Arts Club Theatre Company

The Arts Club Theatre Company is the largest theatre company in Western Canada and the third largest not-for-profit theatre company in the entire country. Situated on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) nations and spread across three home venues, the Arts Club stages productions from large-scale musicals to contemporary comedies, bold new works, and beloved classics.

Each year, more than a quarter of a million people experience the best in professional theatre at its three theatres—the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage, Granville Island Stage, and Newmont Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre—as well as during a tour season that hits venues around British Columbia and sometimes beyond.

The Arts Club of Vancouver was founded in 1958 as a private club for artists, musicians, and actors. It officially became the Arts Club Theatre in 1964 when the company opened its first stage, the legendary Seymour Street Stage, a converted gospel hall in the heart of downtown. That historic 250-seat venue helped launch the careers of Canadian theatre icons like Michael J. Fox, Bruce Greenwood, Ruth Nichol, Janet Wright, Ann Mortifee, and Brent Carver, while introducing Vancouver to works by Canadian playwrights such as Michel Tremblay, David Freedman, and Carol Bolt. Productions by newcomers Sherman Snukal (Talking Dirty), Nicola Cavendish (It's Snowing on Saltspring), Morris Panych (7 Stories), and John Lazarus (The Late Blumer) also had premieres there. The original Arts Club Seymour Street Stage was closed for demolition in 1991.

The company added the current Granville Island Stage in 1979 and the smaller Revue Stage next door in 1983. The Granville Island Stage has hosted innovative versions of classics such as A Comedy of Errors; colourful Canadian hits such as Billy Bishop Goes to War; dramas like Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune; and comedies including Lend Me a Tenor. The more intimate Revue Stage was home to some of Vancouver's all-time favourite musicals, revues, and comedies, including Ain't Misbehavin'; renovated in 2010, it opened with the world premiere of Anosh Irani’s My Granny the Goldfish. After five more seasons there, the Arts Club moved the Revue Stage programming to the purpose-built new Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre in Olympic Village—a flexible stage that offers multiple seating configurations. The Goldcorp Stage opened in November 2015 with Peter and the Starcatcher, and also housed the premiere production of the hit musical Onegin in March 2016. In 2020, the Goldcorp Stage was renamed the Newmont Stage.

Meanwhile the renovated historic landmark called the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage, located in the South Granville neighbourhood, opened to the public with Dean Regan's record-setting production of Swing in October 1998. The Stanley is now considered the company's flagship venue. An intimate version of a Broadway or London classic theatre, this elegant stage has permitted the company to move into the exciting arena of producing larger musicals, 20th-century classics, and acclaimed productions from around the world.

For many of those location changes and for most of its history, the company was helmed by Bill Millerd, who was its artistic managing director from 1972 until his retirement in 2018. That year, Ashlie Corcoran took over its artistic leadership.

From its beginnings right through to today, the theatre has upheld a commitment to Canadian work, reflected in productions of plays written by Kevin Loring, Brad Fraser, Tomson Highway, Wendy Lill, George F. Walker, and others. It’s also a strong supporter of rising local playwrights, staging works by such names as Amiel Gladstone and Veda Hille, Marcus Youssef, Dorothy Dittrich, and Anosh Irani. The company also runs the Silver Commissions Project, a highly respected program that provides funding for a playwright to complete a new play with the goal of producing it on one of the Arts Club stages; participants have included Christine Quintana, Hiro Kanagawa, and Amy Lee Lavoie and Omari Newton. In addition, its Emerging Playwrights’ Unit is an annual program for playwrights in the early stages of their careers to spend a year-long residency writing a new script.

Meanwhile, the Arts Club’s Company-in-Residence program offers professional development, encouragement, and resources for a Vancouver-based company in its early years of creating and producing theatre-based performance; for 2021-22, Immigrant Lessons is in residence. In addition, the Arts Club runs a full slate of education and outreach programs, spanning everything from acting intensives to Creative Teens Theatre to student workshop experiences.