Calgary actor, director, educator, and theatre pioneer Joyce Doolittle has been appointed to the Order of Canada.  Doolittle was instrumental in growing the Calgary theatre community after moving to the city in 1960.  She began as a teacher, instructing teenagers and creating a children’s theatre in 1963. Later she taught creative drama for the Drama Department at the University of Calgary.  

Doolittle helped create the Pumphouse Theatre in Calgary and her name graces one of the spaces in the current building. At the age of 81 she performed in Queen Lear at that very theatre. She has recieved many awards for her work, including the Harry and Martha Cohen Award (1987), a YWCA Woman of Distinction Award in Education, an Alberta Achievement Award (1987), and a Betty Mitchell Award.

Congratulations Joyce!

Read a CBC article on Doolittle’s appointement to the Order of Canada here.