The Alumnae Theatre, known most often as The Alum, is the oldest theatre society in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada still in operation. It was founded in 1918 by female graduates of the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

who wanted to continue to participate in semi-professional theatre after graduation. Originally all performers in all roles were female, but in the 1920s the society began to invite male guest performers to join the performances. Still today the leadership of the society remains entirely female. Its mission has always been to produce the great plays of the western canon, while also sometimes doing more modern works, such as the Toronto premier of one of

Carol Shields Carol Ann Shields, (née Warner; June 2, 1935 – July 16, 2003) was an American-born Canadian novelist and short story writer. She is best known for her 1993 novel '' The Stone Diaries'', which won the U.S. Pulitzer Prize for Fiction as well a ...

' works. The society originally performed at the university's

Hart House Theatre Hart House Theatre is a 454-seat theatre in Toronto, Ontario located on the campus of the University of Toronto in the Hart House Student Centre. The theatre serves the university and the Toronto community at large. Hart House Theatre opened i ...

. In 1957 the society renovated an old

coach house Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

, and opened the Coach House Theatre. In 1962 the theatre moved again into a former

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

on Cecil and Huron streets. In 1970 they were evicted from this location when the site was expropriated by

Ontario Hydro Ontario Hydro, established in 1906 as the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, was a publicly owned electricity utility in the Province of Ontario. It was formed to build transmission lines to supply municipal utilities with electricity ge ...

. After a brief hiatus, the company found a permanent home in an old

fire hall __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equipment, fire ho ...

at Adelaide and Berkeley streets in 1972. Originally named Firehall No. 4, the building is one of Toronto's historic fire stations. It was first built in 1900 and was considerably renovated by architect

Ron Thom Ronald James Thom, (May 15, 1923 – October 29, 1986) was a Canadian architect. He is well known for two works: Massey College and Trent University's riverside campus. Early years He was born in Penticton, British Columbia, the son of James ...

, whose wife Molly was a longtime member of Alumnae Theatre. The firehall had been slated by city council for demolition, until the theatre company intervened and with the help of

John Sewell John Sewell (born December 8, 1940) is a Canadian politician and lawyer who served as the 58th mayor of Toronto from 1978 to 1980. Background Born and raised in the Beach neighbourhood, in Toronto, Sewell attended Malvern Collegiate Institute ...

convinced the city to have it saved and restored for their purposes. The building now contains a main performance space on the ground level, which seats 140. There is a smaller studio venue upstairs on the third floor. Alumnae Theatre and the Alumnae Theatre Company are home to an annual New Ideas Festival. Entering it's 35th year, The New Ideas Festival - or NIF - is an annual juried festival of new writing, works-in-progress and experimental theatre, with a different program of plays each week. NIF has a long history of creating space for young and emerging Canadian theatre artists, including playwrights, directors, actors, stage managers, designers and more. NIF typically happens at the end of march and will feature 2 or 3 weeks of new works presented in Alumnae Theatre's studio theatre space located on the 3rd floor of the theatre.

References

*The 'oldest and proudest' Toronto theatrical company; Donald Jones. Toronto Star. Toronto, Ont.: Sep 23, 1989. pg. M.4

External links

* {{coord, 43.652765, N, 79.364902, W, region:CA-ON_type:landmark, display=title Theatres in Toronto Theatre companies in Toronto Performing groups established in 1919