Two of the most enduring amateur arts traditions in Canada are community theatre and community choir. Little theatre societies sprang up in cities such as Winnipeg and London soon after the First World War, and the Dominion Drama Festival, launched in 1932, gave them a national stage. Community choirs are older still, many having grown out of church and settlement halls in the nineteenth century. Both bring ordinary people together to rehearse and perform for their neighbours, and both rely on the emotional, social, and creative rewards that keep members coming back. Both also attract devoted directors, most of them former performers themselves.
The two share a similar shape and purpose. Each serves participants of every age, from teenagers to retirees, and each is organized around a season that runs from fall to spring. Getting into a community theatre production usually means an audition, and roles are handed out on the strength of that reading; a community choir, by contrast, welcomes almost anyone willing to attend rehearsals, whether or not they read music. Whereas choirs tend to draw a steady core of older adults, theatre groups depend on a shifting mix of newcomers each season. Interest often peaks in midlife, once careers and children leave a little more room for a hobby.
