In January of 2021, theatre as I knew it was mostly illegal. Large indoor gatherings were restricted because of the pandemic and at that time vaccinations weren’t widely available. I was, and still am, a drama major at the University of Calgary and like many others, I didn’t really know what to do with myself in lockdown.

I turned to friends of mine in the performing arts and saw that they were still finding ways to express themselves and I could see that the theatre companies in Calgary still existed. I figured the least I could do was document it. And so, I did. I undertook a research project with the support of the University of Calgary and went about recording the developments in Calgary’s theatre community in the wake of the pandemic.

I discovered new and valuable ways of working, how the theatre responded to a changing culture, and in 2022 its interesting to see what changes stuck around.

The most immediate changes to me came in the form of education: classes moved online to video conferences, and this included acting and directing classes. While live theatre may have been inaccessible, the burgeoning film industry in Alberta provided opportunities to many actors who now had considerable experience acting for the camera.

The switch to online learning was mirrored in arts organizations, some staged zoom plays, and others shifted to new mediums entirely as Vertigo Theatre shifted to mystery radio. Guest speakers and conferences became easier to organize and this meant that the ability for information and ideas to spread rapidly accelerated. Alberta Theatre Project’s Cowgirl Up was originally set to premiere in 2020 and was able to find a new audience on the CBC podcast PlayME.

Both Arts Commons and Theatre Calgary took their art on the road with ArtsXpeditions and Shakespeare on the Go respectively bringing outdoor performances to the suburban communities of Calgary. Both endeavors are continuing in the summer of 2022 and may not have arrived so quickly had it not been for the limitations on indoor gatherings.

This year’s High Performance Rodeo highlighted what makes live theatre special. A sprawling ancient epic can be told with little more than three actors in their PJs, as in Gilgamesh Lazyboy. We can connect with the history of art and discover new stories as in Dora Maar: The Wicked One. And finally, we can be invited to join the storytelling of the theatre with our fellow audience members as with, This is the Story of the Child Ruled by Fear.

When I step into a theatre nowadays, I notice people meeting again for the first time in years after the show. I notice the electrifying buzz of an audience before the lights go down. I notice the apprehension of a whole mass of people when the drama reaches a fever pitch.

Playwright Jordan Tannahill once wrote, “it seems that theatre has forgotten to let us in,” He was talking about a lack of vitality in theatre. Many before him have written about the theatre being in crisis, an observation that has been made since 1912. In 2022, I cannot say that theatre will die, or that its going anywhere. I’ve lived in a world where theatre as it means to so many of us was impossible and it still found a way to survive. And the audiences both new and old in our familiar playhouses found a way to survive too.

Photo: Shakespeare on the Bow featuring Keysha Swanson, Javelin Lawrence, and Christian Daly; courtesy of Theatre Calgary. Photo by Kristian Jones.