Curated by Jason Ranaghan, Guest Curator.
As southern Alberta’s only queer-mandated theatre company, Theatre Outré has spent the last decade carving out space for a thriving alternative scene in the prairies. Now, we celebrate their boundary-pushing theatrical productions, eccentric events, and unwavering devotion to Southern Alberta’s 2SLGBTQ+ community.
Founded in 2013, the company sought to create an alternative theatre company serving southern Alberta’s queer community, a group often considered to exist beyond the fringe of social propriety, sexual norms, and gendered expectations.
Their newly formed company found a physical home downtown in the Whitney building which they named Bordello, a reference to Lethbridge’s historic red-light district. The space was used for rehearsing and mounting productions, hosting drag shows, and became a de facto community centre for queer folks and their loved ones.
House of Didi, 2016
Image courtesy Jaime Vedres Photography
They soon outgrew Bordello and announced their intention to move to a larger space in the McFarland building, just a few blocks away. After a struggle with both unwelcoming neighbours and issues with their development permits, Theatre Outré was able to open in the McFarland building under a new, less risqué name, Club Didi. In 2019 the name would be changed again to Didi’s Playhaus.
Castrati; An Electro Drag Opera, 2015
Image courtesy Jaime Vedres Photography
Theatre Outré is known for their outlandish, jaw-dropping theatrical productions that always push the envelope of what you expect to see in a show. With a mandate to represent the complex and diverse experiences of the queer community, Outré always aims to produce shows that challenge audiences to consider the world differently.
Most of all, Theatre Outré has created a safe haven for Lethbridge’s 2SLGBTQ+ communities and their allies to exist in a space that allowed them to be uncompromisingly queer. No matter the location, Outré events have always drawn people together and created a vibrant and welcoming community for unbridled queer expression on the prairies.