The First Decade

On October 2, 1963, the curtain went up on the first production by the newly formed Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company - Brendan Behan's The Hostage. Michael Johnston, who recently passed away, was Managing Producer during the 1963/64 season, acting as producer, manager and designer. The Hostage was directed by British director Malcolm Black, who then served as Artistic Director of The Playhouse from 1964-67.

Under his tenure, The Playhouse produced its first homegrown play, Like Father, Like Fun, a comedy by Vancouver writer Eric Nicol, during the 1965/66 season. Like Father, Like Fun was also the first Playhouse production to be seen outside British Columbia, travelling to Toronto, Montreal, and New York. Mr. Black also commissioned new plays by Vancouver Sun columnist Paul St. Pierre (How to Run the Country) and novelist James Clavell (Countdown to Armageddon), both of which premiered in the 1966/67 season.

Other notable events during Mr. Black's tenure included launching the first season ticket campaign in 1966; bringing on artist Jack Shadbolt as Art Advisor (and whose designs graced the covers of the house programmes for the next three seasons); and working with Joy Coghill to integrate Holiday Theatre with the Playhouse as Holiday Playhouse, the educational wing of the company.

Ms. Coghill succeeded Mr. Black in 1967 and served as Artistic Director for the next two seasons. One of the first plays Ms. Coghill produced was The Ecstasy of Rita Joe by George Ryga, one of Canadian theatre's seminal plays. The production was so successful that plans were immediately made to remount Rita Joe in Ottawa, where it became the first production of the National Arts Centre's English language theatre in June 1969. Prime Minster Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chretien, then Minister of Indian Affairs, were in the opening night audience.

The 1967/68 season marked the first time the Playhouse was able to produce shows on an alternate stage: the Stage 2 company, under the direction of John Wright, performed three productions in the Totem Theatre in the Electrical Workers' Hall at Dunsmuir and Beatty.

When Ms. Coghill left the Playhouse in 1969 to become director of the English section of the National Theatre School, she was succeeded by David Gardner as Artistic Director. During Mr. Gardner's two seasons (1969-71), he hired the Playhouse's first Dramaturge, Peter Hay, who also served as resident theatre historian and consultant. Mr. Hay and Mr. Gardner inaugurated a British Columbia Playwright Competition in 1971 to celebrate BC's Centennial. Mr. Hay also helped launch Talonbooks' Canadian play series with published forms of The Ecstasy of Rita Joe and James Reaney's Colours in the Dark (which was produced by the Playhouse in the 1969/70 season). Mr. Gardner kicked off the Playhouse's seventh season with a lavish production of Peter Shaffer's Royal Hunt of the Sun.

The Playhouse acquired its first real home in 1971, located at 575 Beatty Street, where the company resided until 1982. Later in 1971, Paxton Whitehead became the Playhouse's Artistic Director, serving until the end of the 1972/73 season. In his first season, Mr. Whitehead produced five Canadian plays and paid more royalties to Canadian playwrights than any other English language theatre that year.

The Second Decade

The Playhouse's second decade of operation opened and closed with new Artistic Directors. Christopher Newton became the Playhouse Artistic Director in the 1973/74 season and immediately began to change the organisation of the company's operations, dividing it into four separate departments: operations, communications, productions, and Playhouse Holiday.

He continued the Playhouse's commitment to Canadian work, producing David French's Leaving Home and Of the Fields Lately in his first two seasons, and the Canadian premiere of Sharon Pollock's And Out Goes You? in the 1974/75 season. His controversial production of Peter Shaffer's Equus, which caused a stir with its onstage nudity, became the first Playhouse production for which tickets were scalped.

Newton then created The Vancouver Playhouse Acting School in 1975. Powys Thomas, the great Welsh-Canadian actor and co-founder of the National Theatre School (and star of the 1976/77 production of King Lear), became the first Director of the new school. Acting School graduates continue to be active at The Playhouse including Artistic Director Glynis Leyshon, David Marr (Arms & the Man, Noises Off) and Allen MacInnis (Joni Mitchell: River).

