About Us - Our History

Central Alberta Theatre (CAT) provides a live theatre experience for the residents of Red Deer and the surrounding area. We offer four Dinner Theatre productions per year, as well as hosting our Season preview event in the Red Deer Memorial Centre, and our annual One Act Festival, which also features visual artists as well as singers and musicians, in the Nickle Studio. The Nickle Studio is also available to our members and other artists to host performances or theatre productions in a cozier atmosphere. Our theatre season runs from September to June.

CAT also operates the Red Deer Memorial Centre, a 700+ seat venue. This year we hosted the election debates, the high school's theatre performances, concerts, comedians, children's shows (Mike the Knight etcetera) a fundraiser evening for a local charity and much more. We have people attend shows from Calgary and Edmonton & even further away.

CAT’s mandate as a Society is to promote and recognize artistic, literary and cultural talent in the performing arts and to develop community interest, to maintain an active organization dedicated to the production of first rate performing arts on a community level. We also work with other community organizations and non profits to help one another achieve important goals and milestones.

We are an integral part of our community, we are members of the Red Deer Arts Council, we have an agreement with the local Boys Scouts to split the proceeds of our bottle returns. We provide costumes and props to various groups in the area such as Red Deer College, BullSkit, the Red Deer Players Society and Innisfail Town Theatre. This year we are donating $1.00 from the sale of each dinner theatre ticket to a local charity chosen by the Board. The Memorial Centre will also be hosting the Farmers market for the next couple of summers while the renovations to the old site are completed.

CAT promotes other performing arts events through our Social media sites and we notify our members of other volunteer opportunities within the arts community through the same means. Our members volunteer for many reasons, some use it as a chance to socialize, some to learn new skills, and yet others to explore their talents wherever they lie. We have members that started when we first formed in 1970, and we have members that just graduated from High School in 2015. We are an inclusive and accepting organization that sponsors and promotes harmony.

We have been registered as a nonprofit organization with the province of Alberta since 1977, and are also registered with Revenue Canada as a Charitable organization.