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Theatre Calgary, is a theatre company in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, established as a professional company in 1968. It was preceded by Workshop 14, a theatre study group founded in 1944 by Betty Mitchell.^[1] Calgary's Betty Mitchell awards are named after her.^[2] Theatre Calgary's productions take place mainly in the Max Bell Theatre, located in the multi-venue arts centre Arts Commons in downtown Calgary, Alberta, and through the program Shakespeare by the Bow.^[3] Through their shows and programs, Theatre Calgary aims at cultural enrichment and accessibility to the arts and includes a matinee program for city schools as well as paid internships.^[3]

This company began as the MAC with the first performance of A Taste of Honey in November 1964.^[4] It changed its name to MAC 14 when it merged with Workshop 14, an amateur company established by Betty Mitchell.^[4] The name "Theatre Calgary" was established in 1968 by actor and artistic director Christopher Newton and Fred Scot, the then-president of the MAC 14 Theatre Society.^[4]

Theatre Calgary's leadership has changed substantially over the years. The current artistic director is Stafford Arima (2017-present)^[5] and the current executive director is Jon Jackson (2018-present).^[6]

Theatre Calgary is Calgary’s first professional theatre company that grew from grassroots sources. Don Boyes, Eddie Wong and Harry Pinchin opened the Musician's and Actors Club (the MAC)^[7] in 1963, in the basement of an abandoned movie house called Isis. This was meant to be a creative space and outlet in which music and theatre artists and performers around Calgary could meet and interact. The gatherings built an artistic community needed to expand this project to include theatre productions as well. The first play offered in the MAC in the upstairs theatre was called A Taste of Honey (1964) .

Later on the MAC became MAC 14, when it merged with another establishment called Workshop 14^[8] ; the amateur company established by Betty Mitchell. As 1967 rolled around;playwrite, novelist and poet Kenneth Dyba was elected as the artistic director for a transitional season of semi professional theatre and then the entire company moved from the downtown house named Isis to the much larger and more modern Betty Mitchell Theatre in the Allied Arts Center.

In 1968, Christopher Newton, a young actor from central Canada became the artistic director, and with the help of Fred Scot the president of the MAC 14 Theatre Society they renamed the established company to Theatre Calgary. The newly named company Theatre Calgary joined other regional theatres pioneered by the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre across Canada to provide Canadian cities with professional quality performances. After the rebranding of the company, Theatre Calgary went on to perform in Betty Mitchell Theatre, where contemporary and old school plays have been performed for a couple of decades. In 1985, Theatre Calgary became the resident company of the spectacular Max Bell Theatre in the new Calgary Centre for the Performing Arts ( Arts Commons present day), with their most popular annual production being A Christmas Carol. ^[9]

There has been a great variety in the management of Theatre Calgary over the years. Under the management of Tom Mcabe^[10] from 1997-2014, Theatre Calgary became a powerful mogul in the industry, as well as having seventeen consecutive surplus years in the business. In 2017, management was transferred over to Canadian director Stafford Arima^[5] , who would later begin working with his new co-director Jon Jackson^[11] as of June 2018.

• Christopher Newton (1968–1971)
• Clarke Rogers (1971–1972)
• Harold G. Baldridge (1972–1978)
• Rick McNair (1978–1984)
• Sharon Pollock (1984–1985)
• Martin Kinch (1985–1991)
• Brian Rintoul (1991–1996)
• James Brewer, Acting Artistic Director (1996–1997)
• Ian Prinsloo (1997–2005)
• Dennis Garnhum (2005–2016)
• Shari Wattling, Interim Artistic Director (2016–2017)
• Stafford Arima (2017–present)

• A Midsummer Night's Dream - by William Shakespeare: June 27 - August 18, 2019
• Iceland - by Nicolas Billon: October 15 - November 2, 2019
• A Christmas Carol - by Charles Dickens: November 28 - December 28, 2019
• The Louder We Get - by Kent Stained, Akiva Romer-Segal, and Colleen Dauncey: January 28 - February 22, 2020
• Admissions - by Joshua Harmon (playwright): March 10 - April 4, 2020
• Million Dollar Quartet (musical) - by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux: April 21 - May 24, 2020

• Alberta Theatre Projects
• Arts Commons
• Betty Award
• Betty Mitchell
• Theatre Calgary production history
• Theatre of Canada

• Official Site
• Official LinkedIn
• Canadian Theatre