Sharon Pollock

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Sharon Pollock, born 19 April 1936 in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, is a Canadian playwright, actor, and producer who lives in Calgary, Alberta.

She has been Artistic Director of Theatre Calgary (1984-1990), Theatre New Brunswick (1988-1990), and Performance Kitchen & The Garry Theatre, the former which she founded in 1992.

She was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2007.

Pollock is one of Canada's most well-known playwrights, and he plays a key role in the establishment of what is now known as Canadian Theatre.

Early years

Mary Sharon Chalmers was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, on 19 April 1936 to Eloise and George Everett Chalmers. Before marrying her father, a well-known local physician and politician, her mother had been a nurse. Sharon was raised in a family and family relationship at a time when appearances and family ties were very important to her; although her mother was aware that her father was unfaithful to her, she refused to leave him. Peter Chalmers, Sharon Chalmers' younger brother who was born 19 October 1937, was her sister. When Sharon was younger, she and her brother used to fly to Banff, Vancouver, and the United States. As the family moved to New York, where she saw famous musicals such as Annie Get Your Gun, South Pacific, and Oklahoma, she was often accompanying them.

Pollock was not particularly interested in academics as an infant, but he loved reading, and at a young age, he aspired to history. She attended Charlotte Street Primary School and, for grades 9 and 10, Fredericton High School, where she served as the president of the Drama Club. When she was in grade ten, she and a friend canceled classes for three weeks in a row to get into the local theater and watch movies. Pollock's father took her to King's Hall (Now Bishop's College School), an Anglican private school, because he felt that if she could skip school for three weeks and still get good grades, then she wasn't going to go to King's Hall (Now Bishop's College School), an Anglican private school, then her education was not rigorous enough. Pollock and Jane Hickman, a childhood friend, established "The Secret Two Club" for those who expressed the desire to be writers rather than housewives or tutors like the women around them. Pollock, in addition to her interest in drama and writing, was active in the sports teams at King's Hall and as editor of the school newspaper.

In Pollock's later teen years, her family began to crumble. Her mother was dissatisfied with her husband's persistent unfaithfulness, and she was pushed to the limits of housewifedom. In 1954, Eloise Chalmers committed suicide, when Pollock was 18 years old. Pollock began enrolling in the University of New Brunswick (UNB), where she was also a member of the Drama Society. Ross Pollock, her future husband, was on display at UNB, where he was in his fifth year of the environmental forestry program.

Jennifer, the young couple's first child, eloped, and by 1956 they had their first child. They moved to Toronto, where they stayed for the next eight years. The pair had four more children at this time: Kirk (1957), Melinda (1959), Lisa (1961), and Michele (1963).

Pollock joined a theatre company in Toronto, directing a handful of high school students (1962–63). "The blind leading the blind" was the title she used to describe this directing experience.

Ross openly assaulted his wife; Pollock admits to trying to kill him by grinding up high hormone control pills and pouring the powder into his food. This attempt at murder was fruitless. Pollock left Ross and returned to Fredericton with her five children in 1964, following another violent physical assault by her husband. She wanted to be with her family but it wasn't as she had left it. Her father had remarried and had two more children with his new wife.

Life in the theatre

Pollock's career in theatre began in 1964. When she returned to Fredericton, she was arriving just in time for the new Beaverbrook Playhouse to open. She began working at the Playhouse Box Office, which was where she learned. She and several of the UNB Drama Society's members formed "The Company of Ten," which appeared in six shows from 1964 to 1965, and then dissolved the following year. Pollock first started dating fellow actor Michael Ball during this period.

Victor Mitchell had been building a Drama Department at the University of Calgary and had offered Ball a job from January 1966.

Pollock followed Ball west, hoping that this move would bring her and her children the opportunity to start fresh and leave the family's emotional baggage behind her.

The 1960s were a burgeoning period in Canadian theatre. Regional theatres and festivals were springing up all around the country. Pollock and Ball's theatre company, Mitchell's In Calgary, began touring with Mitchell's theatre company The Prairie Players. They travelled around small towns in Alberta exploring in every corner they could find. If they were lucky, the troupe would have earned $35 a week. Pollock joined the MAC 14 Theatre Society in 1967, which was the melding of The Musicians and Actors Club of Calgary and a theatre company called Workshop 14. The MAC 14 club was the founding company of Theatre Calgary.

