We have lived in Red Deer for about 10 years. While there has been an excellent dinner theatre scene in Red Deer, there has not been a venue that attracted us to live stage shows locally.
We choose to attend about 20 shows per year but it has meant driving to Calgary to attend the theatre.
This past year, we discovered Ignition Theatre at The Matchbox on Taylor Drive. We purchased seasons tickets for a fraction of our Calgary tickets and the quality of their productions was beyond belief.
We saw a couple of world premieres, but their productions of The Drawer Boy and It’s a Wonderful Life, at Christmas, were excellent. The casting was absolute perfection and better than anything we have seen in Calgary.
Artistic director Matt Grue is a genius. In all of the plays we saw, he had every aspect down to a science from sound to lighting to presentation. He truly has surrounded himself with the very best of Alberta talent.
The Matchbox Theatre is an extremely intimate environment and couldn’t be better for sight lines and sound.
They are now announcing their 2010-2011 season on June 8 and you can be assured we will again get season tickets. It will save us many a trip to Calgary. Live theatre is alive and extremely healthy in Red Deer!
Dean and Doreen Cowan
Red Deer