Royal MTC John Hirsch Mainstage - 50th Anniversary

JOHN HIRSCH MAINSTAGE

Photo by Bryan Scott

5Oth Anniversary 174 MARKET AVE – BUILDING OPENING

The building was conceived as part of a major urban renewal for Winnipeg, with the theatre completing a series of modern civic buildings constructed as part of this project. Royal MTC also played a significant role in the city’s cultural renaissance, as the purpose-built home of Canada’s first English-language regional theatre.

Completed for Manitoba’s centennial, the theatre’s brutalist design reflects trends in Canadian society

MANITOBA THEATRE CENTRE, 174 MARKET AVENUE, 1969–70

toward a more relaxed and open-ended social order.

Waisman Ross Blankstein Coop Gillmor Hanna

such by the Canada Council for the Arts.

(now Number Ten Architectural Group)

The theatre became the model for the regional theatre movement in Canada and was promoted as

In 2009, Royal MTC was designated as a Nation-

Partner in charge – Allan H. Waisman

al Historic Site of Canada and received a royal

Lead design architect – Robert Kirby

designation from Queen Elizabeth II a year later.

Project architect – Brian Dewar

In 2019, the building was awarded the Prix du XXe siècle from the Royal Architectural Institute

The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre is a vibrant and

of Canada. This prize recognizes buildings over 25

beloved cultural institution located in downtown

years old that have become landmarks of Canadian

Winnipeg near Main Street. It is situated amongst

architecture. The prize celebrates design quality as

the Edwardian commercial buildings and warehouses

well as enduring excellence, recognizing the design

of the Exchange District National Historic Site of

of the original architect and/or firms as well as the

Canada.

ongoing stewardship of the owner of the building.

Written by Susan Algie, Winnipeg Architecture Foundation

Architect Allan H. Waisman – University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, Winnipeg Tribune fonds, MSS 24 (A.81-12)

Artistic Director Eddie Gilbert – University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, Winnipeg Tribune Photograph Collection, PC 18, 4510-022

Monique Mercure and Ronald Bishop in the theatre’s first production, Bertolt Brecht’s A Man’s a Man, directed by John Hirsch

James Blendick, Heath Lamberts, Eric Donkin and Douglas Chamberlain in the theatre’s first production, Bertolt Brecht’s A Man’s a Man, directed by John Hirsch

Jerry Franken in the theatre’s first production, Bertolt Brecht’s A Man’s a Man, directed by John Hirsch

Photo by James Ashby