The Centaur Theatre Company is a

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

company based in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. It was co-founded in 1969 by

Maurice Podbrey Maurice Podbrey CM (born April 25, 1934) is a South African actor and theatre director. He has spent much of his career in Canada, where he co-founded and was the artistic director of the English-language Centaur Theatre in Montreal. Biography ...

along with The Centaur Foundation for the Performing Arts. It currently has Eda Holmes as the Artistic and Executive Director, and Michael Baratta as Chairman of the Board. Podbrey retired from the company in 1997, and was succeeded by Gordon McCall. From 2007 to 2017 Roy Surette was the company's third Artistic and Executive Director. In 2017 Michael Baratta was named Chairman of the Board as well as Eda Holmes being appointed the forth and current position of Artistic and Executive Director. The Centaur is the city's main English-language only theatre company. From 1969 to 1973 the company leased the partially renovated auditorium in the historic building. In 1974 the Centaur purchased the building and spent $1.3 million in renovations under the design of architect Victor Prus. The building reopened in 1975 with an additional auditorium. The original

black box theatre A black box theater is a simple performance space, typically a square room with black walls and a flat floor. The simplicity of the space allows it to be used to create a variety of configurations of stage and audience interaction. The black ...

was renamed "C1", and seats approximately 245 people. The newer venue was named "C2" and is a more traditional

proscenium stage A proscenium ( grc-gre, προσκήνιον, ) is the metaphorical vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor ...

, seating approximately 425.

Old Stock Exchange Building

The Centaur Theatre is located in the Old Stock Exchange Building, formerly home to the

Montreal Stock Exchange The Montreal Exchange (MX; french: Bourse de Montréal), formerly the Montreal Stock Exchange (MSE), is a derivatives exchange, located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada that trades futures contracts and options on equities, indices, currencies, ETFs, ...

(MSE). It was built in 1903 by American architect George B. Post. The building served as the home of the MSE until 1965.

References

*Rémillard, François, ''Old Montreal — A Walking Tour'', Ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec, 1992

External links

Centaur Theatre Company

Canadian Encyclopedia article
{{Coord, 45.503415, -73.556471, display=title 1969 establishments in Quebec Quebec Anglophone culture in Montreal Landmarks in Montreal History of Montreal Old Montreal Beaux-Arts architecture in Canada Theatres completed in 1903 Theatres in Montreal