Obituary of Joyce Elizabeth DOOLITTLE (nee Donahue)

April 5, 1928– Morgantown, West Virginia, U.S.A.

March 6, 2020 – Calgary, Alberta

Joyce Doolittle, beloved wife, mother, friend, educator, mentor, actor, director, editor, producer, community supporter, and benefactor, passed away peacefully on Friday, March 6, 2020 at the age of 91 years, surrounded by family and friends.  

Born in Morgantown, West Virginia, even as a child Joyce thrived in performing at speech and drama festivals, wearing her mother’s hand-sewn outfits. She had always known that she wanted to be in theatre and began acting in plays in Junior High School. Joyce met Quenten, her soul mate and the love of her life, at Ithaca College in New York State as they were seated alphabetically in hygiene class.  Together they were fated to participate in and to advocate for theatre and music in their adopted country and internationally. She earned her M.A. in Drama at Indiana University. 

In 1960 the young family with children, Megan (8), Eric (6), Lisa (5) and month old Amy, arrived in Calgary in a Buick station wagon with real wood on the sides. Quenten taught music at the University of Alberta, Calgary while Joyce was a stay-at-home mom. To keep her hand in, she was soon involved in Calgary’s emerging theatre scene by playwriting, teaching Drama at the Allied Arts Centre, initiating a children’s theatre, and directing avant-garde plays for the Musicians and Actors Club (the MAC 14), the precursor of Theatre Calgary. 

Joining the Department of Drama at the University in 1965, she directed more than twenty main stage plays for the department and initiated theatre for children courses and productions. Joyce Doolittle co-authored with Zina Barnieh, A MIRROR OF OUR DREAMS, the first history of theatre for the young in Canada. As she championed the local arts she became a mentor to countless students and professional artists throughout Canada. She thrived on her passionate support of new and original works, believing it to be fundamental to the fabric of any society. Published in drama encyclopaedias, theatre journals (national and international), she also became Drama Editor for 15 years for Red Deer College Press, an outlet for her devotion to Canadian playwrights.

Her influence went beyond Canada, as she worked and researched in Theatre for Children in Russia and Eastern Europe. After sitting on the council of the International Association of Theatre for Children and Youth (ASSITEJ), Joyce chaired the association’s Fourth General Assembly in 1972, when Montreal showcased theatre for children companies from Canada and around the world. Subsequently, she was President for ASSITEJ. 

Joyce was a signatory on the application for a federal Opportunities for Youth Grant that supported the expansion of Alberta Theatre Projects, which at that time was devoted to producing new plays in the Canmore Opera House. Some of Calgary’s best local playwrights, including John Murrell, flourished in this creative context.

While driving to the university one day in 1971, she saw the derelict heritage pumphouse building. Here was another opportunity to offer artists a place to create and produce work and to enrich the arts scene in Calgary. She co-opted Victor Mitchell (Department Head of Drama) to help her realize the vision for these two innovative theatre spaces. To honour her, The Pumphouse named one space the Joyce Doolittle Theatre.

After her retirement she continued to act, having received her ACTRA gold card. She had roles in movies and also directed for professional and amateur theatres in Calgary. A starring role in Queen Lear was written for Joyce by Eugene Stickland.  As part of this performance, at 80 years of age, she stood on her head in the Joyce Doolittle Theatre. A few years later, partnering with long time colleague and friend, Philip McCoy, they toured a reader’s theatre collage: Act Your Age, in Calgary.

A partial list of distinctions recognizing this remarkable woman are: The Order of Canada, The Betty Mitchell Award for Acting, The Harry and Martha Cohen Award for significant and sustained contribution to theatre in Calgary,  the YMCA Woman of Distinction in Education, the  Alberta Achievement Award for Excellence in Drama, and several Dominion Drama Festival Awards for best director and best production.

Countless professional artists worldwide voice the pivotal difference that Joyce made in their professional emergence and development.  Wherever she went, that particular community became her family and she, the art mother, nurtured belief and artistic excellence in each individual.  “Why sometimes (she) believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast”  (Lewis Carroll).   And she had the courage and perseverance to make her beliefs come true. 

Joyce is survived by two daughters, Megan and Lisa Doolittle (Fred Greene); and four grandchildren, Terence and Patrick Doolittle (Eleanor Hankins), Will Greene (Ruth Midgely), and Carolyn Hyde. She was predeceased by her beloved Quenten and children Amy and Eric.

A Celebration of Joyce’s life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, friends are encouraged to make a donation to the Pumphouse Theatre, www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/pumphouse-theatres-society/. Condolences, memories and photos may be shared and viewed on Joyce’s obituary at www.McInnisandHolloway.com.

In living memory of Joyce Doolittle, a tree will be planted in the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area by McINNIS & HOLLOWAY FUNERAL HOMES, Chapel of the Bells, 2720 CENTRE STREET NORTH, CALGARY, AB, T2E 2V6,   Telephone: 403-243-8200.