Newton also resurrected the Playhouse second stage, creating a new company under the direction of John Wright to produce lesser-known and experimental plays not appropriate for the mainstage. The "Stage 2" company of actors, also known as the New Company, was made up of up-and-coming young actors, including Nicola Cavendish. The first production of the New Company was set to open at the Lyric Theatre in 1975, but just prior to opening, City Council prohibited second-story theatre venues, putting the production out in the cold. At practically the last minute, the Playhouse discovered that the Pacific Volkswagen garage at Bute and Georgia was due to be torn down in December and convinced the owners to let the company convert it to a theatre until then. Production, administration, actors, stage managers and volunteer high school students worked around the clock to create the new theatre in time for opening.

Christopher Newton left the Playhouse in 1979 to become Artistic Director of the Shaw Festival. He was replaced by Roger Hodgman, who had directed the critically acclaimed production of The Contractor in the 1977/78 season. In his first season Hodgman invited Frances Hyland to direct A Streetcar Named Desire, in which she had starred at the Playhouse 12 years previously. This production became the first Playhouse mainstage show to tour B.C since Anything Goes in 1966.

Hodgman also invited Tennessee Williams to co-direct a revised version of Williams' play The Red Devil Battery Sign. They worked together the next season on The Notebook of Trigorin, Williams's adaptation of The Seagull, on a set designed by Toni Onley. Labour unrest proved particularly troublesome that year to the Playhouse - the only copy of the finished script of Trigorin was lost in the mail during a postal strike, while a civic strike closed down the theatre, forcing the cancellation of the final production of the 1980/81 season, David Fennario's Balconville. Hodgman's final production as Artistic Director of the Playhouse was a revival of Billy Bishop Goes to War, which was produced in the summer of 1982 at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre.

The second decade of Playhouse operations closed with a new Artistic Director, Walter Learning. Learning's commitment to producing Canadian plays was demonstrated with his first production, The Black Bonspeil of Wullie MacCrimmon by W.O. Mitchell. Other notable productions that season included The Tempest starring Gordon Pinsent, whose teleplay A Gift to Last was adapted by Learning and Alden Nowlan for the 1982/83 season, and Mass Appeal and The Dresser starring William Hutt.

That year also saw the Playhouse lose its home to a Skytrain expropriation, forcing it to move its offices to 543 West 7th Avenue, where it was to remain for the next decade.

The Third Decade

The Playhouse's third decade of operation began as the company settled into its new Production facility on West 7th Avenue. Walter Learning remained Artistic Director until 1987, during which time he continued the tradition of complementing the mainstage season with lesser-known and more controversial pieces performed on a second stage - first at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre and then at Granville Island's Waterfront Theatre. One notable Second Stage production was the premiere of Tom Wood, Nicola Cavendish and Bob Baker's North Shore Live, which won the 1984 Jessie Richardson Award for Outstanding Original Play.

That year proved particularly fruitful on the Jessie front, as K2 earned awards for Best Actor (Terence Kelly) and Lighting Design (Douglas Welch) and Amadeus picked up the Jessies for Costume Design (Phillip Clarkson) and Set Design (David Fischer). North Shore Live later toured to the National Arts Centre, as did Playhouse productions of Mass Appeal and Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons, which was also restaged at the Stratford Festival in 1986. Another Playhouse hit of the era was A Chorus Line, directed and choreographed by Jeff Hyslop. The show sold out its initial run before opening night, toured to Victoria and Richmond, and then was restaged at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre as part of the Expo '86 celebrations.

Walter Learning chose to accept the position of Artistic Director at the Charlottetown Festival following the 1986/87 season and the Board of Governors initiated a countrywide search for his replacement. Guy Sprung, who later helped create Toronto's Canadian Stage Company, was selected interim Artistic Director for the 1987/88 season. The season featured three Canadian plays - Fire by Paul Ledoux and David Young, Tom Wood's B-Movie, the Play and Back to Beulah by W.O. Mitchell - as well as the non-Soviet bloc premiere of Russian playwright Aleksandr Gelman's We, the Undersigned.

In 1988, after two years as Artistic Director at The Grand Theatre in London, Ontario, Larry Lillo returned to Vancouver as the Playhouse's 10th Artistic Director. Lillo, a co-founder of Tamahnous Theatre, was the golden boy of Vancouver theatre, and his return to helm the Playhouse at a critical time in the company's history, was hailed.

Lillo brought his populist approach to theatre to the forefront in his very first production, Sam Shepherd's A Lie of the Mind, which earned him the first of three consecutive Jessie Awards for Directing. Over the next five seasons, Lillo created playbills that brought a renewed sense of excitement to the Playhouse stage. He directed stunning productions of new Canadian hits such as John Gray's Rock and Roll and Health, the Musical, while bringing new vision to classics such as Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit and A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams.

