Our History

Our Story

Theatre Calgary traces its origins to the 1960s grassroots movement for local professional theatre. The company formed from the city’s two most prominent amateur theatre groups: Workshop 14 and the Musicians’ and Actors’ Club. Workshop 14 had been founded in 1944 by students of local theatre pioneer Betty Mitchell and took its name from Mitchell’s drama classroom at Western Canada High School. The Musicians’ and Actors’ Club (fondly known as MAC) began as a social club in 1963, with meetings held the basement bar of the derelict Isis movie house on 1st St SW, but members soon took to staging short plays and musical revues in the upstairs hall. Under the leadership of Kenneth Dyba, the two groups merged in 1966 as MAC 14. Then, on July 1st, 1968, MAC 14 became Theatre Calgary, the city’s first fully professional theatre company. Christopher Newton, who would later lead the Shaw Festival for more than two decades, was appointed Theatre Calgary’s first artistic director.

The new company performed in the Betty Mitchell Theatre at the Allied Arts Centre, a converted tractor showroom at 9th Ave and 8th St SW that later became known as the QR Centre. In its first two decades, Theatre Calgary presented a mix of classic and new plays, including premieres by Canadian writers such as John Murrell, W.O. Mitchell, and Sharon Pollock. In 1985, Theatre Calgary became the resident company of the Max Bell Theatre in the new Calgary Centre for the Performing Arts (now Werklund Centre). In this striking new performance space, both grand and intimate, the company dedicated itself to large-scale productions of classics, period pieces, and musicals.

On March 13, 2017, Stafford Arima was announced as the 11th Artistic Director of Theatre Calgary. The Canadian-born Arima arrived at Theatre Calgary following a successful career in New York, where he most notably directed the musical Allegiance on Broadway. Since his arrival, the theatre has staged world premieres of Honour Beat, Mary and Max A New Musical, The Louder We Get, Forgiveness, Selma Burke, Awoowaakii, The Tale of the Gifted Prince, and the international premiere of Beaches the Musical. Additionally, Theatre Calgary has launched Creative Learning and TC Learning, which provide classes and training to both young adults and experienced artists, respectively. In June, 2025, Theatre Calgary welcomed Calgary's Stephen Schroeder as its new Executive Director.