The Playgoers of Lethbridge are celebrating a huge milestone this year, as the organization is set to mark its 100th anniversary.
On January 20, 1923, the very first meeting of the Playgoers took place at St. Augustine Church, since then the club has become one of the longest running theatre clubs in Western Canada, and one of the top 3 in Canada as a whole.
President of the Board of the Playgoers of Lethbridge, Elaine Jagielski, says the club started out with just two members, E.G. Sterndale-Bennett and H.W. Church, and grew to 800 people within a few years, which was a large part of the population at the time.
“When you think about the population at that time, in the late 20’s into the 1930’s, that would’ve been a sizeable chunk of the population that belonged to a theatrical club,” says Jagielski.
The main focus of the club at the time, according to Jagielski, was to take part in the Dominion Festival, which was a national event that multiple theatre groups would attend with adjudicators coming from England for the event. It was a prestigious event that many groups wanted to be apart of.
In regards to the centennial year, there are a few events coming up, including its upcoming play “The Play That Goes Wrong” which is a play within a play centered around a murder mystery in the 1920’s.
Also upcoming is the Regional 1 Act Drama Festival which takes place April 7th and 8th at the Sterndale-Bennett Theatre. Then on April 21st and 22nd is the Centennial Festival which is the Taste of the Arts and includes a number of visual and performing arts and the clubs centennial plaque will be unveiled on Friday, April 21st. And in June, the club will be holding a dinner gala as well as a dinner theatre in October.
Tickets for the clubs upcoming show can be purchased online or by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328)