Anne Lancashire

Anne Lancashire, Professor Emerita, FRSC, holds a B.A. from McGill University and both A.M. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University. Appointed to University College/University of Toronto in 1965, she became a full Professor of English in 1975, and joined Cinema Studies in 1987. Until her retirement in 2012 she taught courses in both the English Department and the Cinema Studies program: in the latter, INI 326Y-- Literary Traditions and Contemporary Popular Film, INI 225Y -- Popular American Film since 1970, and INI 237H -- Science Fiction Film, all of which she designed and developed, as well as supervising a good number of Independent Studies projects in popular film.

Her primary research field is medieval and early modern theatre history; but in 1980 she became fascinated by the structural, mythological, and metaphoric complexity of George Lucas’s The Empire Strikes Back and began a serious study of contemporary popular American film, which became her secondary research field. Her publications on the Star Wars films (original trilogy and the 3 prequels) are posted on her website; and she has given numerous public lectures and interviews on popular film, including nationwide on the CBC and at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

Her major publications in theatre history are listed in a short academic biography on her website; they include the first history of civic-sponsored theatrical activity in London (UK) from Roman times to 1558, a 3-volume edition of the manuscript records of this activity, editions of plays of the early modern period, and--ongoing--a researched and referenced public-access website of the mayors and sheriffs of London from 1190 to the present.