Identity area
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Authorized form of name
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Description area
Dates of existence
History
The Great Canadian Theatre Company (GCTC) was founded in 1975 by students and professors from Carleton University. It grew out of the success of a production of Robin Matthews' A Woman is Dying mounted by Carleton's Sock 'n' Buskin theatre society. The society wanted to see more Canadian content on stage. Bolstered by the success of this production, the idea for an alternative all-Canadian theatre company was born.
With an initial budget of $6000 of their own money, Greg Reid, Bill Law, Lois Shannon, and Robin Mathews and later by Larry McDonald, Helen Holt, Paul McLoughlin, and Douglas Campbell opened the Great Canadian Theatre Company's first official production in August 1975, with Herschel Hardin's Esker Mike and his Wife Agiluk, which garnered several bad reviews. The next production, a play written specifically for GCTC, was much more enthusiastically received. It was Bernie Bedore's Yonder Lies the Valley, explored the early local history of the area. The play was so popular that it was revived in 1976 to tour 22 cities, towns, and communities throughout eastern Ontario. Since then, the company has staged more than sixty premieres.
In its early days, as Robin Matthews notes, the GCTC programmed children’s theatre also, with her own play “The Youngest Canal Man [touring] the schools, the community, [and] the lock system between Ottawa and Kingston until it had been played something close to 210 times. Popular enthusiasm for the Company was significantly influenced by the children's theatre arm.” This involvement in children’s theatre continued into the 2020s.
Previous Artistic Directors of GCTC are its founding AD Lois Shannon (1975); Bill Law (1976-1978); Larry McDonald (1978-1981); Patrick McDonald (1982-1988), who was instrumental in GCTC's development as a professional company. He was followed by Steven Bush (1988-1991), Arthur Milner (1991-1995), Micheline Chevrier (1995-1999), Lorne Pardy (1999-2005), Lise Ann Johnson (2005-2012), and Eric Coates (2012-2021). Sarah Kitz became Artistic Director in 2021.
Sources:
Matthews, Robin. "Response to Léa V. Usin, 'A Local Habitation and a Name: Ottawa's Great Canadian Theatre Company.'" Theatre Research in Canada, Vol. 8.1 (1987). https://doi.org/10.3138/tric.8.1.141.
Notof, Anne. "Great Canadian Theatre Company." Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia. https://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Great%20Canadian%20Theatre%20Company.
Usin, Léa V. "'A Local Habitation and a Name': Ottawa's Great Canadian Theatre Company." Theatre Research in Canada. Vol. 7.1 (1986). https://doi.org/10.3138/tric.7.1.71.