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| 1926 | Born May 13th in Findlater, Saskatchewan, to Reverend George Coghill and Dorothy (Pollard) Coghill. |
Joy as a Baby |
| 1928 | Moves from Canada to Glasgow, Scotland. | |
| 1938 | Due to the possibilities of war, was evacuated from Glasgow to Troon. | |
| 1939 | Reverend George Coghill dies. | |
| 1940 | Evacuated with mother and cousins from Scotland to Canada. Attends Kitsilano High School and begins elocution lessons with Anne Mossman. | |
| 1941 | Appears with the Vancouver Little Theatre in Bunty Pulls the Strings by Graham Moffat - opening night is on the same day the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. The play was the 100th production of the Vancouver Little Theatre. |
Bunty Pulls the Strings
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| 1943 | High School Drama Festival - acts and directs in Room in the Tower for which Coghill wins a scholarship to the University of British Columbia's (UBC's) Summer School of the Theatre. | |
| 1943 | Begins teaching elocution lessons in Vancouver with A.T.C.L. certificate from Trinity College in London, Ontario. | |
| 1944 | Wins Best Actress in the Vancouver High School Drama Festival, playing the Dowager Queen in Dark Betrothal by Thomas Baden Morris. | |
| 1944 | Graduates from Kitsilano high school. | |
| 1945 | Biondello in Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, with the UBC Players Club, Vancouver. | |
| 1946 | Has the title role in John Van Druten's I Remember Mama with UBC's Summer School of the Theatre. |
I Remember Mama |
| 1946 | Member of the Theta Chapter of Phrateres at UBC. | |
| 1946 | Membership in the literary and Scientific Honorary Society of the Alma Mater Society of UBC for services to the cultural activities of the student body. | |
| 1947 | Housekeeper in Donna Rosita with UBC Summer School of the Theatre (directed by Dorothy Somerset). | |
| 1947 | Graduates with a Bachelor or Arts degree from the University of British Columbia. | |
| 1948 | Wins a Dominion Drama Festival (DDM) acting award playing Mrs. Phelps in The Silver Cord by Sydney Howard. It was staged by the Vancouver Little Theatre and presented in Vancouver for a week in February 1948 before being presented in Ottawa at the DDM in the spring of 1948. | |
| 1948 | Directed Richard Brinsley Sheridan's School for Scandal with UBC's Players' Club. (View program cover.) | |
| 1948 | Leaves Vancouver for the Goodman Theatre in Chicago to study for a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Art Institute of Chicago. | |
| 1948 | Directs George Bernard Shaw's Dark Lady of the Sonnets, Goodman Theatre in Chicago. | |
| 1948 | Plays the mother in This Happy Breed by Noel Coward, Goodman Theatre in Chicago. | |
| 1949 | Plays another mother in Gerald Savory's George and Margaret, Goodman Theatre in Chicago. | |
| 1949 | Title role, Candida by George Bernard Shaw, Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Director: David Itkin. |
<br>)
Joy with Bob Borlik at Goodman Theatre |
| 1950 | Directs King Midas and the Golden Touch, by Charlotte Chorpenning, Goodman's Children's Theatre in Chicago. | |
| 1950 | Adapts and directs Antigone, by Jean Anouilh, Goodman Theatre Studio in Chicago. | |
| 1950 | Receives her Master of Fine Arts degree from Goodman Theatre at the Art Institute of Chicago. | |
| 1950 | Joins the International Players in Kingston, Ontario for the summer. She directs and acts, doing thirteen plays in thirteen weeks. | |
| 1951 | Begins teaching drama at UBC (1951 -1952 and 1954 - 1966). | |
| 1951 | Directs Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing with the UBC Players' Club. | |
| 1951 | Actress and director at Tenthouse Theatre in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. | |
| 1951 | Actress and Associate Artistic Director with Sydney Risk's Everyman Theatre in Vancouver (1951 - 1953). | |
| 1951 | Plays Mrs. Alving in Ibsen's Ghosts, Everyman Theatre in Vancouver. Director: Sydney Risk. |
<br>)
Joy with Ron Wilson in Ghosts |
| 1951 | Plays in Mama in House of Regrets, by Peter Ustinov, Everyman Theatre. Director: Sydney Risk. | |
| 1951 | Directs Will the Mail Train Run Tonight? by Morland Carey, Everyman Theatre. | |
| 1951 - 1952 | Directs Little Red Riding Hood and Rumplestiltskin for Everyman Theatre. | |
| 1952 | Directs The Flies, by Jean-Paul Sartre for Everyman Theatre. | |
| 1952 | Directs Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare for the UBC's Players' Club. | |
| 1952 | Begins teaching at Goodman Theatre and De Paul University in Chicago (1952 - 1953). | |
| 1952 | Directs The Emperor's New Clothes by Charlotte Chorpenning, Goodman Children's Theatre, Chicago. | |
| 1952 | Directs Mrs. Henry Wood's East Lynne, Goodman Studio Theatre. | |
| 1953 | Directs Noel Coward's Tonight at Eight-Thirty (Theoni V. Aldridge on piano), Goodman Theatre. | |
| 1953 | Directs Huckleberry Finn by Charlotte Chorpenning, Goodman Children's Theatre. | |
| 1953 | Directs The Swan by Ferenc Molnar, De Paul University. | |
| 1953 | Founds Holiday Theatre, the first professional children's theatre in Canada, with Myra Benson. Becomes artistic director of the theatre (1953 - 1966). | |
| 1954 | Directs Chekhov's The Seagull, UBC's Frederick Wood Theatre, Vancouver. | |
| 1954 | Actress and director for Tenthouse Theatre in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Directs A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, and performs in The Heiress by Augustus and Ruth Goetz. | |
| 1954 | Artistic director of Frederick Wood Theatre (1954 - 1955) at UBC in Vancouver. | |
| 1955 | GM Theatre, live television on CBC: Never Say No with William Shatner, Toby Robins and William Needles. Director: Robert Allen. | |
| 1955 | Marries radio producer John (Jack) Thorne. | |
| 1956 | Birth of first child, Debra Dorothy. | |
| 1957 | Directs Teahouse of the August Moon by John Patrick, Vancouver Little Theatre. | |
| 1958 | Birth of second child, Gordon Alexander. | |
| 1959 | Plays Inez in No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre at Frederic Wood Theatre, UBC. | |
| 1959 | Alice in Anyone for Alice, CBC Television “Studio Pacific”. | |
