About
Theatre is essential to the health and growth of communities, offering insight into the human spirit. Theatre informs, educates, entertains, challenges, shocks, questions, and illuminates. Prairie Theatre Exchange (PTE) was born with these ideals in 1972, and has become a centre of excellence for contemporary theatre and drama education.
While nationally recognized, PTE is deeply rooted in community and has touched hundreds of thousands of lives in Winnipeg and throughout Manitoba. Manitobans trust PTE to ensure that full voice is given to the finest artistic talent our region and our country have to offer.
The mission of Prairie Theatre Exchange is:
- To operate a professional theatre of high calibre for the cultural enrichment of the community;
- To support the development of theatre artists and new plays;
- To foster theatre arts-related endeavours of others
- To encourage appreciation of theatre
- To provide accessible, high quality, innovative educational opportunities
PTE actively looks for new ways to continue to be a centre for innovation in theatre practice: a home for interdisciplinary and diverse works that offer Winnipeg audiences something they cannot experience anywhere else.
We strive to be a home for artists from the Prairies and beyond and a theatre that entertains, challenges and provokes our audiences, inspiring their understanding of what theatre is and what it can be.
We work to become a leader in professional development for Winnipeg and Prairie artists through masterclasses and workshops.
In all these ways, we are a contemporary theatre company of the 21st century that reflects the ever-evolving communities we serve with artistry, confidence and heart.
Our Impact
PTE was born in the early 1970s when there was an growing interest in seeing stories on stage that reflected our local and our Canadian experience. Theatres like PTE took the risk of programming new plays and found an audience that wanted to see themselves reflected on stage in a new way.
Over five decades PTE has become a national leader in Canadian theatre. Local audiences have trusted the journey the artistic leadership has taken them on to embrace plays they have not heard of before but are moved by after they leave the theatre.
In this new age of digital programming, PTE has brought plays from its mainstage in downtown Winnipeg to the world. The impact of theatre can move from the heart to the head to change our outlook and make our worlds better.