The Great Canadian Theatre Company (GCTC) is a professional theatre company based in

Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Canada. It was established in 1975 by a group of professors and graduate students at

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World ...

. Riding a wave of cultural nationalism, founders Robin Mathews, Larry McDonald, Bill Law, Greg Reid and Lois Shannon envisioned a theatre company that would produce only Canadian plays, especially those with social and political relevance. Driven by a dream to place Canadian stories and Canadian history front and centre in our country’s universities and theatres, the company launched its first production in August 1975. The group has its origins in a season of Canadian theatre produced by the Sock 'n' Buskin Theatre Company at Carleton University. From Carleton, the company moved to a converted firehall in

Ottawa South Ottawa South (french: Ottawa-Sud) is a federal electoral district in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is represented in the House of Commons of Canada by David McGuinty, brother of former Premier of Ontario and Ottawa South MPP Dalton McGuinty ...

(presently the Ottawa South Community Centre) and then, in 1982, to the Gladstone Theatre on Gladstone Avenue. The Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre, which includes a 262-seat Mainstage theatre, a flexible black box studio theatre, and two spacious lobbies, has allowed GCTC to expand its community-based activities. More than 35,000 people visit the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre every year to see productions by GCTC and other live performing arts companies, for concerts such as the Acoustic Waves music series, to visit the Lorraine Fritzi Yale Art Gallery, rent the facility, or to enjoy local homemade fare at the Viva Loca Café. The September 2007 issue of (Cult)ure Magazine described the GCTC as "Ottawa’s pre-eminent promoter of Canadian theatrical content." In 2004, GCTC announced that the family of the late Irving Greenberg was donating $2.5 million towards the construction of a new home for GCTC at the corner of Holland and Wellington. Construction of the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre began in the fall of 2005. In the summer of 2007, GCTC moved to the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre. and launched a new era in the company’s history.

Associated playwrights

Jean-Marc Dalpé Jean-Marc Dalpé (born February 21, 1957) is a Canadian playwright and poet. He is one of the most important figures in Franco-Ontarian literature. Dalpé studied theatre at the University of Ottawa, graduating in 1973. In 1979, he obtained grad ...

* David French *

Linda Griffiths Linda Pauline Griffiths (7 October 1953 – 21 September 2014) was a Canadian actress and playwright best known for writing and starring in the one woman play ''Maggie and Pierre'', in which she portrayed both Pierre Trudeau and his then-estran ...

Wendy Lill Wendy Lill (born November 2, 1950) is a Canadian playwright, screenwriter and radio dramatist who served as an NDP Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2004. Her stage plays have been performed extensively in theatres across Canada as well as inter ...

Ann-Marie MacDonald Ann-Marie MacDonald (born October 29, 1958) is a Canadian playwright, author, actress, and broadcast host who lives in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. MacDonald is the daughter of a member of Canada's military; she was born at an air force base near ...

* Arthur Milner *

Morris Panych Morris Stephen Panych (born 30 June 1952) is a Canadian playwright, director and actor. Early life Panych was born in Calgary, Alberta and grew up in Edmonton, Alberta. He studied at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, and the Univers ...

Judith Thompson Judith Clare Thompson, OC (born September 20, 1954) is a Canadian playwright who lives in Toronto, Ontario. She has twice been awarded the Governor General's Award for drama, and is the recipient of many other awards including the Order of Canad ...

Michel Tremblay Michel Tremblay (born 25 June 1942) is a French-Canadian novelist and playwright. Tremblay was born in Montreal, Quebec, where he grew up in the French-speaking neighbourhood of Plateau Mont-Royal; at the time of his birth, a neighbourhood wit ...

* George F. Walker

Notes

External links

Official site
{{authority control Theatre companies in Ontario Theatre in Ottawa 1975 establishments in Ontario