KAMLOOPS – Ginny Ratsoy, who teaches English at Thompson Rivers University, has recently had her book, Theatre in British Columbia, published by Playwrights Canada Press, as part of its series Critical Perspectives on Canadian Theatre in English.

Ratsoy, whose local theatre involvement includes writing notes for Western Canada Theatre play programs and a study of the influence of professional theatre companies on small cities, using Kamloops, Prince George and Nanaimo as sample communities, edited the collection of eighteen scholarly and critical articles encompassing the period from the late 1960s to the present.

“This period of time was crucial for BC theatre,” explained Ratsoy. “It marks the era when our theatre really came into its own.”

Theatre experts such as Reid Gilbert, Sherrill Grace, James Hoffman, Malcolm Page, and Jerry Wasserman contributed articles on such playwrights as Tomson Highway, Joan MacLeod, George Ryga, as well as on theatre companies, including Tamahnous, Caravan Theatre, and Headlines.

The book also explores larger questions about the defining characteristics of scholarship on BC performance, explained Ratsoy.

“The collection aims to both represent the recognized theatrical milestones in the province and provide a forum for insight into areas that have been historically marginalized,” she said.

Theatre in British Columbia is the only regional collection in the Critical Perspectives series. The first book of scholarly essays on BC drama, the volume will be used as a model for additional collections to be published by Playwrights Canada Press, said Ric Knowles, University of Guelph professor and general editor of the series.

“The series sets out to make the best critical and scholarly work in the field readily available [by publishing] the work of scholars and critics who have traced the coming-into-prominence of a vibrant theatrical community in English Canada,” said Knowles.

The book is Ratsoy’s second. Her first, Playing the Pacific Province: An Anthology of British Columbia Plays, 1967-2000, co-edited with fellow TRU professor James Hoffman, was published in 2001.

For more information, please contact:
Ginny Ratsoy at 250.828.5238 or by email.
or Playwrights Canada Press at 416.703.0013