Amanda, Pollock's sixth child, was born to Pollock and Ball this year. Pollock and her family were not able to deal with the 60s and early 70s. They were living in barely suitable housing conditions on a very limited budget.

Pollock wrote plays from 1967 to 1968. She wanted to see what it was like to be on the writing and production fronts of theatre after having the opportunity to experience life as an actor. The lack of Canadian playwrights was her main cause for her writer rather than perform. "I wanted other actors to stand up and say my words, not my words," she says in a speech she shared with other Albertans and Canadians." Pollock was dissatisfied with how little she heard even as an actress. She was sick of reproducing others' work and wanted to see a Canadian voice on stage. She felt that no one even cared to hear a Canadian voice or a Canadian tale in those days. Pollock's first work was "In the Death of Split Seconds," a radio play that was broadcast on CBC on November 22, 1970. These were the days of radio, when a radio play attracted a bigger audience than a theater. Pollock is already pushing the boundaries of the realist story in this first script. She followed this with two other Radioplays, 31 for 2 and We to the Gods, all from CBC Radio.

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Career as a playwright

Pollock wrote A Compulsory Option, a dark comedy about three men whose crazia could be plausible, in 1971. It premiered in 1972 and was the first work by Vancouver's New Play Centre. It was the winner of the Alberta Culture playwriting competition. Pollock premiered her second full-length performance Walsh at Theatre Calgary in November 1973. In this play, she dramatizes one of Canada's most dramatic events, that of the injustices done to the Sioux Nation in 1877-1881. Pollock addresses historic events in Walsh, The Komagata Maru Incident and One Tiger to a Hill, causing the audience to question the authenticity of what is seen on stage.

Pollock continued to use history, especially in the case of Whiskey Six Cadenza (1993), or End Dream (2004) as fuel for her performances throughout her career, as well as her own personal experience in plays such as Generations (1980) or Doc (1984).

Blood Relations (1980) was one of Pollock's most well-known and influential plays. On March 12, 1980, it appeared at Theatre Three in Edmonton. This is the tale of Lizzie Borden, based on historical fact, and was originally published as My Name Is Lisbeth, which premiered at Douglas College. Borden is accused of murdering her father and stepmother. Pollock discusses the implications of Lizzie Borden's disappearance as a murderer. Although Pollock was chastised for making it less of a feminist drama and more of a general political play, the play does touch on feminist topics.

Pollock's strong opinions about Canadian theatre inspired her to create a theatre of her own during her playwright career. She wished to create a place for artistic talent to flourish and provide diversity. Artist for artists, she wanted the Garry Theatre to be 'created by artists for artists.'

In 1995, the Garry Theatre in the Lower Income Calgary area was opened. Pollock was so passionate about theatre that she was determined that The Garry not pay her royalties. She wanted people from all walks of life to experience theatre; if people were unable to afford tickets, they were still able to attend the performances. Pollock served as the artistic director at Theatre Calgary in 1984 and 1985, as well as in 1988 at Theatre New Brunswick. She left both of these occupations due to a difference of opinion. She strongly disagreed with the theater's 'institutionalization' of it and the direction it was headed.

Pollock later wrote for the Atlantic Ballet Company. She made her musical theatre debut with Verb Theatre in Calgary, Calgary, and Ron Chambers' critically acclaimed play Marg Szkaluba (Pissy's Wife). "So controlled and precisely delineated is Pollock's appearance, which has endured far too long under the assumption that she was unethical, unattractive, and unserving," the Calgary Sun wrote.

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Awards

• Dominion Drama Festival Best Actress Award for The Knack (1966)
• Alberta Culture Playwriting Competition for A Compulsory Option (1971)
• Governor General's Award for Drama for Blood Relations (1981)
• Golden Sheaf Award for The Person's Case, Television (1981)
• Alberta Achievement Award (1983)
• Chalmers Canadian Play Award for Doc (1984)
• Governor General Award for Drama for Doc (1986)
• Canadian-Australian Literary Award (1987)
• Honorary degree, University of New Brunswick (1987)
• Japan Foundation Award (1995)
• Harry and Martha Cohen Award for contributions to Calgary Theatre (1999)
• Honorary degree, University of Calgary (2004)
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2007)