His 1992 production of Macbeth provided the backdrop for Michelle Bjornson's award-winning documentary It Shall Not Last the Night: The Theatre of Larry Lillo, which narrated his debilitating struggle with AIDS.

Larry Lillo passed away on June 2, 1993, just four days before the final production of the 1992/93 season, Private Lives, closed.

The Fourth Decade

The Fourth Decade

The Playhouse began its fourth decade still mourning the death of Artistic Director Larry Lillo. A search committee had selected Susan Cox, a renowned actor, director and theatre educator, to replace Lillo. Ms. Cox had previously directed Fallen Angels for the Playhouse in 1992 and played Amanda in the 1987 production of Private Lives. Her first season was an international combination of classic and new plays, from Neil Munro's staging of the Ingmar Bergman adaptation of Ibsen's A Doll's House to the Canadian premiere of If We Are Women by Joanna McClelland Glass.

The 1990s saw the Playhouse struggle to replace traditional methods of funding as government grants remained static in the face of rising costs. The 90s also saw the emergence of co-productions between companies. Co-productions saved money by amortizing fixed production costs over a greater time period and between two or more companies, while exposing audiences to artists from other parts of the country. Co-productions with Victoria's Belfry Theatre of Oleanna and Three Tall Women familiarized Playhouse audiences with the work of future Artistic Director Glynis Leyshon, while the annual holiday comedy presented with Theatre Calgary, offered the fun-filled comedies Charley's Aunt, The Importance of Being Earnest and Tons of Money.

In 1997 Ms. Cox returned to Ontario to pursue new artistic endeavours and was succeeded by Glynis Leyshon. Ms. Leyshon opened her first Playhouse season with the smash Canadian success story, 2 Pianos, 4 Hands, which travelled to New York following its Vancouver run. The second production of the season was the world premiere of The Overcoat, a movement-based piece that Ms. Leyshon had commissioned Morris Panych and Wendy Gorling to create for the Playhouse's 35th Anniversary Season. Both 2 Pianos, 4 Hands and The Overcoat were remounted in the 1999/2000 season as special subscription add-ons.

Following its second Playhouse run, The Overcoat embarked on a National Tour, playing to critical and audience acclaim at Winnipeg's Manitoba Theatre Centre, Toronto's Canadian Stage Company and Ottawa's National Arts Centre.

The 20th Anniversary production of Billy Bishop Goes to War in 1998 proved that Vancouver audiences love a good musical and the 2000/01 season marked the beginning of a new tradition as the Playhouse presented Guys and Dolls, the first of our holiday musicals.

New play development was a key part of Ms. Leyshon's artistic vision for the Playhouse and the company produced world premieres in each of her first three seasons. She also instituted a Playwright-in-Residence program, which culminated in the world premiere of Aaron Bushkowsky's The Dead Reckoning (2001/02). The Playhouse's second stage made a resurgence through the Urban Series, which has provided an excellent platform for new Canadian work. More entrepreneurial ventures, such as the 40th anniversary season's sold-out presentation of Robert Lepage's the far side of the moon and A Knight Out with Sir Ian McKellen, helped raise the Playhouse's profile in the community.

In its 42nd season, the Playhouse launched a new visual identity and refocused its mandate, concentrating on contemporary drama. In 2005 the staging of The Syringa Tree by ex-pat South African actress and writer, Pamela Gien, proved to be an audience favourite -- so much so that the company brought the production back in 2006 for an additional run starring Jessie Award winning actress Caroline Cave.

At the beginning of the 45th season, the Playhouse embarked on the execution of a new strategic direction. Artistic Director Glynis Leyshon left the company at the end of the season and a new Artistic Managing Director was sought to lead the organization through the coming years of metamorphosis and the upcoming capital campaign.

The company's production offices at 160 West 1st Avenue were demolished in August 2007 to make way for the redevelopment of the Southeast False Creek neighbourhood and the 2010 Olympic Games Athlete's Village site. The staff are now housed in a renovated glove factory at East 2nd Avenue and Main Street. This building will be the company's home until the Olympics are finished in March 2010, at which point the Playhouse team will move into brand new facilities on the old West 1st Avenue site. These new facilities will include 40,000 square feet of production and administrative space, as well as a 250 seat studio theatre.

