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Title

Fonds consists of

21 lower level description(s)

Arrangement structure

Accession

1. Carol Bolt collection [graphic material]
2. Carol Bolt collection [graphic material]
3. Carol Bolt collection [graphic material]
4. Carol Bolt collection [graphic material]
5. Carol Bolt papers : postal covers [philatelic records]
6. Carol Bolt Collection [graphic material]
7. Carol Bolt fonds [textual record]
8. BOLT, Carol
9. Carol Bolt fonds [textual record, graphic material] (2003-00146-8)

Date(s)

1961-2000

Place of creation

No place, unknown, or undetermined

Extent

Language of material

English

Scope and content

Fonds consists of textual records, graphic material and one audio-visual record documenting the life and career of playwright Carol Bolt. The textual records are arranged in five series, as follows: Scripts and manuscripts, Correspondence, Subject files, Theatre programmes, and Clippings and reviews. Fonds also contains photographs related to the lives and careers of Carol and David Bolt, [ca. 1960-1982]; and posters, including the following: Paul James Band, presented in Toronto; Bonjour là, bonjour, play by Michel Tremblay, presented at the Phoenix Summer Theatre 1980, University of Victoria; One Night Stand, a comedy thriller by Bolt, Stage 3, Theatre Company; One Night Stand, a comedy thriller by Bolt, Stage 3, Theatre Company presented by Stage East Theatre, N.S.; and Red Emma, Queen of the Anarchists, play by Bolt, presented at the Toronto Free Theatre. Fonds also includes a sound recording of the original song The clowns, recorded by singer Jeri Craden, 1973.

Conditions of access

Terms of use

Photographs: No restrictions. Various copyright. Credit: Name of photographer / National Archives of Canada / Copy negative no. Art: No restrictions. Unknown copyright. Credit: National Archives of Canada. Philatelic material: No restrictions. Unknown copyright. Credit: National Archives of Canada.
Sound recording: Reproduction and use in any form requires the written permission of Bath Tub Music.
Textual records: The recipient of copies is responsible for determining whether material is subject to copyright and for ascertaining the name of the person or organization holding copyright. The recipient is also responsible for determining whether any use of copyrighted material does or does not constitute an infringement of copyright under the Copyright Act.

Finding aid

Textual records The finding aid provides a file list of the textual records. MSS1038 90 (Electronic)
http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000000162.pdf

Sound recording See Film, Video and Sound database for item-level description. 90 (Electronic)

Photographs: Photographic inventories, indexes and caption lists arranged by accession number are available. FA-500 (Paper)

Creator  /  Provenance

Bolt, Carol, 1941-2000.

Additional name(s)

Barnett, Robert A.
Lambeth, Michel, 1923-1977.
Oscars, Michael.
Harold Whyte Photography.
National Film Board of Canada.
Theatre Canada.

Biography / Administrative history

Carol Bolt was born Carol Johnson in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on 25 August 1941. She grew up in Manitoba, Ontario and British Columbia, and graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1961. After living in England and Israel, she settled in Montreal, where she began writing plays for children and co-founded a children's theatre. Her first play, I Wish, was produced in 1966 and was published in Upstage and Down (Macmillan 1968). Bolt moved to Toronto, where she married the actor-writer David Bolt in 1969 and quickly established a career as a writer for the stage. Her early writing was influenced by an interest in Canadian history and mythology and a desire for social justice. Her first Toronto play, Daganawida, portraying the French and Indians at Quebec, was produced by Toronto Workshop Productions in 1970. Her next play, Buffalo Jump, about the on-to-Ottawa trek of British Columbia strikers during the Great Depression, was produced in Regina in 1971 and at Toronto's Theatre Passe Muraille in 1972. Gabe, which intermingled modern and historical Métis characters, was produced at Toronto Free Theatre in 1973. Bolt was a feminist writer who explored the themes of women and power, and violence, in her plays Red Emma - Queen of the Anarchists 1974, Shelter 1975, One Night Stand 1977, and Famous 1997. Her comedy Escape Entertainment, produced by Tarragon Theatre in 1981, made fun of the entertainment business. She wrote many plays for children, including My Best Friend is Twelve Feet High and Cyclone Jack (about the celebrated Six Nations long-distance runner Tom Longboat) 1972, Tangleflags and Maurice 1973, Ice Time (about Justine Bailey's fight to play hockey in a boys' league) 1986, Real Life Television 1991, and Fatso 1994.

Red Emma and One Night Stand were both filmed for CBC Television by the Canadian filmmaker Allan King. Cyclone Jack was also filmed for television. Two of Bolt's scripts, West on Queen Street and Vietnaming (co-written with Edwina Follows) were made into short dramatic films at the Canadian Film Centre 1989. She was a regular scriptwriter for the children's television programmes Fraggle Rock and Blizzard Island. She wrote radio plays for the CBC, including Silent Pictures (about Mary Pickford) 1983, Yellow Ribbons 1987, Ninja 1989, and Campaneras (about Canadian foreign aid worker Karen Ridd in El Salvador) 1993. In 1995, Red Emma was made into an opera commissioned by the Canadian Opera Company, with a libretto by Bolt.

Bolt was active in organizations representing the interests of Canadian writers. She was a founding member of the Playwrights Co-op (later Playwrights Union of Canada) in 1972 and served on its executive. In 1987-1988, she served on the Public Lending Rights Commission. She worked as a dramaturge for Toronto Free Theatre in 1973 and for the Labrador Arts Festival, editing a collection of plays commemorating its 25th anniversary, Who Asked Us Anyway? (1998). She was a writer-in-residence at the University of Toronto 1977-1978, the Australian Playwrights Colony 1980, Banff School of Fine Art 1983, and National Theatre School 1997. She taught at the Young People's Theatre Summer School 1983-1997, and at Concordia University 1992-1994. She attended Norman Jewison's Centre for Advanced Film Studies in 1989.

Carol Bolt died in Toronto on 28 November 2000, leaving her husband, David, and a son, Alex.

Additional information

Subject heading

1. Dramatists - Canada, 1963-1988 Alberta Theatre Projects, 1972-1975.
2. Television scripts, 1963-1977 Playwrights Co-op, 1973-1977.
3. Radio scripts - 1963-1977 Tornoto Cultural Advising Corporaaation, 1974.
4. Motion picture plays, 1963-1977 David Bolt, 1967-1977.
5. Carol Bolt - Notebooks, sketchbooks, etc., 19973 Playwrights Union of Canada, 1778-1983.
6. Carol Bolt - Manuscripts, 1967 Guild of Canadian Playwrights, 1978-1983.
7. Theatres - Canada, 1966-1988 Playwrights Union of Canada, 1978-1985.
8. Authors, Canadian, 1966-1977 Toronto Arts Council, 1978-1985.
9. Pornography - Canada, 1967-1988 Greenpeace, 1967-1988.
10. Amnest International. Canadian Section, 1967-1988.
11. Playwrights - Canada.
12. Theatre Canada.

Source

Private

Other system control no.

MAINS17970

Related control no.

1. 1978-0001 MISA
2. 1978-016 PIC
3. 1978-059 NPC
4. 1989-015 DAP
5. 1989-244 DAP
6. 1989-320 DAP
7. 1989-357 DAP
8. 2003-00146-8
9. MG31-D89

MIKAN no.

99716