History of GPLT
This is the story of Grande Prairie Live Theatre. The story of how more than 4100 different actors, singers, dancers, directors, producers, stage managers, set designers, costume designers, seamstresses, makeup artists and many more behind-the-scenes contributors have entertained over 270,000 people over the past 60 years. Proudly we say “we’ve come a long way baby.”
Our theatre roots date back to 1932, with the formation of “The Good Companion Players.” Grande Prairie was a cultural hotspot in 1932 with a 50-voice male choir and a symphony orchestra. In 1935 the Little Theatre Group Orchestra was formed. Theater and music groups fell apart during the Second World War. During those years, St. Joseph’s Dramatic Society and United Church Players put on a few shows. In 1958 the Grande Prairie Players were formed. In 1962 the Grande Prairie Players and the Operatic Society joined forces to officially become the Grande Prairie Little Theatre Society on January 16, 1963. As a response to changing times, Grande Prairie Little Theatre became Grande Prairie Live Theatre in 2001.
We have done a wide selection of plays over many different genres; 344 productions over 62 years. Plus, over 100 concerts! And festivals! We incubated the prestigious Reel Shorts Film Festival for it’s first 10 years and the Grande Prairie Children’s Festival for 2 years. That is an amazing body of artistic work for an ever-changing group of creative and enthusiastic volunteers. We have grown as our region has grown. We have grown from 2 shows a year with 35 volunteers in 1963 to 68 nights of entertainment and nearly 290 volunteers in 2023/24.
We are survived Covid! We used the long downtime to completely renovate and modernize our theatre.
Going into our 2024-2025 season, we have a full season of 6 plays and 6 concerts, PLUS 23 school and community event bookings. And there are more booking requests coming in.
In our 2022/23 season we successfully completed every performance of every play plus hosted concerts, meetings, dance performances and plays by other groups. We created 68 performances and concerts. We enabled 40 different community groups to present 110 performances and other events to the public. We are excited for the future of live local entertainment events in our community!
2023-2024 Our 61st Season, has been amazing with many sellouts and great reviews. We appreciate your support and that of our wonderful community! “Thank you all.”
We look forward to entertaining you in our 2024-2025 our 62nd Season!
For all the entertainment information go to gplt.ca or call 780-538-1616
Box Office: 780-538-1616
