Arts Club Theatre Company
The Arts Club Theatre Company’s Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage.
The Arts Club Theatre Company’s Granville Island Stage.
The Arts Club Theatre Company’s Newmont Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre.
The Arts Club Theatre Company is the largest theatre company in Western Canada and the third largest not-for-profit theatre company in the entire country. Situated on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and Sel̓íl̓witulh nations, the Arts Club has three venues where it stages productions that range from large-scale musicals to contemporary comedies, bold new works, and beloved classics.
Each year more than a quarter of a million people experience the best in professional theatre at its three stages and on tour!
The Arts Club started its life in 1958 as a private club for local artists, musicians, and actors. It officially became a theatre company in 1964 with the opening of the legendary Seymour Street Stage, a converted gospel hall in the heart of Downtown Vancouver. The historic 250-seat venue was joined by the Granville Island Stage in 1979 and the more intimate Revue Stage in 1983, cementing the Arts Club as a pillar of Vancouver’s theatre scene. The original Seymour Street Stage closed its doors in 1991, and the company’s current flagship venue, the Stanley BFL CANADA Stage, opened in 1998 with Dean Regan’s record-setting production of Swing. In 2015, the Arts Club moved the Revue Stage programming to the Olympic Village Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre, which also serves as the company's home base.
From the beginning, the Arts Club has upheld a commitment to Canadian theatre, both classic and new. Its stages have hosted works by Tomson Highway, Brad Fraser, Wendy Lill, Michele Riml, Anosh Irani, Ins Choi, and many more. The company is also dedicated to uplifting and supporting rising local playwrights, through several different professional development programs, like the Silver Commissions project, which funds the development of new works with the goal of a premiere on an Arts Club stage, and the Emerging Playwrights Unit, an annual program that supports new playwrights with a yearlong residency. The Miriam Bennett Artist-in-Residence program offers professional development and resources to an individual Vancouver-based artist. The Arts Club is also dedicated to fueling the next generation of student artists, with a full slate of education and outreach programs, including acting intensives, student workshops, the Creative Teens program, and so much more.
For much of its history, the Arts Club was helmed by Bill Millerd, who served as Artistic Managing Director from 1972 until his retirement in 2018. That same year, Ashlie Corcoran took over artistic leadership of the company and continues to guide it towards its mandate of entertaining and inspiring theatre that makes Vancouver’s communities come alive.
Find the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage at:
2750 Granville Street
Vancouver, B.C.
V6H 3J3
Find the Granville Island Stage at:
1585 Johnston Street
Vancouver, B.C.
V6H 3S2
Find the BMO Theatre Centre at:
162 West 1st Avenue
Vancouver, B.C.
V5Y 0H6
