Theatre

Professional theatre is a relative newcomer to Newfoundland Labrador. The first known professional company was the London Theatre Company, which presented over 100 productions between 1951 and 1957. The St. John's Arts and Culture Centre opened in 1967, providing much-needed performance space, and five other Arts and Culture Centres in some of the province’s larger communities followed. The provincial cultural revolution of the 1970s saw the birth of locally- written plays for performances at Provincial Drama Festivals, as well as performances by the fledgling, indigenous theatre companies CODCO, The Mummers Troupe, and Rising Tide.

In 1976, community group The Resource Foundation for the Arts purchased the historic LSPU Hall -- or simply, "The Hall" -- in downtown St. John's and opened it as a downtown cultural centre. Three years later The Hall came under the control of the Resource Centre for the Arts and has continued to be a centre for the staging of local performances in all sectors of the performing arts. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, many companies formed and reformed, including the Newfoundland Shakespeare Company, Sheila’s Brush, Artistic Fraud and First Light Productions.

The estimated number of professionals working in the theatre sector ranges from two hundred to three hundred. These include producers, directors, actors, dancers, playwrights, stage managers, designers, technicians and carpenters. Although much of the work in theatre is seasonal and contractual, the evolution of the sector, particularly as the major impetus behind "cultural tourism," has catapulted the sector into an economic powerhouse, especially in rural areas.