History

"Her theatre exists in the people whose lives she touched.”

- Gwen Pharis Ringwood

Elizabeth Sterling Haynes

Elizabeth Sterling Haynes moved to Edmonton from Toronto in 1922 and jumped right into directing and performing in productions both at the University of Alberta and in the city. In 1929 she co-founded the Alberta Drama League and Edmonton’s Little Theatre.

In 1932, Haynes was named Director of Drama by the University of Alberta. Because her jurisdiction included the entire province, she set off across Alberta teaching week long courses in drama, giving public lectures, advising amateur dramatic societies, and helping to organize and adjudicate festivals.

In 1933, Dr. E. A. Corbett and Elizabeth Sterling Haynes initiated a summer school for Drama to be held in Banff National Park. This would eventually become the internationally renowned Banff Centre for the Arts.

Elizabeth was a force, a creative energy unleashed at a time when creativity was suspect and often ignored. The Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Theatre has never existed as a building, however she often quoted Roy Mitchell as saying “You do not build a theatre with bricks. You build it with people.”

Each season we honour an administrator who has most embodied the hard work and excellence the professional theatre demands.

Margaret Mooney

Margaret Mooney was Artistic Coordinator at The Citadel Theatre from its opening in 1965 until her retirement in 1998 when she was given a Life Honorary Membership in Canadian Actors’ Equity Association for contributions to the Cultural Life of Canada.  In addition to her exemplary service on the job she was an unfailing source of knowledge and support for her colleagues in non-artistic roles, and in 1992 Mooney received the Sterling Award for Outstanding Contributions to Theatre in Edmonton.

Margaret’s understanding of the creative process and empathy for how precarious life is as an artist have made her the perfect confidante and mentor. Margaret served as Edmonton’s unofficial agent – the only source of reference for many out of town directors and casting agents because she knew just about every actor in the city. Though she still serves as the “living memory” of The Citadel Theatre, her personal network covers the entire theatre scene in Edmonton. She has returned with vigour to her visual arts activities. Margaret has had over 20 solo exhibitions of her paintings, stained glass and woodcuts worldwide.

Past Recipients of the Margaret Mooney Award for Outstanding Achievement in Administration

2010 Brenda McNicol
2011 Eva Cairns
2012 Alana Broomfield
2013 Al Rasko
2014 Troy Funk
2015 Penny Ritco
2016 Marian Brant
2017 Cheryl Hoover
2018 Karen Brown Fournell
2019 Adam Mitchell
2023 Coralie Cairns

Each year we honour an individual in production; technicians, stage managers, educators, heads of wardrobe or electrics or sound: the experts behind the scenes for a body of work exemplifying a career of distinction and accomplishment.

Ross Hill

Ross Hill was born and raised in Halifax Nova Scotia in 1941, leaving in 1962 to begin a career in the theatre. After a year in Toronto he returned to Halifax where he joined the Neptune Theatre for its first three years of operations. He worked as crew, actor, ASM and finally Equity Stage Manager.  Following his work at Neptune, he gained invaluable experience stage managing with The Manitoba Theatre Centre, the Stratford Festival and the National Arts Centre with legendary directors like Michael Langham and John Hirsch.

He freelanced as stage manager, production stage manager and technical director across the country, functioning as the entire production staff  for the smallest houses, or as stage manager in a staff of over a hundred. In 1971 Ross became production manager at Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre, seeing it grow from a converted Salvation Army seating 210, to a massive three theatre complex and one of the most respected regional companies in Canada. In the Spring of 1978, coinciding with the departure of Artistic Director John Neville, Ross left the Citadel to take the position of Production Manager for the 1978 Commonwealth Games, Cultural Contingent.

Hill was subsequently asked to develop a diploma program of Theatre Production as part of the Performing and Visual Division of Grant MacEwan Community College.  The program’s first student intake was only three weeks later and since its founding, Ross’s students have worked locally, nationally and internationally in every technical field. In 1999 Ross Hill retired from theatre and education. He bought a sailboat and went to sea, fulfilling a dream he’d had since his childhood sailing days in Halifax.

Past Recipients of the Ross Hill Award for Outstanding Achievement in Production

2010 Alan Welch
2011 Tim Williamson
2012 Marian Brant
2013 Bill Heron
2014 Barbara Becker
2015 Richard Sims
2016 Robert Montgomery
2017 Betty Hushlak
2018 Sheila Cleasby
2019 Alastair Elliot
2023 Mel Geary