The announcement of Max Reimer as the new Artistic Managing Director of the Playhouse Theatre Company heralded a new beginning for the Playhouse as it was preparing to open its 46th season. Originally from Vancouver, Mr. Reimer had spent the past 16 years in Ontario – first as Artistic Director at Huron Country Playhouse in Grand Bend for four years, followed by 12 years as Managing Artistic Director at Hamilton’s Theatre Aquarius. 

Since joining the Playhouse, and in the planning of his first “official” season, he has removed the restriction of only producing plays from 1950 on. In announcing the 2009/2010 Season he said that is was his interpretation of past traditions and reflects the direction that he wants to take the Playhouse in the future.

The 46th Playhouse season opened with the Canadian Premiere of Frost/Nixon starring Len Cariou as the disgraced US President and David Storch as the British talk show host. A co-production with The Canadian Stage Company in Toronto, Frost/Nixon combined the resources, talents and reputations of two of the foremost theatre companies in Canada.

Frost/Nixon was followed by the smash hit musical The Drowsy Chaperone. This was the first time that the rights for an independent production of The Drowsy Chaperone were granted in North America – even while the touring company was still on the road. Directed by Max Reimer, making his directorial debut with the Playhouse, Vancouver audiences took The Drowsy Chaperone to their hearts making it the second highest-revenue production in Playhouse history!

2009 began with a new adaptation of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie. Miss Julie: Freedom Summer was freely adapted by Stephen Sachs, Co-Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the award-winning Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles and starred Playhouse favourite, Caroline Cave.

Toronto, Mississippi by BC playwright Joan MacLeod followed Miss Julie. Director Dean Paul Gibson brought together an all-Vancouver cast (Alessandro Juliani, William MacDonald, Meg Roe, and Colleen Wheeler) to tell this exquisitely written story of love and understanding that continues to connect audiences across Canada, this time by virtue of our co-production partner Theatre Aquarius.

The Playhouse presented the Electric Company Theatre’s Studies in Motion: The Hauntings of Eadweard Muybridge as a special presentation in April and Caryl Churchills’ Top Girls, directed by Glynis Leyshon, closed the 46th season.

Production History

2010/2011
Artistic Managing Director: Max Reimer
The Fantasticks – Book and Lyrics by Tom Jones | Music by Harvey Schmidt
Noël Coward's Brief Encounter – Adapted for the stage by Emma Rice 
This – Written by Melissa James Gibson
Death of a Salesman – by Arthur Miller
The Trespassers – by Morris Panych
Special Presentation:
MacHomer – Created and Performed by Rick Miller

2009/2010
Artistic Managing Director: Max Reimer
The Miracle Worker – by William Gibson
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels – Book by Jeffrey Lane | Music and Lyrics by David Yazbek | Based on the film "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" written by Dale Launer and Stanley Shapiro and Paul Henning
Beyond Eden – by Bruce Ruddell
The Love List – by Norm Foster
Dangerous Corner – by J.B. Priestley
Special Presentation:
Delusion: A New Work by Laurie Anderson – Created and Performed by Laurie Anderson

2008/2009
Artistic Managing Director: Max Reimer
Frost/Nixon – by Peter Morgan
The Drowsy Chaperone – Music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison | Book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar
Miss Julie: Freedom Summer – A new version by Stephen Sachs
Toronto, Mississippi – by Joan MacLeod
Top Girls – by Caryl Churhill
Special Presentation:
Studies In Motion: The Hauntings of Eadweard Muybridge – by Kevin Kerr

2007/2008
Artistic Director: Glynis Leyshon
Timothy Findley’s The Wars – by Dennis Garnhum
Oliver! – Music, lyrics and book by Lionel Bart
The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead – by Robert Hewett
The Amorous Adventures of Anatol – adapted by Morris Panych
True West – by Sam Shepard
Urban Series:
Where the Blood Mixes – by Kevin Loring

2006/2007
Artistic Director: Glynis Leyshon
The Clean House – by Sarah Ruhl
A Christmas Carol – adapted by James Fagan Tait
Vigil – by Morris Panych
Moonlight and Magnolias – by Ron Hutchinson
The Andersen Project – by Robert Lepage
The Syringa Tree – by Pamela Gien

