Aikins Carroll - The God of Gods: A Canadian Play

The University of Ottawa Press gratefully acknowledges the support extended to its publishing list by the Government of Canada and by the Canada Council for the Arts. This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Copy editing: Helen Guri

Proofreading: Robbie McCaw

Typesetting: CS

Cover design: Lisa Marie Smith

Cover image: Cumshewa by Emily Carr (detail), 1912. Watercolour over graphite on wove paper, mounted on cardboard, 52 75.5 cm. Reproduced with permission from the National Gallery of Ottawa. Photo NGC.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Aikins, Carroll, 1888-1967, author

The god of gods : a Canadian play / Carroll Aikins ; edited by Kailin

Wright. -- A critical edition.

Includes bibliographical references.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-0-7766-2327-6 (paperback).--ISBN 978-0-7766-2329-0 (pdf).-

ISBN 978-0-7766-2328-3 (epub)

I. Wright, Kailin, editor II. Title.

University of Ottawa Press, 2016

. Suiva and Yellow Snake discuss their future in Act I of the 1919 Birmingham production. Courtesy of the Barry Jackson Estate.

. Suiva looks into an onstage pool during the 1919 Birmingham production. Courtesy of the Barry Jackson Estate.

. Aikinss Home Theatre, 192022 (Hoffman Katherine 13). Courtesy of the Okanagan Archive Trust Society.

. An original performance from the Home Theatre in 1921 (Hoffman Katherine 14). Courtesy of the Okanagan Archive Trust Society.

. Katherine and Carroll at the manor house on Rekadon Ranch, Naramata 1950 (Hoffman Katherine 12). Courtesy of the Okanagan Archive Trust Society.

. The 1919 Birmingham production uses an Aztec statue for the aboriginal reserves religious idol. Courtesy of the Barry Jackson Estate.

. The 1920 Birmingham production set design by Paul Shelving. Courtesy of the Barry Jackson Estate.

. The 1922 Hart House set with mountain ranges in the background. Courtesy of the Hart House Archives.

. Detail: Waning Moon in the 1922 Hart House production. Courtesy of the Hart House Archives.

. A Hart House Theatre guide to performance make-up. Courtesy of the Hart House Archives.

. Yellow Snake first appears in the boughs of a tree as he watches the plays opening scene between Suiva and her mother, Kotwi, during the 1919 Birmingham production. Courtesy of the Barry Jackson Estate.

. The Birmingham Repertory Theatre Playbill for The God of Gods: An American Indian Play by Carroll Aitkins [sic]. The Birmingham Repertory Theatre 8 Nov. 1919. Playbill, page 1 of 3. Courtesy of the Barry Jackson Estate.

. The Birmingham Repertory Theatre Playbill for The God of Gods: An American Indian Play by Carroll Aitkins [sic]. The Birmingham Repertory Theatre 8 Nov. 1919. Playbill, page 2 of 3. Courtesy of the Barry Jackson Estate.

. The Birmingham Repertory Theatre Playbill for The God of Gods: An American Indian Play by Carroll Aitkins [sic]. The Birmingham Repertory Theatre 8 Nov. 1919. Playbill, page 3 of 3. Courtesy of the Barry Jackson Estate.

. The Hart House Theatre 192122 Season Programme. Courtesy of the Hart House Archives.

. The Hart House Theatre program for The God of Gods. 1822 April 1922. Playbill, page 1 of 2. Courtesy of the Hart House Archives.

. The Hart House Theatre program for The God of Gods. 1822 April 1922. Playbill, page 2 of 2. Courtesy of the Hart House Archives.

. The Everyman Theatre playbill for The God of Gods. The Everyman Theatre August 1931. Playbill, page 1 of 3. Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

. The Everyman Theatre playbill for The God of Gods. The Everyman Theatre August 1931. Playbill, page 2 of 3. Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

. The Everyman Theatre playbill for The God of Gods. The Everyman Theatre August 1931. Playbill, page 3 of 3. Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

T his project was generously funded by the Editing Modernism in Canada project in affiliation with the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada, as well as by St. Francis Xavier Universitys Start-up Grant and University Council for Research Award. The University of Toronto also offered valuable support during this projects early stages. This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

I am especially grateful to the estates of Carroll Aikins and Sir Barry Jackson for their assistance with this project and with copyright. I received essential resourcesincluding theatre reviews, critical essays, and photographsfrom interviews and correspondence with Alan Filewod (University of Guelph), James Hoffman (Thompson Rivers University), and Jerry Wasserman (University of Victoria). Craig Henderson, members of the Naramata Heritage Museum, Peter Ord at the Penticton Museum and Archives, and Naramata elders generously shared histories of Naramata and the Aikins family. Participants at the Editing Modernism in Canada Conference on Editorial Problems (University of Toronto, 2010) were integral to the shape of this project; the questions, discussions, and fellow panelists informed the theoretical scope of the critical introduction.

Many thanks are due to my colleagues and mentors at the University of Toronto and St. Francis Xavier University as well as to the members of the Editing Modernism in Canada project. For their expertise and assistance during the course of my research, I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to Colin Hill (University of Toronto), Dean Irvine (Dalhousie University), and Mary Nyquist (University of Toronto). Colin Hill and Dean Irvine provided essential research and training opportunities in Canadian modernism as well as editing. My University of Toronto colleagues, Tony Fong, Jennifer McDermott, and Spencer Morrison, offered helpful comments on earlier drafts of the introduction. Laura Estill (Texas A&M), in particular, was a reader at every stage. I am also indebted to Melissa Dalgleish (York University), who served as a tireless and insightful research assistant on this project.

The editorial team at the University of Ottawa Presss Canadian Literature Collectionin particular Dean Irvine, Elizabeth Schwaiger, and Dominike Thomashelped bring this book to press and I am very grateful for their editorial expertise.

Finally, I want to thank the librarians at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, the Birmingham Library, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the University of London Senate House Library for gently guiding me through the rough hollows of the archives.