It’s very important to support local during COVID-19 to help businesses survive. Here are ways you can help:

• Go out for a meal, drink, or to a live performance
• Buy a gift card to use at a later date
• Order food or drinks to take home with you from your venue of choice
• If you are an influencer, speak out about your favourite places to help promote their business and let others know why they should go here
• Write and publish an article about a local business highlighting what makes them so great
• Encourage others to visit local spots by banning together in support of our city’s venues
• Write a positive review
• Watch performances digitally
• Donate to keep live theatre alive

Your efforts will make a difference in the lives of employees and employers, even if it seems minute at this point. We all have an effect on each other so let’s keep our city an exciting place to be.

I would like to fill you in on some of my favourite and amazing live theatres in Calgary.

Vertigo Theatre

Vertigo Theatre is different than other theatres in that its entire season, every year, is filled with mystery performances. You will be drawn into psychological thrillers or get chills from spine chilling horrors unfolding right in front of you. Realism is super hard to achieve in a live setting, but every play is done so well through the efforts of the actors, directors, and technical crew involved in this production company.

The acting and sets have blown my mind year after year. Some of my favourite performances have been from the stage at this venue. Vertigo Theatre has been around since 1976, and they need your support to keep this important piece of history growing.

The Grand

Known in recent years as Theatre Junction but once more by its original name, The Grand, this space was populated by some of the most famous performers of its time, including The Marx Brothers and Fred Astaire. Since its construction in 1912, this venue has stood the test of time, even captivating audiences as a cinema.

Some of my favourite quirky performances have come from The Grand’s performance space. After all, if you don’t go big, go home, and The Grand truly knows how to go big with theatrics that will stick in your mind forever.

Live theatre should be all about experimentation as should life because if you don’t seek out new experiences you could be missing out on a whole lot of excitement. Do you want to let your experiences fly by? Stop them before they do and stop this theatre from closing its doors. Tomorrow’s performance may just be the experience you need to lift your spirits.

Theatre Calgary

Theatre Calgary has a classic air about it with many productions cast from well-known scripts. This theatre holds some of my most cherished childhood memories which have grown into heartwarming memories as an adult. The annual performance of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” offers something new every year. The message is the same but the play always has a little twist.

Many musicals have been performed here dating back to the 1960s when it found its place in history as the Musicians’ and Actors’ Club (MAC). Some of the greatest professional theatrical pieces are performed at Theatre Calgary from Shakespearean classics to Broadway musicals.

Help keep theatre alive for future generations to enjoy shows as part of their traditional monthly or yearly event.

Art enriches life and mine has certainly been filled through the wonders of live performances. It would be a sad world without the emotional richness theatrical performances bring to our hearts. Let’s make sure we help this community grow by showing support to all the theatrical venues we love.