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The cover from the scrapbook of photographs, clippings and sketches of Biller's plays.
Photograph: the cast of Peter Grief, found in The Little Female Academy scrapbook.
Tail piece for Moi, Toi et le Roi , from the Artwork series. |
Plays
Aside from her illustrating, Biller was also a talented creative writer, writing and rewriting children's stories, as well as plays. Writing was a popular past time at Trebarfoot as well, and the Trebarfoot family diaries have many examples of Biller's poems and short stories (see the Diaries page for more details on the Trebarfoot diaries).
Biller's playwriting began as a young woman, when she wrote plays for performance by the students attending her parents' boarding school in Launceston. A scrapbook, titled The Little Female Academy, shows that Biller also performed in the plays, and includes several cast photos in costume. Clippings and sketches show that some of her plays were published in children's periodicals such as Blackie's and Girl's Realm..
Rare Books and Special Collections also holds the complete script for the Biller's play Auntie MacAssar, the only known complete Biller play manuscript. Photographs in The Little Female Academy, and a printed programme, show that Biller played the part of Bad Barbara in this play.
Later, while living in British Columbia on James Island, Biller continued to write plays for local children, including Moi, Toi et le Roi, and a play based on First Nations characters, for which she also made the costumes. Rare Books and Special Collections holds, in the Artwork series of the Olive Allen Biller Collection, sketches of her First Nations characters, and a piece marked "Tail piece for 'Moi, Toi et le Roi.' "
Biller's known plays include Auntie MacAssar, Aunt Grundy, Peter Grief, Little Female Academy, Moi, Toi, et le Roi, and the play based on First Nations characters. |
