Calgary Young People's Theatre - Calgary

Calgary Young People’s Theatre (CYPT) was founded in 1992 by Brian Dorscht and Jackie Pontin. Since then CYPT has prided itself on providing numerous development opportunities to young people to explore the performing arts and develop their creativity and teamwork skills through camps, classes, workshops and production opportunities.

CYPT produces a theatrical season made up of 4-5 productions, in which youth ages 8-18 audition for the chance to be a part of a rigorous, playful, professional-caliber process and performance led by professional a. We offer a mentorship program within our productions, giving older students or recent alumni the chance to shadow our production team to learn other theatrical skills including directing, stage management or design.

We pride ourselves on the selection of plays we choose each year that challenge, inspire and entertain our young actors and audiences alike. Over the past few years we have aimed to engage members of the arts community by commissioning original works or adaptations by local playwrights for our season.

In 2010, a new leadership team comprised of Artistic Director Kristin Eveleigh and General Manager Gillian Webster continued to grow the company, founding The Outpatient Collective, a writing ensemble for recent CYPT graduates.  Each year, a new group of graduates collaborate on the creation of a script that will be part of the mainstage season the year after their graduation.

In 2012, CYPT produced the Y-Calgary Festival in collaboration with the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society.

In 2014, CYPT teamed up with local theatre companies Ghost River Theatre and Green Fools Theatre to save the old Dancer’s Studio West Space when that company left, and created a joint venture to open the West Village Theatre, which has remained CYPT’s home venue for mainstage productions ever since. Gillian left the company as GM later that year, but remains an active part of community, serving as a stage manager and mentor. In 2014 Jamie Dunsdon joined the company as Artistic Producer.

In 2015, CYPT launched its inaugural Cannonball Festival of Youth-Led Theatre.  This festival, now an annual event, offers youth the opportunity to direct, write, stage manage, produce, and of course, act, in plays led by them!  The festival usually presents 5 – 10 one act plays, each May.

In 2017, CYPT added an additional mainstage slot to our season, and in 2019, expanded our camps and classes to include a West Calgary location at the SCA Community Association.  In 2019 Zoë Arthur joined the company as Artistic Associate.

During the 2020/21 pandemic, CYPT temporarily suspended its mainstage programming, however continued to offer its classes and camps within careful limitations.  It also produced an online Zoom play, hosted an international creation project with Pretzel Theatre, and produced an online audio experience.