 with Theatre Francais at the Harbourfront Centre's du Maurier Theatre.{{Cite news|last=Crew|first=Robert|date=1988-03-11|title=Little Miss Easter Seals a promising work|page=E21|work=Toronto Star}} She worked on the play for three years with consultation from John Van Burek.{{Cite news|last=Wagner|first=Vit|date=1988-03-04|title=Bilingual drama plays off childhood polio|page=D10|work=Toronto Star}} La P'tite Miss Easer Seals, partly inspired by Chartrand's childhood, is set on a train from Timmins to Toronto and centres on fifteen-year-old Little Miss Easter Seals, Monique Latremouille, who is travelling with her mother and cousin. Monique has spent six months in a full body cast after a spinal surgery to correct effects of childhood polio. The play's characters switch frequently between speaking French and English.{{Cite journal|last=Moss|first=Jane|date=Spring 2000|title=Le theatre Franco-Ontarien: Dramatic spectacles of linguistic otherness|journal=University of Toronto Quarterly|volume=69|issue=2|pages=587–614|doi=10.3138/utq.69.2.587 |s2cid=153709348 }} La P'tite Miss Easter Seals was re-staged in 1993 by Company of Sirens at Tarragon Theatre's Extra Space.{{Cite news|last=Wagner|first=Vit|date=1993-10-28|title='I laugh, I cry, I sing – all lying down'|page=WO10|work=Toronto Star}}
Chartrand directed Helen Porter's My Father Taught Me To Swim in 1991 at the Annex Theatre.{{Cite news|last=Wagner|first=Vit|date=1991-10-11|title=Storyteller spins bit too much yarn into engaging tale|page=D14|work=Toronto Star}} In 1993, Chartrand was named a screenwriter in residence at the Canadian Film Centre.{{Cite news|date=1993-06-11|title=New residents named at Canadian Film Centre|page=C8|work=Toronto Star}} The half-hour film she worked on during this residency, "In Limbo", was in post-production when she died.
Chartrand's collected poetry was published posthumously in the 1998 book, We Make the Air: the Poetry of Lina Chartrand.{{Cite web|date=2020-04-09|title=An Interview with Maureen Hynes, Liz Ukrainetz, and Kye Marshall – Contemporary Verse 2|url=https://contemporaryverse2.ca/interviews/an-interview-with-maureen-hynes-liz-ukrainetz-and-kye-marshall/|access-date=2021-11-06|website=Contemporary Verse 2|language=en-CA}}
Death and legacy
Chartrand died on April 2, 1994, due to complications with liver disease, pre-deceasing partner Kye Marshall.{{Cite journal|date=Summer 1994|title=Lina Chartrand: obituary|journal=Canadian Woman Studies|volume=14|issue=3|pages=100}} The Lina Chartrand Poetry Award was established in her memory.
References
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Category:Queen's University at Kingston alumni
Category:Canadian dramatists and playwrights in French
Category:Canadian women dramatists and playwrights
Category:Deaths from liver disease