Winnipeg Theatre

Consider Winnipeg theatre.

Is it something in the water?

Do we sit on a hidden fault line, a place where some weird cultural and creative energy just naturally bubbled up to the surface?

Or is it blown right into us by that constant Prairie breeze?

Whatever it is, and for whatever reason, Winnipeg has far more than its share of arts and culture. One of the places this is most noticeable is in our lively theatre scene.

Strike! the Musical

If there is iconic Winnipeg theatre, this is it!

The 40-hour, 5-day work week, pay equity, minimum wage, decent work conditions…none of these facts of modern working life we may today take for granted have come into being without struggle and strife.

And one of the defining moments happened here.

The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 would lead to the creation of workers’ rights and human rights in Canada, spreading throughout the developed world.

That strike started just steps from Portage & Main.

Each summer, Strike! the Musical tells the story…

Prairie Theatre Exchange

Provokative, charming, intriguing, hilarious - memorable performances at Canada’s only theatre company located in a shopping mall.

It’s a surprisingly intimate space, far above the stores, where you will see plays chosen for their wit, humour and passion, such as Wingfield’s Inferno from Dan Needles’ Wingfield sagas. PTE is also known for it’s Christmas season shows for kids based on the stories of Robert Munsch.

Prairie Theatre Exchange also presents the annual Carol Shields Festival of New Works, spotlighting the recent bumper crop of Winnipeg dramatists.

3rd floor, Portage Place Shopping Centre. There's underground parking.

Tickets: (204) 942-5483.

MTC - Manitoba Theatre Centre

Comedies, classics and modern drama are produced by MTC, Manitoba Theatre Centre at their two theatres in The Exchange District.

MTC is the oldest regional theatre in Western Canada producing plays in English.

The theatres are the larger John Hirsch Theatre Mainstage, offering six plays each autumn/winter season, and the smaller and more intimate Tom Hendry Theatre Warehouse, where four plays are produced each season.

The Mainstage is at 174 Market Avenue, while The Warehouse is a block away (directly behind Manitoba Museum).

Together, they put on 250 performances annually for an audience numbering more than 150,000, making MTC a mainstay of Winnipeg's cultural scene.

MTC is also the producer of two festivals each year - Master Playwright Festival and Winnipeg Fringe Festival.

Tickets and info for both MTC venues: (204) 942-6537.

Pantages Theatre

This ornate Winnipeg theatre was built in 1914, one of the opulent Pantages chain and for sheer splendiferousness, it is my fave Winnipeg theatre.

Charlie Chaplin played here and lived at a nearby rooming house.

Owner Alexander Pantages used it as his testing ground for new vaudeville acts. If the people in Winnipeg liked an act, he figured it’d be a hit everywhere else, too, and booked it across North America.

If they bombed, they were fired in Winnipeg.

That’s not likely to happen to performers you’ll see at Pantages in this century, including, recently, Derek Trucks Band.

Pantages Theatre is next door to Centennial Concert Hall, on Main Street.

Manitoba Opera

Manitoba Opera is known for lavish spectacle, impressive costumes, international and Canadian artists, languages that are easy on the ear and English surtitles.

Among their recent offerings – a hilarious Candide and the stunning Madama Butterfly.

Manitoba Opera’s home is Centennial Concert Hall.

Tickets: (204) 253-2787.

Winnipeg Jewish Theatre

Winnipeg Jewish Theatre is at The Berney Theatre which is inside Asper Jewish Community Campus, 123 Doncaster St.

They offer several theatre and concert series, often featuring artists from United States and Israel in fall/winter/spring.

Call for show details, (204) 477-7478.

Theatre by the River

This smaller company usually presents one play each year in late April and early May.

In 2010, they also presented One Good Marriage at Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival.

They are best-known for The Bush Ladies, about Canada’s foremothers and their influence on our literature (and just about everything else). In the fall of 2010, they take this show on the road to high school students in Manitoba and Ontario.

Winnipeg Theatre Outdoors

Shakespeare In The Ruins

Each summer Shakespeare in the Ruins (SIR) puts on one play in an outdoor setting.

In the past, that setting has been the wonderfully atmospheric monastery ruins in St. Norbert (at the south edge of Winnipeg).

In 2009, Shakespeare In the Ruins moved to being Shakespeare In A Great Big Tent next to The Conservatory in Assiniboine Park.

That year’s production of Othello was unforgettable.

Rainbow Stage

Rainbow Stage, was and remains Canada’s first outdoor theatre.

They are known for enchanting all ages with their lavish sets and costumes as well as the singing and dancing in musicals that are pure entertainment.

It is a long-cherished Winnipeg theatre tradition to go to Rainbow each August in Kildonan Park (at 2021 Main Street) to enjoy musical theatre under the stars.

They presented Disney’s Beauty and the Beast in 2009 and the 2010 offering is Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, running August 3 to 27.

Tickets for the 2 ½ hour show are $31 to $48.

There are also rush seats available for $17 at any Assiniboine Credit Union or Safeway store.

For performance info, call (204) 989-5261.

Winnipeg Theatre in French

Le Cercle Molière

This is the oldest and among the most successful theatre troupes in North America.

Established in 1926, Cercle Molière sold out every performance in their 2008/2009 season.

Their shows in French for adults and children have long been presented at Théâtre de la Chapelle, but in 2010 they moved to their spectacular new home on Provencher Blvd. in Saint Boniface.

Show info and tickets: (204) 233-8053.

Winnipeg theatre - Free shows

Lyric Theatre

Lyric Theatre in Assiniboine Park is where you’ll find free concerts and occassionally free shows on summer evenings and weekend afternoons.

Events are posted on the Portage Avenue side of Assiniboine Park as well as on Corydon Ave. near the entrance.

Scotia Bank Stage at The Forks

There are free outdoor concerts from May to September at the outdoor theatre at The Forks, including everything from alt rock and hip-hop to blues, jazz and the Folklorama kick-off at The Forks.

Winnipeg Fringe Festival

Tickets to plays/performances range from $5 to $10, but there are also free concerts and performances throughout the fest at Market Square.

More Winnipeg theatre