Edmonton Three for the Road

Abstract

At the end of this season, three artistic directors in Edmonton will leave their positions: Brian Paisley at Chinook, Bob Baker at the Phoenix, and Gordon McDougall at the Citadel. The timing is perhaps coincidental, but Brian Paisley sees the changeover as beginning another cycle in Edmonton theatre: in the last five years there has been a tremendous amount of activity – the regeneration of the Phoenix from the ashes of Theatre Three, the rebirth of Theatre Network under Stephen Heatley, the construction of the second-largest thrust stage in Canada at the Citadel, and the inauguration of the Fringe Festival. As Paisley, Baker, and McDougall all agree, from 1976 to 1981 the Citadel established itself as a strong, regional theatre in Edmonton, in relation to which the smaller theatres had to find distinct identities and particular mandates. According to Paisley, by 1981 the battle was over, and a new crop of revitalized theatres looked at the Citadel in a different way – not as the enemy, but as the ally. Now it is the Citadel which is attempting definition and vitality, trying to identify an audience which it can best serve.