2005/2006
Artistic Director: Glynis Leyshon
The Syringa Tree - by Pamela Gien
A Little Night Music - Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Book by Hugh Wheeler
Vincent in Brixton - by Nicholas Wright
I Am My Own Wife - by Doug Wright
No Great Mischief - by David S. Young

2004/2005
Artistic Director: Glynis Leyshon
Joni Mitchell: River - Created by Allan McInnis
Noises Off - Michael Frayn
Humble Boy - Charlotte Jones
Copenhagen - Michael Frayn
Trying - Joanna McLelland Glass

2003/2004
Artistic Director: Glynis Leyshon
Stones in his Pockets - Marie Jones
Hello, Dolly! - Book by Michael Stewart, Music & Lyrics by Jerry Herman
Arms and the Man - Bernard Shaw
One Last Kiss - Aaron Bushkowsky
Equus - Peter Shaffer
Urban Series:
Cloud Tectonics - Jose Rivera: @ Performance Works, Granville Island

2002/2003
Artistic Director: Glynis Leyshon
Proof - David Auburn
Fiddler on the Roof - Book by Joseph Stein, Music by Jerry Bock, Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
Mary's Wedding - Stephen Massicotte
Romeo & Juliet - William Shakespeare
The Caretaker - Harold Pinter
the far side of the moon - Robert Lepage
Urban Series:
Earshot - Morris Panych: @ Performance Works, Granville Island
Co-production:
Asylum of the Universe - Camyar Chai. Co-produced with NeWorld Theatre.

2001/2002
Artistic Director: Glynis Leyshon
The Edible Woman - Dave Carley, based on the novel by Margaret Atwood
The Music Man - Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey
The School For Wives - MoliËre
The Drawer Boy - Michael Healey
The Rainmaker - N. Richard Nash
Urban Series:
The Dead Reckoning - Aaron Bushkowsky @ Performance Works, Granville Island

2000/2001
Artistic Director: Glynis Leyshon
The Coronation Voyage - Michel Marc Bouchard, translated by Linda Gaboriau
Guys and Dolls - Music & Lyrics by Frank Loesser, Book by Jo Swerling
Wit - Margaret Edson
Candida - Bernard Shaw
The Beauty Queen of Leenane - Martin McDonagh
Urban Series:
Game Misconduct - Lesley Uyeda and Tom Cone @ Festival Vancouver
Kilt - Jonathan Wilson @ VECC
Dona Flora - Electric Company @ VECC, WISE Hall

1999/2000
Artistic Director: Glynis Leyshon
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
The Rise and Fall of Little Voice - Jim Cartwright
She Stoops to Conquer - Oliver Goldsmith
Patience - Jason Sherman
The Bachelor Brothers on Tour - by Bill Dow and Martin Kinch
2 Pianos, 4 Hands - Ted Dykstra & Richard Greenblatt
The Overcoat - Morris Panych & Wendy Gorling

1998/99
Artistic Director: Glynis Leyshon
An Ideal Husband - Oscar Wilde
The Attic, The Pearls and 3 Fine Girls - Jennifer Brewin, Leah Cherniak, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Alisa Palmer, Martha Ross
Billy Bishop Goes to War - John Gray and Eric Peterson
Skylight - David Hare
Tartuffe - MoliËre
The History of Things To Come - Morris Panych in collaboration with Gary Jones and Shawn Macdonald
Second Stage
Suburban Motel - George F. Walker presented at VECC

1997/98
Artistic Director: Glynis Leyshon
2 Pianos, 4 Hands - Ted Dykstra & Richard Greenblatt
The Overcoat - Morris Panych, Wendy Gorling
A Perfect Ganesh - Terrence McNally
Atlantis - Maureen Hunter
Mrs. Warren's Profession - Bernard Shaw
Picasso at the Lapin Agile - Steve Martin

1996/97
Artistic Director: Susan Cox
Ghosts - Henrik Ibsen
Tons of Money - Will Evans & Valentine - adapted by Ayckbourn
2000 - Joan MacLeod
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - Edward Albee
The Heiress - Ruth & Augustus Goetz
Money and Friends - David Williamson

1995/96
Artistic Director: Susan Cox
Three Tall Women - Edward Albee
The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde
The Crucible - Arthur Miller
Later Life - A.R. Gurney
Betrayal - Harold Pinter
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde - A Love Story - adapted by James Nichol
Second Stage
True Mummy - Tom Cone

