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“Not Merely for the Sake of an Evening's Entertainment”: The Educational Uses of Theater in Toronto's Settlement Houses, 1910–1930
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 February 2017
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It is only recently that the power of the drama as a living force in daily life has been appreciated. Not only is it an educational force along intellectual and spiritual lines, but it offers first hand to the individual, a vision of the possibilities of self development and self equipment for the positive business of everyday existence…. It is of great educational value to witness the acting of a good play, but to walk upon the stage, to speak to hushed audiences is to awake to a consciousness of power generally unsuspected within the self.
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References
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70 Due to gaps in the extant evidence, it is impossible to calculate how many settlement staff members and volunteers attended a school of expression, but the data which do exist appear to indicate that many had done so. See, for example, “Directress Needs Tact and Resource,” The Varsity XLIV, (February 25, 1925): 1; “Playlets Were Presented in Credible Manner,” Newsclippings, 1911–30, file 1, Box 11, SC5, CTA. See also Murray, , “Making the Modern.” Google Scholar
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