In January of 1923, Lethbridge resident E. G. Sterndale Bennett published a letter in the Herald. The column, a thoughtfully penned request to connect with theatre lovers like himself, received only one written response. This year, Sterndale Bennett’s theatre group celebrated their centennial. Clearly, an opening isn’t everything!

Despite this lackluster reception, Sterndale Bennett’s first organized meeting did see a handful of attendees—and by the end of the evening, the Playgoers of Lethbridge had been born. Many meeting participants made up the group’s first administrative team, including Mr. H. W. Church—the man who initially responded to the Herald piece—as President, while Sterndale Bennett himself took on the role of General Director. Other founding members included Mr. Ralph A. Thrall as secretary, Ms. Louisa Smith as treasurer, and Mr. C. J. Ferguson as the group’s musical director.

Within months, the Playgoers of Lethbridge’s first show, Going Up, was performed at the Majestic Theatre to rave reviews; one Herald article asserted that the performance’s “only misgiving… is that the Playgoers’ club has set itself too high a standard to live up to.” Circumstance played a part in this initial success; Canada was at the dawn of its “little theatre” movement, spurred by the decisions of large entertainment groups to stop touring in smaller communities. Yet this response cannot be chalked up to cultural coincidence alone; Sterndale Bennett’s own talent was enough that his impact ranged throughout Western Canada, making important contributions in communities like Moose Jaw and Medicine Hat as well as our own.

While Sterndale Bennett’s own success was considerable, leading him to found the Alberta Drama Festival and later play a key role in the creation of the Dominion Drama Festival (which came to define Canadian theatre for decades on end), the Playgoers of Lethbridge, as any artistic group, faced a series of ups and downs. Lack of attendance for their 1927 show The Green Goddess led to the company facing a $90 deficit (compared to a $1,200 profit immediately following Going Up). While membership would soar to 800 by the late 1920s, the onset of economic hardships in the 1930s would cause drastic drops in theatre production and viewership worldwide.

Yet an amateur theatre group does not become the oldest in Western Canada—and one of the oldest in the country—without overcoming some hardship. Indeed, while its founding members have long since passed, the Playgoers remain, finding the same triumphs in theatre as their counterparts a century ago.

The Galt Museum Archives have a wealth of information about the Playgoers and its contemporaries. To view photographs or begin your own research journey, visit galtmuseum.com/research.