1994/95
Artistic Director: Susan Cox
Oleanna - David Mamet
Charley's Aunt - Brandon Thomas
Fronteras Americanas - Guillermo Verdecchia
The Cherry Orchard - Anton Chekov
Waiting for the Parade - John Murrell
Homeward Bound - Elliott Hayes

1993/94
Artistic Director: Susan Cox
Born Yesterday - Garson Kanin
A Little of Wot You Fancy - Compiled by Susan Cox
If We Are Women - Joanna McClelland Glass
The Relapse - Sir John Vanbrugh
A Doll's House - Henrik Ibsen
Struggle of the Dogs & the Black Bernard - Marie Koltes

1992/93
Artistic Director: Larry Lillo
The Millionairess - Bernard Shaw
The Wingfield Trilogy - Dan Needles
Shirley Valentine - Willy Russell
Lips Together, Teeth Apart - Terrence McNally
Much Ado About Nothing - William Shakespeare
Death and the Maiden - Ariel Dorfman
Private Lives - Noel Coward

1991/92
Artistic Director: Larry Lillo
A Moon For the Misbegotten - Eugene O'Neill
The Miser Moliere - adapted by Tom Cone
Love and Anger - George F. Walker
Macbeth - William Shakespeare
Fallen Angels - Noel Coward
My Children! My Africa! - Athol Fugard

1990/91
Artistic Director: Larry Lillo
A Streetcar Named Desire - Tennessee Williams
The Heidi Chronicles - Wendy Wasserstein
Hosanna - Michel Tremblay
Pygmalion - Bernard Shaw
Other People's Money - Jerry Sterner
Herringbone, The Musical - Tom Cone, Skip Kennon, Ellen Fitzhugh

1989/90
Artistic Director: Larry Lillo
Hedda Gabler - Henrik Ibsen
Blithe Spirit - Noel Coward
We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay! - Dario Fo
Shirley Valentine - Willy Russell
Doc - Sharon Pollock
Rock and Roll - John Gray

1988/89
Artistic Director: Larry Lillo
A Lie of the Mind - Sam Shepard
Nothing Sacred - George F. Walker
The Glass Menagerie - Tennessee Williams
Health, The Musical - John Gray
Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune - Terrence McNally
Les Liaisons Dangereuses - Christopher Hampton

1987/88
Artistic Director: Guy Sprung
A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare
Fire - Paul LeDoux & David Young
B-Movie, The Play - Tom Wood
Back to Beulah - W.O. Mitchell
We, the Undersigned - Aleksandr Gelman
The Dining Room - A.R. Gurney Jr.

1986/87
Artistic Director: Walter Learning
Noises Off - Michael Frayn
Paracelsus - George Ryga
Diary of Anne Frank - Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett
Private Lives - Noel Coward
Master Class - David Pownall
Foxfire - Susan Cooper & Hume Cronyn
I'm Not Rappaport - Herb Gardner

1985/86
Artistic Director: Walter Learning
Goodnight Disgrace - Michael Mercer
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - Edward Albee
Seasons Greetings - Alan Ayckbourn
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
Noises Off - Michael Frayn
A Chorus Line - Michael Bennett
Second Stage
Under the Influence - Cedric Smith
Salt-Water Moon - David French

1984/85
Artistic Director: Walter Learning
A Man For All Seasons - Robert Bolt
Terra Nova - Ted Talley
Better Watch Out, You Better Not Die - John Gray
Brew (collective)
Clarence Darrow - David W. Rintels
The School For Scandal - Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Second Stage
Cloud 9 - Caryl Churchill
I'll Be Back Before Midnight - Peter Colley
Brew (collective)

1983/84
Artistic Director: Walter Learning
Death of A Salesman - Arthur Miller
The Murder of Auguste Dupin - J. Ben Tarver
Godspell - John-Michael Tebelak
K-2 - Patrick Meyers
The Tomorrow Box - Anne Chislett
Amadeus - Peter Shaffer
Second Stage
Terrace Tanzi: The Venus Flytrap - Claire Luckham
North Shore Live - Tom Wood, Nicola Cavendish & Bob Baker
The Guys - Jean Barbeau,Translated by Linda Gaboriau
Win, Lose, Draw - Mary Gallagher & Ava Watson

