Ottawa Little Theatre Timeline
Junior Drama League 1916 production of “Master Will of Stratford” including Eugene Forsey as Will Shakespeare (centre R) and Dorothy Freiman (centre, holding crook)
1913
The Ottawa Drama League (ODL), as the Ottawa Little Theatre (OLT) was first known, is founded at a meeting of the Canadian Federation of University Women. The first meeting takes place in May 1913
1914
After a season of attending touring theatre productions, and arranging lectures and play readings, the ODL presents its first staged production at the Russell Theatre on June 5-6 featuring 3 one-act plays: Magic, Riders to the Sea, and The Dear Departed.
The Russell Theatre, located where the National Arts Centre now stands.
1915
The Auditorium of the Victoria Memorial Museum (now the Canadian Museum of Nature) is secured as the new home of the ODL. The space is opened on Nov. 12 with a lecture by famed British playwright and actor Harley Granville-Barker.
Victoria Memorial Museum Auditorium in 1915. Play unknown.
1916
Fire destroys Canada’s Parliament Buildings. The House of Commons takes over the Museum Auditorium during rebuilding, and the ODL loses its new theatre. Performances again take place at the Russell Theatre and elsewhere.
1916
The ODL presents The Suffragist by Donald Guthrie, reported to be the first production in Ottawa of “a Canadian play, by a Canadian author, acted by Canadian players in a Canadian theatre, before a Canadian audience.”
1923
The ODL returns to the Auditorium of the Victoria Memorial Museum.
1928
After successful fundraising begun in 1926, the ODL purchases the Eastern Methodist Church at 400 King Edward Avenue and renovates it into the Little Theatre. On Jan. 3, the ODL’s first permanent home is officially opened with a production of Anthony and Anna by St. John Ervine.
The Eastern Methodist Church at 400 King Edward is converted into the Little Theatre.
1932-1941
Soon to be internationally renowned photographer Yousuf Karsh photographs numerous productions of the Ottawa Drama League and the Dominion Drama Festival crediting the experience with helping him develop his famous use of light.
Yousuf Karsh photo of “Street Scene” 1937
1933
The Earl of Bessborough, Governor General of Canada, launches the Dominion Drama Festival at the Little Theatre. The DDF, Canada’s first National Theatre Festival, is hosted at the Little Theatre until 1937 after which it is hosted in a different city each year returning to Ottawa in 1948.
1935
The ODL helps the Orpheus Operatic Society return from a five-year hiatus with a co-production of the operetta H.M.S, Pinafore. Two more co-productions follow before Orpheus finds a new home..
1936
The ODL founds the Workshop to perform experimental plays. The Workshop continues until the early 1960s.
1937
The Ottawa Drama League’s National One-Act Playwriting Competition is inaugurated – and continues to this day. From the 40s to the mid-60s over 70 winning plays are given productions by the Workshop.
Workshop production of the winner of the 14th National Playwriting Competition in 1952 – “The Dream Unwinds”
1940-45
ODL donates proceeds from performances to the war effort and also produces short plays and “Concert Parties” for the troops. The theatre is rented out as a cinema during its available weeks.
1948
The Junior Theatre, offering young people the opportunity to act in productions alongside seasoned performers, is reinstated after the Junior and Intermediate Drama Leagues went into hiatus in 1936. Its first production is Alice in Wonderland.
1949
After winning the 9th edition of the ODL’s National Playwriting Competition, and winning awards at both the EODL and Dominion Drama Festivals, ODL’s production of Robertson Davies’ Eros at Breakfast is chosen by the DDF to be Canada’s entry into the Edinburgh Drama Festival in Scotland. The performance takes place on Sept. 5.
Robertson Davies’ award-winning production of “Eros at Breakfast”
1951
The Ottawa Drama League changes its name to the Ottawa Little Theatre.
1954
The School of the Theatre opens, offering acting classes for children. The Junior Theatre, which had become the Saturday Players in 1951, now becomes the Children’s Theatre, and then in 1959 the Theatre for Children. Under its various names it presents plays for children which take place in schools throughout the region until 1985.
1967
OLT is invited to give the premiere performance of The Centennial Play by five of Canada’s foremost writers – Robertson Davies, W.O Mitchell, Arthur Murphy, Yves Theriault and Eric Nicol with music by Keith Bissell. The production was commissioned by the Centennial Commission in honour of Canada’s 100th.
1968
The Ottawa Little Theatre undergoes a major renovation including reupholstered seats, new carpeting and a redesigned foyer.
The renovated foyer in 1968.
1970
On July 1, 1970, the Ottawa Little Theatre is completely destroyed by fire. Fundraising begins immediately to rebuild at the same King Edward Avenue location. Performances continue at various auditoriums in Ottawa for the next year and a half.
The theatre is destroyed by fire in 1970. UPI photo
1972
On Feb. 10, 1972, Ottawa Little Theatre’s new building opens with a production of Hadrian the Seventh by Peter Luke. The mortgage is paid off within five years.
“Hadrian the Seventh” opens the new theatre in 1972.
1976
Adult drama classes focused on acting begin at OLT.
1988
OLT marks its 75th Anniversary with the publication of a celebrity cookbook.
1997
Iris Winston’s book, Staging a Legend: A History of Ottawa Little Theatre, is released to celebrate the OLT’s 25 years in its new theatre.
2002
For the first time since 1969, the OLT again begins entering productions into the EODL (Eastern Ontario Drama League) One-Act Play Festival, and in 2006 the EODL Spring Festival of full-length plays. The One-Act entries are often prize-winners from the OLT’s National Playwriting Competition.
“Dead Accounts” wins Best Production at the 2018 Theatre Ontario Festival in London, Ontario.
2006
The Janigan Studio, a new performance space designed to host small productions and readings, opens at OLT.
2010
OLT’s Summer Theatre is re-introduced after a hiatus of five years. In 2018, the summer play becomes part of the regular subscription season.
2010
OLT expands its education program beyond acting. Now called Learning@OLT, theatre workshops are offered including directing, design, playwriting and technical theatre skills.
2012-13
Ottawa Little Theatre presents its 100th Season with a number of celebrations, including a season of plays from each of its ten decades, ten historical exhibits in the foyer, and the launch of the Cornerstone to honour the theatre’s longtime volunteers.
2013-2017
Ottawa Little Theatre undergoes a Capital Renew the Building project resulting in major renovations to both the outside and inside of the building.
The renovated exterior of the Ottawa Little Theatre.
2019
The Past Productions volunteer database is completed listing the casts and crews of every production in OLT history in searchable format with photographs.
2020-2022
The global Covid pandemic closes the theatre from March 2020 to May 2022. Although no plays are produced in the 108th season, Board meetings, committee work, the National Playwriting Competition, and a number of improvements to the theatre are undertaken.
2022
The theatre reopens after the pandemic with a seven-play season including productions postponed from 2020. The first of these in May 2022 is “Burn” by OLT alumnus John Muggleton. The production tours to the the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2022, where it is a winner of the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award.
The 2022 production of “Burn”.
Present Day
Ottawa Little Theatre currently produces a nine-play season full of mystery, comedy, drama and farce which, since the post-pandemic reopening in 2022, runs from March to December.
The 2019 production of Agatha Christie’s “A Murder is Announced”.