Sharon Pollock

Sharon Pollock, (19 April 1936 – 22 April 2021) was a Canadian playwright, actor, and director.

Mary Sharon Chalmers was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, on 19 April 1936, to Eloise and George Everett Chalmers.

Her mother had been a nurse prior to marrying her father, a prominent local physician and political figure.

Sharon was raised in a family and time when appearances and family ties were extremely important; although her mother knew her father was unfaithful to her, she refused to leave him.

Sharon had a younger brother, Peter Chalmers, who was born 19 October 1937.

When Sharon was younger her parents often took her and her brother on trips, including to Banff, Vancouver, and through the U.S. She had exposure to large scale American musical theatre as the family traveled to New York, where she saw popular musicals such as Annie Get Your Gun, South Pacific, and Oklahoma!

As a child, Pollock was not very interested in academics, but enjoyed reading, and at a young age developed a passion for history.

She attended Charlotte Street Primary School and, for grades 9 and 10, Fredericton High School, where she was the president of the Drama Club.

When she was in grade ten, she and a friend skipped school for three weeks straight to sneak into the local cinema and watch movies.

When they were caught, Pollock's father sent her to King's Hall (Now Bishop's College School), an Anglican private school, because he believed that if she could skip school for three weeks and still get good grades, then there was no way her schooling was challenging enough.

At this young age Pollock and the same friend, Jane Hickman, created "The Secret Two Club", for they both shared the desire to be writers, instead of housewives or teachers like the women around them.

As well as her interest in drama and writing, Pollock was actively involved in the sports teams at King's Hall and was editor of the school magazine.

In Pollock's later teenage years her family began to fall apart.

Her mother felt stifled in the role of housewife and was worn down by her husband's constant unfaithfulness.

Eloise Chalmers committed suicide in 1954, when Pollock was 18.

The same year, Pollock enrolled in the general arts program at the University of New Brunswick (UNB), where she was also an active member of the Drama Society.

She met her future husband, Ross Pollock, at UNB where he was in his fifth year of the environmental forestry program.

The young couple eloped, and by 1956 they had their first child, Jennifer.

In the same year they moved to Toronto, where they lived for the next eight years.

During this time, the couple had four more children, Kirk (1957), Melinda (1959), Lisa (1961) and Michele (1963).

The 1960s were a booming time in Canadian theatre.

There were regional theatres and festivals popping up all over the country.

After their move to Calgary, Pollock and Ball began touring with Mitchell's theatre group The Prairie Players.

Pollock joined a theatre group in Toronto, directing a handful of high school kids (1962–63).

She referred to this directing stint as "the blind leading the blind".

Ross openly abused his wife; Pollock admits attempting to kill him by grinding up high hormone level birth control pills and putting the powder into his food.

This attempt at murder was unsuccessful.

In 1964, after another violent physical attack by her husband, Pollock left Ross and returned to Fredericton with her five children.

She hoped to be with her family, but it was not as she had left it.

Her father had remarried and had two more children with his new wife.

Pollock's career in theatre began in 1964.

When she returned to Fredericton, she arrived just in time for the new Beaverbrook Playhouse to open.

She found a job running the Playhouse Box Office.

At the Playhouse, she, along with some of the members from the UNB Drama Society, formed "The Company of Ten", which performed six shows in the 1964–65 season, then dissolved the following year.

During this time Pollock began dating fellow actor Michael Ball.

Victor Mitchell had been starting up a Drama Department at the University of Calgary and offered Ball a position starting in January 1966.

Pollock followed Ball west, hoping that this move across Canada would allow her and her children the opportunity to start fresh, to leave the emotional baggage of her family behind her.

She was Artistic Director of Theatre Calgary (1984), Theatre New Brunswick (1988–1990) and Performance Kitchen & The Garry Theatre, the latter which she herself founded in 1992.

In 2007, she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Pollock was one of Canada's most notable playwrights, and was a major part of the development of what is known today as Canadian Theatre.