1982/83
Artistic Director: Walter Learning
The Black Bonspiel of Willie MacCrimmon - W.O. Mitchell
The Dresser - Ronald Harwood
A Gift to Last - by Gordon Pinsent, adapted by Alden Nowlan & Walter Learning
Mass Appeal - Bill C. Davis
The Tempest - William Shakespeare
A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to The Forum - Stephen Sondheim, Larry Gelbart & Burt Shevelove
Dry Rot - John Chapman
Second Stage
White Boys Tom Walmsey
Brew (collective)
Clarence Darrow - David W. Rintels
As Loved Our Fathers - Tom Kahill
Dylan Thomas Bach - Leon Pownall

1980/81
Artistic Director: Roger Hodgman
The Servant of Two Masters - Carlo Goldoni
The Red Devil Battery Sign - Tennessee Williams
The Man Who Came to Dinner - Moss Hart & George S. Kaufman
The Lady From the Sea - Henrik Ibsen
Second Stage
Macbeth - William Shakespeare
Dreaming and Duelling - John Lazarus
The Tempest - William Shakespeare
Much Ado About Nothing - William Shakespeare

1981/82
Artistic Director: Roger Hodgman
The Notebook of Trigonin - Tennessee Williams
The Curse of the Werewolf - Ken Hill & Ian Armit
Wings - Arthur Kopit
Hunchback of Notre Dame - Dennis Foon
Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare
See How They Run - Philip King
Second Stage
Billy Bishop Goes to War - John Gray, with Eric Peterson

1979/80
Artistic Director: Roger Hodgman
Jitters - David French
Blithe Spirit - Noel Coward
The Innocents - William Archibald
Love for Love - William Congreve
A Streetcar Named Desire - Tennessee Williams
Second Stage
Henry VI Part I - William Shakespeare
As You Like It - William Shakespeare
Gunga Heath - Heath Lamberts

1978/79
Artistic Director: Christopher Newton
Hamlet - William Shakespeare
A Flea in Her Ear - Georges Feydeau
The Crucible - Arthur Miller
Tales From Vienna Woods - Odon Von Horvat
Ghosts - Henrik Ibsen
Second Stage
The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin - Steve J. Spears
Midtown Aces - Jesse Boydan
The Promise - Aleksei Arbuzov
Endgame - Samuel Beckett

1977/78
Artistic Director: Christopher Newton
Pygmalion - Bernard Shaw
Arsenic and Old Lace - Joseph Kesselring
Oedipus (Swollen Foot) - Seneca, adapted by Ted Hughes
The Contractor - David Storey
Twelfth Night - William Shakespeare
Second Stage
Ashes - David Rudkin
A Respectable Wedding - Bertolt Brecht
Jack Sprat - Joe Wiesenfeld
Loot - Joe Orton

1976/77
Artistic Director: Christopher Newton
Tartuffe - MoliËre
Count of Monte Cristo - Ken Hill
King Lear - William Shakespeare
Travesties - Tom Stoppard
Camino Real - Tennessee Williams
Second Stage
Dirty Linen and NewFoundLand - Tom Stoppard
The Blues - Hrant Alianak
The Sound of Distant Thunder - Christopher Newton
7 Under the 0 - Allan Stratton

1975/76
Artistic Director: Christopher Newton
Equus - Peter Shaffer
The Speckled Band - Arthur Conan Doyle
Macbeth - William Shakespeare
Leonce and Lena - George Buchner
Camille - Robert David MacDonald
Second Stage
Kennedy's Children - Robert Patrick
Komagata Muru Incident - Sharon Pollock
Back to Beulah - W.O. Mitchell
Dear Janet, Dear Mr. Kooning - Stanley Eveling
Why Hanna's Skirt Won't Stay Down - Tom Eyen

1974/75
Artistic Director: Christopher Newton
The Taming of the Shrew - William Shakespeare
Harvey - Mary Chase
The Adventures of Pinocchio - Adapted by John Wood
Of the Fields, Lately - David French
The Caucasian Chalk Circle - Bertolt Brecht
And Out Goes You? - Sharon Pollock
Frankenstein (The Man Who Became God) - Adapted by Alden Knowlan & Walter Learning

