In the winter of 2001, the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre chose to honour Samuel Beckett at its first annual Master Playwright Festival. BeckettFest provided opportunities for both professional and emerging artists from a variety of organizations and independent companies to produce work under the umbrella of a larger festival. It also provided patrons with an opportunity to thoroughly immerse themselves in the work of a playwright who may not have a regular home on Winnipeg stages.
The inaugural event involved 15 Beckett works by 10 local companies in eight venues. Since then, MTC has presented BrechtFest (2002), PinterFest (2003), AlbeeFest (2004), TremblayFest (2005), O'NeillFest (2006), StoppardFest (2007), MametFest (2008), MillerFest (2009), ChurchillFest (2010), StrindbergFest (2011), ShawFest (2012) and SondheimFest (2013).
This year, MTC presents ChekhovFest from January 22 – February 9, 2014.
