Introduction

Abstract

This Special Issue on Religion and Theatre in Canada is the result of a Call for Papers originally circulated in 2005 by Moira Day of the Department of Drama, the University of Saskatchewan, and Mary Ann Beavis, Department of Religious Studies andAnthropology, St.ThomasMore College.Religion was broadly defined as that relating to human spirituality, concerned with the divine andwith sacred or holy things, including particular religious traditions, philosophies, institutions or theologies, and the expression of spirituality in ritual, worship, devotion and mystical experience. Theatre was broadly defined as that relating to the creation of dramatic material, as well as its realization in production and performance before a live audience, including amateur, educational, and professional theatre, paratheatrical activities and texts (including closet drama), and the elements of playwriting, acting, directing, costume and scene design, architecture, audience dynamics and theatre management. Through proposing such an issue, the editors hoped to explore the dynamic intersection of religion and theatre as shaped within or by Canada, past and present, as a geographical, human and conceptual reality.