Alberta Theatre Projects ("ATP") is a professional,
not-for-profit
A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives.
While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...
,
Canadian
Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...
company, founded in 1972 by Lucille Wagner and Douglas Riske, currently based out of the
Martha Cohen Theatre in
Arts Commons, in
Calgary
Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...
,
Alberta
Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
. The company is well-known in Canada and internationally for its development of new,
Canadian plays and the art of
dramaturgy.
Founded by Lucille Wagner and Douglas Riske, ATP started as a children's theatre company in 1972 specializing in historical plays and has grown into one of the largest producers of new plays in Canada.
Originally based in the 198 seat
Canmore Opera House at Calgary's Heritage Park, in 1985 the company moved to its current home, the 419-seat Georgian-style Martha Cohen Theatre in Calgary's downtown core. It is currently one of 7 resident arts companies in Arts Commons (formerly known as the Calgary Centre for the Performing Arts), a facility designed by Theatre Project Consultants of London, England, and the original acoustical design was provided by Artec Consultants of New York.
It is also one of ten 'Cornerstone Arts Institutions' in the city, as designated by the Calgary Arts Development Agency.
Over the course of its history, ATP has produced more than 288 Canadian plays and premiered over 156 works by Canadian playwrights which have gone on to win over 39 major awards.
Between 1985 and 2000,
Allan Rae was composer-in-residence at ATP and many of ATP's productions have featured his original music.
Artistic/producing directors have included Douglas Riske (1972–83), D. Michael Dobbin (1983-2000), Bob White (1999-2009). Vanessa Porteous was appointed as Artistic Director in 2009, becoming the first female Artistic Director in the company's history. In 2018, Darcy Evans was named Executive and Artistic Director. In 2020, Evans died suddenly, and General Manager Kyle Russell stepped into an interim leadership role of the company. Rohit Chokhani briefly assumed the role of Artistic & Executive Director in 2022, and Haysam Kadri took over as Artistic Director in 2023.
2017-18 Season
* The Last Wife - by
Kate Hennig - Sept. 12-30, 2017
* To The Light - by
Évelyne de la Chenelière, Translated by John Murrell - Oct. 17 - Nov. 4, 2017
* E.B. White's Charlotte's Web - Adapted by Joseph Robinette - Nov. 21 - Dec. 31, 2017
* Empire of the Son - by
Tetsuro Shigematsu - Jan. 16-28, 2018
* Constellations - by Nick Payne - Feb. 20 - Mar. 10, 2018
* GLORY - by Tracey Power - Apr. 3-21, 2018
Productions
Annually, ATP produces six contemporary plays as part of a season that runs from September to April. Recent productions include ''
Shakespeare's Dog'' (
Leon Rooke, adapted by
Rick Chafe), ''
I, Claudia'' (
Kristen Thomson), ''Toad of Toad Hall'' (Kenneth Grahame, adapted by Philip Goulding). ATP has also presented work by Canadian companies such as: Theatre Newfoundland Labrador,
Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes, Mammalian Diving Reflex, The Old Trout Puppet Workshop, and Crow's Theatre.
Joan MacLeod, playwright for ''Another Home Invasion'' which premiered at the 2009 , was nominated for a 2009 Governor General's Literary Award.
Hannah Moscovitch, playwright for ''East of Berlin'' which was one of the ATP cornerstone plays in the 2008/2009 season, was also nominated.
Founded by Producing Director D. Michael Dobbin, the was piloted in 1987, and was a leading performing arts event of the 1988 Olympic Arts Festival in Calgary. As of 2008/2009, the has produced 99 world premiere plays. 271 subsequent productions of 64 of these plays have appeared across Canada soon after the festival. There have been over 235 productions of plays premiered at the throughout Canada and around the world. The festival came to an end in 2013, when the company decided to program more new, Canadian plays as part of its regular season, rather than as part of a festival model.
As part of the , ATP has produced work by over 70 Canadian playwrights, including Linda Griffiths, Colleen Murphy, Mieko Ouchi, Conni Massing, Eugene Stickland, Stephen Massicotte, Joan MacLeod, Sally Clark, Wendy Lill, Brad Fraser, Guillermo Verdecchia, Janet Munsil, Sean Dixon, Michael O'Brien, Amiel Gladstone, Donna-Michelle St. Bernard and Sky Gilbert.
References
External links
Alberta Theatre Projects
{{authority control
Theatre companies in Alberta
Theatre in Calgary