Canada's Theatre Museum

Name: Canada's Theatre Museum
Address: 189 Yonge Street, 3rd Floor, Toronto, ON, M5B1T6, CA
Telephone: +14164137847

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Canada's Theatre Museum

Welcome to Canada's Theatre Museum! The idea for a Museum dedicated to Canadian Theatre was first put forward by renowned theatre critic, Herbert Whittaker.

We invite you to explore and be inspired by the past, present, and future of Canadian theatre.

VISION
A Canada that values all shared expressions of theatre by all people as essential elements in our social fabric. About Theatre Museum Canada

Theatre Museum Canada seeks to share the wonder of Canada’s rich theatre legacy with Canadians and theatre enthusiasts everywhere. Together with a volunt

eer committee chaired by Mr. Whittaker, Theatre Museum was founded and registered as a charity in 1991. Theatre Museum Canada currently offers a broad range of programming from speakers forums, temporary exhibits and collaborative presentations in conjunction with leading Canadian theatre companies including the Shaw Festival and the Stratford Festival. One of its most important initiatives is the LEGEND LIBRARY, the online history project with R.H. Thomson interviewing pioneers of Canadian Theatre, including William Hutt, Martha Henry, Douglas Campbell, Paul Thompson, Susan Rubes and many more. The videos are found at www.TheatreMuseum.ca

THEATRE MUSEUM GOES BACKSTAGE is the series of insightful panel discussions exploring topics like the Roots of Native Theatre, The Role of the Stage Manager and the Canadian Players’ tour of KING LEAR. We are planning for the day when we have a year-round home for our exhibitions and educational programming.

05/28/2026

Legend Library Spotlight: Playwright Drew Hayden Taylor shares his insights on Indigenous humour - its characteristics, where it comes from, and the role it serves in the community.

Interviewed by R.H. Thomson on August 14th, 2015.

Watch the full interview here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgHeSy6OB4x4-0GohNNf3206qTBy-faD0

05/26/2026

"I enjoy life and I just love what I do."

In 2000, Opera Canada magazine celebrated iconic Canadian contralto Maureen Forrester by awarding her the first of the Annual Opera Canada Awards, now known as the Rubies. Forrester's career lasted nearly 50 years, spanning performance, teaching, advocacy for Canadian music, and arts administration, including work for the Canada Council for the Arts. She also co-founded the experimental new opera/music theatre company COMUS Music Theatre. One of the most decorated opera performers in Canada, she received numerous awards including the Order of Canada and more than 30 honorary degrees.

Forrester was born in Montreal to a working-class family, and began to study music with her mother's encouragement before rising to international acclaim. Her breakthrough came in 1957, performing Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony at Carnegie Hall with conductor Bruno Walter. Their recordings together became highly influential. At the height of her career, she gave roughly 120 performances a year across five continents while continuing to champion Canadian music at home and abroad. Forrester remains one of the defining figures in Canadian opera history.

Visit Opera Canada and operacanada.ca to stay up to date on Canadian opera!

Image from the Fall 2000 issue of Opera Canada Magazine
Original article by Joseph So

05/25/2026

Today is National Tap Dance Day! 👞

May 25th marks the birthday of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, one of the most influential and legendary tap performers of all time. An important figure in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 30s, Robinson was also a key figure in breaking down racial barriers for Black performers at the time. He was one of the first Black vaudeville performers to perform without blackface makeup, one of the first Black performers to perform solo, and the first Black performer to appear in an in*******al dance team in a Hollywood film.

Earlier this year, Canada's Theatre Museum and Dance Immersion presented "Travis Knights: Tap Dance is Political" in collaboration with Dance Collection Danse. In a hybrid lecture-demonstration, Knights brought the history of tap dance and the legacy of Bill Robinson to life through dance, singing, storytelling, and video. Illuminating both Robinson's brilliance and the barriers he had to overcome, Knights honoured the history of tap dance while signaling a bright future for the art form.

Photos:
1. Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
2. Travis Knights

Photo 1 by James Kriegsmann via Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)
Photo 2 by Helen Habtu

05/21/2026

Legend Library Spotlight: Actor Jean Yoon talks about the original stage production of Kim's Convenience by Ins Choi, and how the humour of the play was received by different audiences.