1973/74
Artistic Director Christopher Newton
Julius Caesar - William Shakespeare
Leaving Home - David French
Mr. Scrooge - Music by Doroles Claman, Book by Richard Morris, Ted Wood
Mandragola - Niccolo Machiavelli
A Doll's House - Henrik Ibsen
Dutch Uncle - Simon Gray
Queer Sights, A Mouldy Tale - Frank McEnaney

1972/73
Artistic Director: Paxton Whitehead
Forty Years On - Alan Bennett
How the Other Half Loves - Alan Ayckbourn
Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson
Lulu Street - Ann Henry
Old Times - Harold Pinter
Pillar of Sand - Eric Nicol
Arms and the Man - Bernard Shaw

1971/72
Artistic Director: Paxton Whitehead
The Chemmy Circle - Georges Feydeau
The Sorrows of Frederick - Romulus Linney
Treasure Island - Adapted by Sir Bernard Miles
Crabdance - Beverley Simons
Relatively Speaking - Alan Ayckbourn
The Native - Merv Campone
Hadrian VII - Peter Luke

1970/71
Artistic Director: David Gardner
The Secretary Bird - William Douglas Home
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead - Tom Stoppard
Othello - William Shakespeare
Joe Egg - Peter Nichols
Plaza Suite - Neil Simon
Hobson's Choice - Harold Brighouse

1969/70
Artistic Director: David Gardner
The Royal Hunt of the Sun - Peter Shaffer
The Show-Off - George Kelly
Colours in the Dark - James Reaney
Events While Guarding the Bofors Gun - John McGrath
Village Wooing/Dear Liar - Bernard Shaw/Jerome Kitty
Tango - Slawomir Mrozek
Second Stage
Staircase - Charles Dyer
Che Guevara - Mario Fratti
Foreplay - Barry Friesen
The Candidate - James Schevill
Space-Fan - James Schevill
The Criminals - Jose Triana

1968/69
Artistic Director: Joy Coghill
The Fourth Monkey - Eric Nicol
Summer of the 17th Doll - Ray Lawler
A Thurber Carnival - James Thurber
Moby Dick-Rehearsed - Adapted by Orson Wells
Mrs. Mouse Are You Within? - Frank Marcus
The Filthy Piranesi - William D. Roberts
Black Comedy - Peter Shaffer
Grass and Wild Strawberries - George Ryga
Second Stage
Fortune & Men's Eyes - John Herbert
Tiny Alice - Edward Albee
The Partition - Jacques Languirand
Land Before Time - M. Charles Cohen
The Visitor - Betty Lambert

1967/68
Artistic Director: Joy Coghill
Androcles and the Lion - Bernard Shaw
The Ecstasy of Rita Joe - George Ryga
The Beaux' Strategem - George Farquhar
Philadelphia Here I Come - Brian Friel
A Streetcar Named Desire - Tennessee Williams
The Fire Bugs - Max Frisch
Walking Happy - Harold Brighouse
Second Stage
Listen to the Wind - James Reaney
Three Rituals - Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Brian Shein, Sheldon Feldner
Requiem for a Dinosaur - James Cruikshank

1966/67
Artistic Director: Malcolm Black
Candida - Bernard Shaw
Count Down to Armageddon - James Clavell
Peer Gynt - Henrik Ibsen
She Stoops to Conquer - Oliver Goldsmith
How to Run the Country - Paul St. Pierre
Anything Goes - Cole Porter

1965/66
Artistic Director: Malcolm Black
Oh, What A Lovely War - Joan Littlewood
A Month in the Country - Ivan Turgenev
The Knack - Ann Jellicoe
Major Barbara - Bernard Shaw
The Typists & The Tiger - Murray Schisgal
Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare
Like Father, Like Fun - Eric Nicol
Lock Up Your Daughters - Adapted from Henry Fielding by Bernard Miles

1964/65
Artistic Director: Malcolm Black
Ring Around the Moon - Jean Anouilh
Desire Under the Elms - Eugene O'Neill
The Taming of the Shrew - William Shakespeare
Christmas in the Market Place - Henry Gheon
The Seagull - Anton Chekov
Oh Dad, Poor Dad... - Arthur Kopit
Stop the World I Want to Get Off - Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley

1963/64
Managing Director: Michael Johnston
The Hostage - Brendan Behan
Private Lives - Noel Coward
The Boy Friend - Sandy Wilson
Julius Caesar - William Shakespeare
The Caretaker - Harold Pinter
Charley's Aunt - Brandon Thomas