The Varscona Theatre is a live performance venue in the

Old Strathcona Old Strathcona is a historic district in south-central Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Once the commercial core of the separate city of Strathcona, the area is now home to many of Edmonton's arts and entertainment facilities, as well as a local s ...

neighborhood of

Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anchor ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Since 1994, the Varscona has been operated by a consortium of small theatre companies, including

Teatro la Quindicina Teatro may refer to: * Theatre * Teatro (band) Teatro, Italian for "theatre", is a vocal group signed to the Sony BMG music label. The members of Teatro are Jeremiah James, Andrew Alexander, Simon Bailey and Stephen Rahman-Hughes. Band member ...

and

Shadow Theatre The Shadow Theatre is an Edmonton-based theatre company born of the Edmonton International Fringe Festival in 1990. History Shadow Theatre was incorporated in 1992, operating under the governance of a volunteer Board of Directors. Co founded by H ...

(collectively known as The Varscona Theatre Alliance). The theatre is also the home of the nationally renowned live improvised soap opera

Die-Nasty ''Die-Nasty'' is a live improvised soap opera, running weekly in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada since 1991. ''Die-Nastys improv comedy format features a continuing storyline and recurring characters, live music, and a director who sets up s ...

. In addition, the Varscona has hosted tapings of

The Irrelevant Show ''The Irrelevant Show'' was a half-hour radio sketch comedy show that aired on CBC Radio One. Broadcast history The show was launched in 2003, initially on Saturday afternoons during the third hour of ''Definitely Not the Opera'' (''DNTO''). Earl ...

, a national sketch comedy program aired on

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

. The Varscona holds over 300 performances and has 30,000 audience members per year. It employs 100 local professional theatre artists.

History

The building was originally constructed as Edmonton's Fire Hall #6 in 1956, which replaced the original Fire Hall #6, built in 1909, across the street (the 1909 building has been home to

The Walterdale Playhouse The Walterdale Playhouse is an amateur live performance venue in the Old Strathcona neighborhood of Edmonton. In 2008 the venue celebrated 50 year of theater. The theatre is mainly run by donations and volunteers in the community. History The Wal ...

since 1974). Fire Station #6 was later relocated to 81 Avenue & 96 Street, and the building was repurposed as a theatre in 1982. Prior to being renamed as The Varscona Theatre in 1996, the current building was called the Chinook Theatre, and served as the headquarters of Chinook Children's Theatre and the

Edmonton International Fringe Festival The Edmonton International Fringe Festival is an annual arts festival held every August in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Produced by the Fringe Theatre Adventures (FTA), it is the oldest and largest fringe theatre festival in North America (based on ...

from 1983-1993. It is still used as a venue during the Fringe Festival every August.

Name

The Varscona's name is an homage to Edmonton's original Varscona Theatre, a 1940s art deco movie theatre formerly located at the intersection of Whyte Avenue & 109 Street. The movie theatre was demolished in 1987 for the construction of a credit union (later a

TD Canada Trust TD Canada Trust, frequently shortened to simply TD, is the commercial banking operation of TD Bank Group in Canada. TD Canada Trust offers a range of financial services and products to more than 10 million Canadian customers through more than 1,1 ...

). The 1987 building was subsequently demolished and replaced, in 2009, by a

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Renovations

In 2012, the theatre announced plans for a significant rehabilitation project. The plan would see the majority of the theatre demolished and rebuilt, with only the exterior brick walls and iconic tower remaining in the new structure. The project was to address the significant mechanical and utility failures that had developed in the building over the years, as well as expand the small lobby and backstage areas, which have plagued the building since its conversion from a fire hall. The theatre will also increase in capacity from 176 to 200 seats, with improved sight-lines, and the audio and lighting systems will be completely replaced. In May 2013 the Government of Alberta announced a $2 million grant for renovation of the facility. The City of Edmonton and Government of Canada have also contributed funding to the $7.5 million project, with the remaining of funds coming from public donations. While the renovation project was underway, the Varscona Theatre Alliance built, and moved all performances into, The Backstage Theatre at the Fringe Theatre Adventures in the ATB Financial Arts Barns, one block away. The Varscona Theatre rebuild officially started construction in Spring of 2015, and opened its doors for its first production on June 2, 2016, with a new play from Teatro La Quindicina, ''For The Love of Cynthia'' by Stewart Lemoine.

References

External links

* {{cite web , url = https://www.varsconatheatre.com/ , title = ''Varscona Theatre'' website Theatres in Edmonton