Watch the full interview here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgHeSy6OB4x61p7-7Q3KBa2lYsm0xv8hi&si=g7txbznVP0FRCq4P

05/18/2026

International Museum Day at Canada's Theatre Museum 🎭

Museums are often seen as places that preserve history and share knowledge. They are also spaces where people connect through stories, creativity, and shared experiences.

This International Museum Day, we’re reflecting on this year’s theme: Museums Uniting a Divided World. At Canada’s Theatre Museum, we believe that Canada's performing arts history is our cultural history. It has the power to bring people together across generations, cultures, and communities. We're proud of the multitude of perspectives, voices, and experiences our theatre represents. By illuminating the uniqueness of these perspectives, we begin to see more clearly the ways in which we are the same. As we share stories of Canadian theatre, we also create opportunities for dialogue, learning, and discovery.

Museums and the performing arts both help us better understand one another and ourselves. At a time when the world feels particularly divided, it's more important than ever to seek out the understanding and connection that can be found in these spaces.

Happy International Museum Day!

Image: Guests at the CTM 2025 year-end celebration
Photo by Daniel Wang

05/14/2026

Legend Library Spotlight: Martin Short talks about auditioning for the 1972 Toronto production of Godspell, which featured a cast of future stars - Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Victor Garber, Andrea Martin, Dave Thomas, Jayne Eastwood, and musical director Paul Shaffer.

Watch the full interview here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgHeSy6OB4x6_XT31dJAuQpHiNb9ACIOA&si=d36DKHCNxBG3yc6c

05/12/2026

Premiering today on Netflix, the documentary Marty, Life is Short gives a behind-the-scenes tour of Martin Short's remarkable performance career. One of Canada's most enduring comedic entertainers, Short is known for roles on stage and screen, from the legendary 1972 Toronto production of Godspell, to sketch comedy on SCTV and SNL, to the ongoing hit television series Only Murders in the Building.

Want to learn more about Martin Short in his own words? Check out our Martin Short Legend Library interview here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgHeSy6OB4x6_XT31dJAuQpHiNb9ACIOA&si=d36DKHCNxBG3yc6c

05/08/2026

The latest Legend Library interview is live!

Step into our archives with this 2015 interview featuring playwright Drew Hayden Taylor. Taylor shares his journey to becoming a storyteller and explores Indigenous theatre, humour, and depictions of Indigenous people in popular culture.

Drew Hayden Taylor is an award-winning playwright, author, journalist, and filmmaker. He is known for humourous writing that examines the world from an Indigenous perspective, including plays and novels like Toronto at Dreamer's Rock, The Bootlegger Blues, and Motorcycles and Sweetgrass. He has also directed several documentaries for the CBC, including Searching for Winnetou and The Pretendians.

Watch the interview here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgHeSy6OB4x4-0GohNNf3206qTBy-faD0&si=1rqdIgBfiWyyLeL0

05/07/2026

Legend Library Highlight: Designer Debra Hanson discusses the power of saying no as an artist.

Debra Hanson is an award-winning Canadian set and costume designer, known for her work for some of Canada's most beloved theatre, opera, and television productions. As Head of Design at the Stratford Festival she designed 32 productions, and designed for operas including Jenufa and Cosi fan tutte. Hanson has also had a hugely successful career in film and television including work on The Handmaid’s Tale and Schitt’s Creek.

Watch the full interview here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgHeSy6OB4x7ClFr3RyMlX7GwdXFWpsv4&si=xOoKSqNEWa9VbSBm

05/06/2026

International Dance Day at Canada’s Theatre Museum 💃🏾

We were thrilled to celebrate this year's International Dance Day with and Dr. Seika Boye. Seika Boye's lecture reflected on the educational legacy of Dance Collection Danse over the years, using her own artistic and scholarly journey as a lens, and discussed how DCD influenced her practice and research. She was then joined by DCD co-founder Miriam Adams and Executive and Curatorial Director Amy Bowring for a conversation about learning and mentorship in dance.

Photos:
1-2. Dr. Seika Boye
3. Seika Boye, Amy Bowring, and Miriam Adams
4. Miriam Adams
5. Guests at the event

Address

189 Yonge Street, 3rd Floor
Toronto, ON
M5B1T6

Telephone

+14164137847

Website

http://www.TheatreMuseum.ca/, https://theatremuseum.ca/donate/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=genera

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